Jigsaw guide
How to make a jigsaw puzzle from your own photo
Open Yuzool's free Jigsaw, tap Add a photo, choose a picture and pick a piece count. Your photo is cut into real interlocking pieces on your own device, never uploaded, and saved as you go. Photos with detail and colour all over make the best puzzles; big plain skies make the hardest.
How to make a jigsaw from a photo, step by step
You need a photo on the device you are using (a phone's camera roll, a tablet's photo library, or a picture file on a computer) and a web browser. There is nothing to install and no account to make.
- Open Jigsaw. The gallery opens with the Daily, any puzzles you have on the go, and a row headed by a tile marked + Add a photo.
- Tap Add a photo. Your device's own picker opens. On most phones you can choose from your photos or take a new one with the camera; on a computer, pick an image file.
- Choose a size. The start sheet shows your picture and a row of piece counts. Each chip shows the real number of pieces and the grid, for example 48, 8 × 6.
- Start. The photo is cut into interlocking pieces and scattered round the board. Drag a piece to one it fits and they click together.
- Come back to it. Every piece's place is saved as you go. The photo stays in the gallery, so you can cut it again at another size later, or remove it from the start sheet with Remove this photo.
Which photos make good jigsaws
A photo that looks lovely on a screen can make a frustrating puzzle. What matters is whether each piece has something on it you can recognise. Before you pick one, imagine the photo cut into a grid of small squares: how many of those squares would look the same?
| Works well | Hard going |
|---|---|
| Detail all over: a market stall, a garden in flower, a bookcase, a busy street | A person against a plain wall, a single flower on a dark background |
| Several strong colours in different places | One colour everywhere: a snowy field, a beach and pale sky |
| Sharp focus from front to back | A portrait with a blurred background (the blur behaves like a flat colour) |
| Writing, patterns, windows, faces at a reasonable size | Big areas of sky, sea, lawn or ceiling |
| Good light and colour | Dark indoor photos where the shadows all merge |
Plain areas are not a mistake, they just make the puzzle harder. A third of a picture in sky means a third of the pieces look alike, and you will finish those by shape rather than by colour. If that is the challenge you want, choose a bigger piece count; if not, crop in closer with your phone's own photo editor before you add it.
Group photos are a good middle ground: faces are easy to place, and clothes give you colours to sort by. Holiday views with a strong foreground (a boat, a house, a café table) and a little sky are classic jigsaw pictures for a reason.
How many pieces for your photo
Jigsaw keeps every piece close to square, so the exact count depends on your photo's shape. A long landscape photo gets more columns than rows; a portrait photo the other way round. These are the real counts the game makes for the most common photo shapes:
| You choose about | 4:3 (most phone photos) | 16:9 (widescreen) | Square |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 12 (4 × 3) | 15 (5 × 3) | 9 (3 × 3) |
| 24 | 24 (6 × 4) | 28 (7 × 4) | 25 (5 × 5) |
| 48 | 48 (8 × 6) | 45 (9 × 5) | 49 (7 × 7) |
| 80 | 80 (10 × 8) | 84 (12 × 7) | 81 (9 × 9) |
| 120 | 108 (12 × 9) | 120 (15 × 8) | 121 (11 × 11) |
| 200 | 192 (16 × 12) | 209 (19 × 11) | 196 (14 × 14) |
| 300 to 700 (Pro) | 300, 494, 713 | 299, 510, 700 | 289, 484, 676 |
A portrait photo gets the same counts with the columns and rows swapped. A very long panorama or a very tall screenshot is trimmed round its middle to two to one, so the pieces don't end up as thin slivers.
As a starting point: 24 pieces for a young child, 48 to 80 for a relaxed sit-down on a phone, 120 to 200 on a tablet or computer when you have half an hour or more. Your own photo can be cut at every size up to about 200 for free; 300, 500 and 700 pieces come with Jigsaw Pro.
Ideas: photo puzzles for family and friends
- A puzzle for a grandchild. A photo of their own pet, house or birthday cake at 12 or 24 pieces. Children love finding a face they know.
- Holiday memories. Last summer's harbour or mountain view at 120 pieces, done over a few evenings on a tablet.
- A family gathering. Pass a tablet round with a group photo on it; everybody places the piece with their own face.
- A child's drawing. Photograph a painting from the fridge in good light and turn it into a puzzle for the artist.
- Your garden through the year. The same view in spring, summer and autumn makes a set of three puzzles that look alike at first and differ in the details.
- A game for someone in hospital or a care home. Familiar faces and places, on a tablet that needs nothing set up, and their place is kept between visits.
Because the photo never leaves the device, the puzzle has to be made on the device it will be played on. To give one to someone, add the photo on their phone or tablet, choose the size, and hand it over.
Tools that help with a photo puzzle
Photos are usually harder than the 44 pictures drawn for the game, because real life has more sky, shadow and blur. The table's tools make up for that:
- Picture keeps the whole photo in a corner, like the lid of the box. Tap it to make it bigger.
- Edges hides the middle pieces so the frame is quick to build.
- Sort lays loose pieces out in rows round the board, so nothing is hidden underneath.
- Ghost shows the photo faintly on the board, the easiest way into a big area of sky or lawn.
- Zoom: pinch on a phone or tablet, scroll on a computer, and Fit to see everything again.
Our guide to free online jigsaw puzzles has the order of work that finishes a puzzle fastest, and the counts of corners, edges and middle pieces for each size.
Questions
Can I make a jigsaw puzzle from my own photo for free?
Yes. In Yuzool's Jigsaw, tap Add a photo, choose a picture and pick a size. Your own photos can be cut at every size up to about 200 pieces free, with no ads and no account.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The photo is cut into pieces by your browser and kept in its storage on your device. It is never uploaded, which also means it is not copied to your other devices.
What kind of photo makes the best jigsaw?
A sharp photo with detail and colour all over, such as a garden, a market or a group of people. Large areas of plain sky, wall or blur make many pieces look the same and the puzzle much harder.
How many pieces can a photo jigsaw have?
From about 12 to about 200 pieces free, and about 300, 500 and 700 with Jigsaw Pro. The exact count depends on the photo's shape, because the pieces are kept nearly square.
Can I send a photo jigsaw to someone else?
Not as a link, because the photo never leaves your device. Add the photo on their phone or tablet instead; it takes a few seconds and the puzzle is saved there.