Abstract: Provided is photoactivated selective release (or PHASR) of droplets from a microwell array enabled by a photoresponsive polymer layer integrated into the microfluidic device. This photoresponsive layer is placed in between a microwell array that traps a large number of droplets and a monolithic flow chamber that can be used for recovery. By using focused light, the photoresponsive layer can either be punctured or induced to create local heating to selectively release droplets. The type of photoacoustic dye and the physical properties of the photoresponsive layer can be engineered to induce either puncture of the membrane or pushing of droplets out of the microwells with low thermal impact on the droplets. This approach has broad application in the field of soft lithography-based microfluidic devices for various applications including photoresponsive valves as well as high throughput single cell sequencing.