What’s the best app for editing your photos? We’ve done the research, and found the best image-editing apps available today. Learn more about our favorites, including Adobe Photoshop Fix and Enlight Photofox, then start editing your photos.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Image Editing
- PicsArt (Android, iOS)
Screens from PicsArt, our choice as the best photo editing app
PicsArt (Image credit: Future/Sally Grotta)
PicsArt is our top pick of the best photo editing apps, because it’s fun, easy to use, yet covers just about all the bases for consumer mobile photography. It provides lots of creative control, excellent image-editing tools and a large variety of attractive filters. In addition, you can quickly select or create fun stickers, combine your pictures into highly customizable collages, add artistic text and share. The full-featured camera module includes pre-capture effects and photo tools.
You can use Remix Chat to share and collaboratively edit photos with the 150 million monthly users of PicsArt, or only with your friends. In-app tutorials are easy to follow, and challenges prompt users to submit their creations based on a specific type of edit or a theme; winners are selected by community vote.
However, ads for PicsArt premium pop up frequently (and annoyingly) in the middle of editing processes. To turn them off — and to have the video editor, plus more tools, filters and content — you have to buy a premium subscription for $11.99 for a single month or $55.99/year. (There’s also a student discount).
PicsArt offers a rich and highly accessible collection of photo-editing and collaging tools for consumer photographers. And it provides lots of creative control while keeping everything fun and lively.
Download PicsArt: Android, iOS
- Snapseed (Android, iOS)
Screens of the Snapseed photo editing app
Snapseed (Image credit: Future/Sally Grotta)
Snapseed isn’t for the casual user, but rather for serious photographers who want or need to spend time creating the best possible image while on the go. As such, it has a full array of top-notch editing tools, including selective edit brushes, plus a nice collection of film-related filters (such as Lens Blur, Retrolux and Double Exposure).
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For detail-oriented photographers, Snapseed can be not only fun but also addictive. We enjoyed just wandering through its range of exposure, color, masking and reshaping tools, brushes, and filters as we experimented with different settings. Because the editing is nondestructive, you can always go into the Stack (the layers of edits) and adjust or eliminate any edit (including correcting misspelled text). Or you can use a Stacks brush to apply an effect to only a portion of your picture. In addition, you can save a Stack of edits you’ve applied to a picture as a “Look,” which can then be applied to other photos and shared with other users.
Snapseed’s excellent traditional tools and nondestructive editing make it one of the best photo editing apps for serious photographers who want or need to spend time fine-tuning their pictures. The app is free and there is no premium version.
Download Snapseed: Android, iOS
- Adobe Photoshop Camera (Android, iOS)
Screens of the Adobe Photoshop Camera photo editing app
Adobe Photoshop Camera (Image credit: Future/Sally Grotta)
Adobe Photoshop Camera is one of the best photo editing apps due to its AI, which applies special effects and photo corrections before or after you shoot with your phone’s camera.
Photoshop Camera uses filters, called “lenses,” to apply special effects or make adjustments to color, lighting and clarity. But what makes Camera special is the use of Adobe Sensei which automatically identifies the type of photo (portrait or landscape) and creates masks for key aspects, such as a face or the sky. So, for instance, the sky lenses can change the color of the sky, add or remove clouds, and even add the appropriate reflections in a body of water, without affecting other portions of the picture. In addition, some lenses have “sprites” — smart objects that can be pinched, zoomed and moved within a Sensei-identified area of the picture. That makes it possible to position and resize lens-placed objects (such as planets or clouds). And some lenses have small animations, like shooting stars or a blasting-off rocket ship.
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The iPad version of Adobe Photoshop has a few clever desktop features, such as the refine edge brush, which lets you better define an object you want to select, and rotate canvas. Both features are touch-enabled, too.
Adobe promises that it will add new lenses (all free) on a regular basis, some created by celebrity artists and influencers. Since each of the lenses has variations (accessed by swiping right or left), you can have hours of photo adventures. PS Camera is a delightful app that is essentially push-button photography, even though you can make some adjustments to the effects. As such it will appeal more to fun-loving photographers, rather than pros or serious amateurs. The app is free and there is no premium version.
Download Adobe Photoshop Camera: Android, iOS
- Pixlr (Android, iOS)
Screenshots of the Pixlr photo editing app
Pixlr (Image credit: Future/Sally Grotta)
Pixlr is one of the best photo editing apps for the casual photographer who wants to do just a bit of fine-tuning, perhaps add some neat effects and then share on whatever social networks are on their phone. The intuitive interface is easy to master, so you can get right into the fun of playing with your pictures.
Pixlr has a nice variety of easy-to-use photo adjustment tools, without overwhelming you with choices. This includes brushes to apply selective edits (such as darken or undo). The libraries of special effect filters, overlays, and borders are fun and generally attractive. The cartoonish stickers are varied and fun. Quickly create collages, using preset layouts or designed templates that allow you to shuffle your photos, as well as zoom and move them within the placeholders.
The premium version ($1.99/month or $11.99/year) turns off the ads and provides lots more content (stickers, overlays, borders, and fonts). While serious photographers might find Pixlr’s library of editing tools too shallow, casual users will enjoy the app’s easy creativity.
Download Pixlr: Android, iOS
- Adobe Lightroom (Android, iOS)
Screenshots of the Adobe Lightroom photo editing app
Adobe Lightroom (Image credit: Future/Sally Grotta)
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The mobile version of Adobe Lightroom (iOS and Android) is part of a cloud-based workflow that includes storage of your entire photo library and access to the full-resolution files (original and edited) on all your devices (mobile, laptop and desktop). So, when purchased with the entire Lightroom system (starting at $9.99/month), you’re buying into a powerful photo-processing ecosystem that provides professional-level control and quality. However, if all you want is a top-notch photo app on your phone or tablet, the standalone Lightroom Mobile is free, or you can pay $4.99/month for a Premium subscription that gives you 100GB of storage space.
Lightroom Mobile is a great learning platform. Its ever-growing library of interactive tutorials will teach you to edit your images like a pro. And that’s good, because the feature set is quite deep, with dozens of tools to work with exposure, color, selective edit, filters and such. The vast majority of edits involve slider controls, with quick responsiveness so you know exactly how the adjustment affects your picture. What’s more, the edits are non-destructive, so you can always return to your original image. In addition to the intuitive social sharing, Lightroom has a Discover area, where you can see animations of the steps other photographers and artists used to create their best images. Plus, you can contribute your own edited pictures to Lightroom Discover.
Lightroom Mobile is a top-notch photo app for anyone serious about getting the very best out of their photographs. But it may be overkill for folks who don’t want to spend the time doing more than a quick brightening, crop or special effect before sharing their pictures.
Best photo editing app free
. PhotoDirector – Best Free Photo Editor App
Use the best photo editor app PhotoDirector Mobile to add animated stickers or remove people from pictures
Compatibility: iOS, Android
Overall Rating: 10/10
Key Features:
Lighting and color tools
Filters and effects
Sky replacement and light ray tools
Photo retouch, red-eye removal, and beauty retouch tools
Animation tools and animated overlays
AI technology
Built-in stock library
PhotoDirector combines complete creative control, a user-friendly interface and a royalty-free stock library provided by Shutterstock and iStock. Whether you’ve spent years learning the ins and outs of advanced editing techniques or just begun your creative journey, PhotoDirector’s professional-quality tools can transform a quick snap into a stunning image.
Along with all the basic editing tools, you can experiment with color grading, making personalized collages, object removal tools, or AI-powered sky replacement for adding flawless sunsets to your images.
You can even animate photos using the guided animation modules. Draw motion lines and create anchor points for a customized animation or add already animated stickers and decor to delight your followers.
Alongside animation, PhotoDirector also makes the most popular Instagram effects easy to apply. While some apps feature advanced techniques that overwhelm or intimidate beginners, PhotoDirector’s user-friendly interface and straightforward functions will simplify the process.
No matter if you’re editing one photo or hundreds, you can quickly upload, adjust, and create on-the-go with your phone or seamlessly transition to your Chromebook or tablet for edits at home.
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Free Download
For Android and iOS devices
Need the desktop version for Windows and macOS? Get your Free Download here.
- Pixlr – Best Photo Editor For Filters
Pixlr app UI
Compatibility: iOS, Android
Overall Rating: 9/10
Key Features:
The free version includes some basic editing tools, filters, and overlays
The app comes with several collage templates for easy creation
Its beginner-friendly interface works well for those with little or no experience with editing software
Pixlr specializes in providing just enough variety for users. You won’t ever feel overwhelmed by the available options. Still, you can use intuitive brushes as well as preset effects, overlays, and style filters to transform your photos into black-and-white, film, or sepia tones.
While Pixlr is free to download, the free version of the app has ads and limits your access to editing tools.
Casual users may enjoy the simplicity of the Pixlr app, but anyone who wants access to comprehensive editing tools and advanced effects may find Pixlr lacking in more than one area. Pixlr’s Premium subscription, however, does offer access to more editing tools.
- Pixlr – Best Photo Editor For Filters
PicsArt app UI
Compatibility: iOS, Android
Overall Rating: 9/10
Key Features:
Good lineup of editing tools for casual photographers
Wide variety of stickers, filters, and personalized collages
Simple, easy to use interface that allows beginners to edit without a learning curve
PicsArt combines community with a user-friendly editing app for a fun, creative experience without a lot of hassle. While the free app features ads that pop up while editing, even those who are brand new to photo editing can access all the basic tools while enjoying stickers, collage templates, and text functions.
You can also use PicsArt with your camera, applying filters, effects, and overlays to photos before you take them. Quickly crop, resize, flip/rotate, and enhance photos using the PicsArts “Effect” menu, or use the Dispersion tool to create dramatic images with the click of a finger.
If your interest in photography extends to sharing daily moments with your family, then PicsArt’s functional tools can help you make minor tweaks and adjustments to your snaps. You can also enjoy trendy filters, colorful text, cloning options, and an eraser tool to remove objects from your photos.
Unlike some other free editing apps, PicsArt even offers a “Motion” effect, allowing you to animate your images.
However, the major disadvantage to the PicsArt lies in its pricey premium subscription and lack of truly advanced editing tools such as sky replacement, light rays, and other features.
- Snapseed – Best Photo Editor App for Casual Users
Snapseed app UI
Compatibility: iOS, Android
Overall Rating: 8/10
Key Features:
Over 30 professional-quality editing tools
Presets and filters for one-tap editing
If you’re searching for a fun, simplistic photo editing app for casual use, Snapseed may not be the best app for you. Featuring a line-up of professional-quality editing tools, options to adjust color and exposure, and selective editing tools to perfect every image, Snapseed’s powerful capabilities make it well suited for experienced content creators and photographers in search of a mobile editing interface.
While the editing platform is simple and streamlined, the array of editing tools – such as curves, imagine tuning, selective brushes, and detailed lighting and color scales – may feel overwhelming to beginners who only want to make a few small tweaks.
However, if you’ve got some experience in editing photos, you may enjoy the variety of options as well as the ability to layer edits and save “Looks” to apply to photos later. You can also use Snapseed’s portrait mode to smooth skin, brighten eyes, and create a pro-quality image. You can even use more advanced editing techniques like Bokeh with Snapseed’s lens blur tool.
Snapseed also comes with several filters you can customize using the app’s 30-plus editing tools. Additionally, the app is totally free with no premium features.
That said, while Snapseed comes with more editing tools and filters than the other apps mentioned in this guide, the learning curve may be intimidating to novice users.
- Adobe Photoshop Camera – Best Photo Editor For Taking Pictures
Adobe Photoshop Camera app UI
Compatibility: iOS, Android
Overall Rating: 8/10
Key Features:
The app adds new lenses regularly, with a variety of adjustable options
Adobe Sensei tailored masks and filters based on the type of photo
Easy, point-and-shoot style of editing works well for inexperienced users
Photoshop Camera uses an AI function, called Adobe Sensei, to apply masks, special effects, and some photo corrections to photos before or after you capture the image. The app’s filters – known as “lenses” – offer a wide variety of colors, lighting options, and special effects to transform your photo in a single click.
Some lenses also include animated elements, such as shooting stars or movable smart objects.
Adobe continues to add new lenses to the app, each with several variations that can result in highly stylized photos. That said, while the app allows amateur photographers to get creative with point-and-shoot photographs, the lack of essential editing tools or advanced functions like animation, sky replacement, and the Bokeh effect make it more suited to casual users than serious content creators.
Conclusion
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