Most image-tool guides stop at "make a nice picture." The useful part of ChatGPT Images 2.5 is narrower: transparent backgrounds, any aspect ratio, editing a selected area, sketching on your phone, and reusing a prompt so a series looks like a series. Here's what's new and six jobs it's genuinely good at if you publish, teach or build.
What's actually new
- Sharper details, more precise editing, faster generation, per OpenAI.
- Templates: open Images → Templates, pick a category, then customize. Not available in Work mode.
- Sketch on mobile: type @ in the message box, select Sketch, draw, then describe what it should become.
- Editing and comments on mobile: open an image full screen to edit, comment, resize or remove.
- Share a prompt: select Share → Prompt template → Copy link, so someone else can make their own version.
- Images with thinking is on Plus, Pro and Business, with Enterprise and Edu coming.
- It's on all tiers, on web, iOS and Android, and image generation also works in Codex.
Two settings worth knowing: you can ask for a transparent background, and you can set any aspect ratio from the picker or in your prompt.
Six ways to use it
1. Overlay graphics for video. A transparent-background icon or label you can drop onto a screen recording.
A simple line icon of [thing], flat style, single color #2F3B24, transparent background, square.
2. One idea, every aspect ratio. Make the visual once, then regenerate it for each place it has to live.
Regenerate this exact composition at 9:16 for Stories, then 1:1 for the feed. Keep the type sizes readable and don't crop the subject.
3. Sketch to interface. Draw a rough screen on your phone, then have it turned into a clean mockup before you build it.
[Sketch] Turn this into a clean mobile app screen: [what it does]. Neutral UI, real labels from my sketch, no lorem ipsum.
4. A concept picture, not a stock photo. For explaining how something works, ask for a diagram-style image with labels you supply.
A simple diagram showing [A] feeding into [B], with labels exactly as written: [labels]. Flat, plenty of white space, no extra text.
5. Series covers that match. Newsletter headers, guide covers or thumbnails that look like one family.
A cover image for an article titled "[title]". Same palette, layout and type placement as the image I attached. Leave the top third empty for the title.
6. Templates when you're staring at a blank page. Start from Images → Templates for a poster or logo, then replace its details with your own. Answer the follow-up questions with specifics, and attach a reference image if it offers.
Keep a series consistent
One-off images are easy. A consistent set takes two habits:
- Write a style line once and paste it into every prompt: palette, type feel, spacing, mood, and what to avoid.
- Attach the last approved image as a reference for the next one, and say what should stay the same.
Style: [colors], [type feel], generous spacing, no gradients, no stock-photo people. Keep it consistent with the attached image. Change only [the one thing].
Then use Share → Prompt template to keep that recipe, or hand it to someone else on your team.
Where it slips
- Selections aren't exact. OpenAI says edits can extend beyond the area you highlighted. Check the whole image, not just the part you changed.
- Check every word in the image. Anything with text, a logo or a number deserves a careful read before you publish it.
- Deleting an image means deleting its conversation. Images are saved under Images, and that's the way to remove them.
- Templates don't work in Work mode.
- Don't pass generated images off as photos of real products, places or results.
Start here
- Pick the one visual you remake most often
- Build it once, then regenerate it in the other aspect ratios you need
- Save your style line somewhere you'll reuse it
- Try a mobile sketch for the next thing you'd normally wireframe
- Reread the text in any image before it goes out
Go deeper: Claude Design, From First Prompt to Working Code · ChatGPT, End to End · ChatGPT Sites: What to Build, How to Brief It