Photo editing apps are crucial to any phone photographer’s arsenal. These smartphone apps can perform many adjustments, from enhancing detail to removing unwanted items. They allow us to tweak our images to get the best possible tones and colors out of any environment.
The best free photo editing apps will improve the quality of our photos while providing good usability. Our list of the best free photo editing apps includes various approaches for different types of photography. Read on to find the best photo editing app for you.
© Yan Krukau
What to Look For in Photo Editing Apps
Photo editors are some of the most popular apps for smartphones. So you need to know what to look for to select the best one. Here are a few pointers you’ll need to consider.
Easy User Interface
Smartphones have small screens compared to computers. So you only have so much space to edit the details in your images. That’s why your photo editor needs to have a well-organized user interface. You need to easily find the tools you need and use them efficiently.
Quality Presets
These days, just about every photo editing app features presets or filters. But most of them tend to vary in quality. Instagram is a perfect example of terrible filters. And using their presets often results in muddy photos with unnatural colors. The best smartphone apps have presets that change the look of your images without making them appear artificial.
Advanced Features
Most people are satisfied with a photo editor that does nothing but add filters to their photos. But why stop there? You can use editing functions to remove blemishes and even add graphics. Photo apps vary wildly when it comes to advanced features.
You will now find most photo editing apps have AI features. These systems can read our photos and edit them accordingly.
Usage
There are 100% free photo editing apps, and some offer a free version with limited functionalities. Of course, choosing the app that lets you do the most without paying is best. Only one app on this list charges nothing at all. Snapseed has no subscription, no in-app purchase, no ads and no watermark. Every other app here is free to download and then sells a premium tier, so research the app you like and find out how much editing it lets you do for free.
Updates
Improving software isn’t just necessary for adding features. It also helps solve issues that may appear when you’re using the program. If the app you have right now doesn’t offer updates, you may want to consider looking at other options. Otherwise, you’ll soon have outdated software that doesn’t work as well as before.
Which One Should You Pick?
Match the app to the job. For all-round editing of exposure, color and detail, start with Snapseed or Adobe Lightroom. For a specific look, Afterlight, VSCO and Foodie sell that in their presets. For social graphics, templates and collages, use Canva, Picsart or Instasize. For removing and repairing things, TouchRetouch, Facetune, YouCam Perfect and Polish are built for it. Most phone photographers end up with two apps: one for the edit, one for the look.
© Thirdman
17 Best Free Photo Editing Apps
It isn’t surprising that the best photo editing app comes from the digital imaging giant, Adobe. But thanks to its brilliant consideration for the mobile user experience and its excellent editing abilities, it is the best phone app for photo editing.
Lightroom covers a wide range of photo editing. It provides the basic range of photo editing adjustments, including automatic edits and AI abilities. It even has quick object removal and background blur options, perfect for in-depth customization.
Adobe has considered every small aspect of the user experience. All the controls are easy to operate, and the crop options include all social media formats. You can also create and apply presets and edit videos. All this tells us you may not need another photo editing app on your phone.
If you want more in-depth customization in a photo editing app, take a look at Photoshop Express. This app allows you to perform dramatic selective edits that can completely change your photograph.
The biggest advancement in the Photoshop Express app comes from the use of AI. You can add generative AI elements directly to your photo. The use of AI makes object and background removal much more accurate as well.
On top of these advanced features, Photoshop Express is a great app for creating collages and adding custom frames and presets to your photos. This photo editing app is ideal for those who want to spend time photo editing on their phone.
It is not a pocket Photoshop, though. The app has no layers, no blending modes and no smart objects, and RAW import and offline editing sit behind Photoshop Express Premium. Composite work still belongs on a computer.
VSCO is a free photo editing app that focuses on the immediate emotion you get from photographs. It does this by using presets that edit the color and, therefore, the feel of the photograph.
You are able to create simple edits that reflect film photography. VSCO also provides AI-recommended presets. This can help you search through the hundreds of presets they have. You can edit each preset as well.
VSCO is also able to create collages and special in-camera effects with its camera app. It can also be a great way to share images. VSCO is for photographers who want to color grade their photographs to a specific feel. The catch is that VSCO’s complete library of 200-plus presets needs a paid Membership, so the free app gives you a working set rather than the whole thing.
Snapseed is the only app on this list that charges nothing at all. Google rebuilt it as version 4, and every tool in it is free, with nothing to buy inside the app and no watermark on what you export. That alone makes it the first app to put on a new phone.
The rebuild kept the professional controls. Curves, RAW Develop, White Balance, Color HSL and the Brush are all still there, so you can tune exposure and color to a fine degree, and every effect has customization options. Healing removes small distractions and Selective lets you push brightness or saturation in one part of the frame without touching the rest.
Version 4 added the things that make photos look like film. There are simulations of historic film stocks, plus Halation, Bloom and Grain for analog glow and texture. One-tap masking isolates your subject or background, batch editing applies a look across a whole set of photos, and Snapseed now has its own camera that shoots straight into a film look. What it does not do is design work: there are no collage layouts and no templates, so pair it with Canva or Picsart if you also build graphics.
Afterlight is a free photo editing app that focuses on presets and other visual effects rather than in-depth editing. The simplistic user interface is perfect for photographers who don’t want to spend too much time on photo editing apps.
You are able to customize your edits. Afterlight places all these controls at the bottom of the app, putting your images at the front and center. This makes adjusting edits easy to customize. You will also find a range of framing and photo layering options, plus 300-plus film-inspired presets and real 35mm light leak and dust overlays.
Afterlight has no AI tools at all. There is no object removal and no background replacement here, so it is the wrong pick if you want to erase something rather than restyle it.
Canva is one of the ideal photo editing apps for people who want to make graphic designs out of their photographs. An app like this is perfect for content creators who want custom graphics for their social media platforms.
Canva allows you to perform a huge range of actions from your smartphone. It even has basic editing functions and effects, so you do not have to use another app. The most useful feature is that it connects to your desktop app, so working on images and designs can be done on the go, with 5 GB of storage on the free plan.
Canva is a design tool that happens to edit photos. If you want curves, color grading or RAW control, this is not the app to reach for.
The PhotoDirector app is another app that is absolutely loaded with features. Their desktop app has an incredible selection of tools that allow photographers to access all aspects of photo editing. And their mobile app isn’t any different.
The PhotoDirector app is an excellent option for photographers who want to try a wide range of photo editing tools. From enhancing to body editing, resizing to sharpening, there are few photo editing tools that you cannot find in this app.
The trade-off is focus. CyberLink now leads the app with AI video, face swaps and virtual try-on rather than with photo editing, and the heaviest of those tools belong to the paid tier. Treat the free app as a place to experiment, not as your everyday editor.
Picsart is another photo editing app that allows you to create unique designs using your photographs. The app is ideal for quick product shots with the remove background feature and a smart AI background feature. These features help isolate your subjects and make them the center of attention.
The app also gives you a wide range of design templates to help you create easy graphic designs for social media content. It can be extremely simple to add text to your images. There is even an option to generate AI images inside the application.
Picsart is built for designers and content creators. It is not the app for careful tonal work on a photograph, and its best AI tools are part of the paid plan.
Prisma provides its users a dedicated approach to transforming your photos into works of art. It provides a huge selection of filters, and each one comes with basic editing tools to fine-tune your effects.
The functionality and user experience are what make this app shine. Every detail is considered to make your photos unique and exactly how you like them. This results in an app that allows you to unleash your creativity. Prisma is a photo editing app that is ideal for photographers who want to see their images in a new light.
Prisma is the one entry here we would flag before you download it. The iPhone version has not had an update since October 2023, the Android version carries ads, and the full style library and HD saving need a subscription once the three-day trial ends. It still works, and nothing else on this list turns a photo into a painting as convincingly, but treat it as a novelty rather than something to build a workflow on.
Pixlr is a simple-to-navigate photo editing app that does a great job of providing easy adjustments to our pictures. Each tool is easy to control and makes photo editing an easy task. There are also plenty of options for collages and a wide range of templates to help you create custom designs.
Pixlr is best for photographers who want to quickly add certain overlays and effects to their images. It is less in-depth than other photo editing apps on this list, but it can perform simple tasks quickly and easily.
Pixlr’s headline features are its AI tools, and those are the part you pay for. Generative fill, AI object removal and the video generator all need a premium subscription, so the free app is the simple editor described above.
TouchRetouch is one of the photo editing apps that specializes in removing unwanted objects from your photographs. It is ideal for removing small imperfections or distracting objects from your photos. You can swipe over the object with your finger, and the content-aware fill will replace it.
Photo editing apps like this can turn holiday photos into how you truly remember them without the other tourists standing in the background. There is also line removal, that can get rid of electricity lines that are often distracting to the eye.
The app has moved well past pure brushwork. Erase AI now finds background clutter such as street signs, bins and traffic lights on its own, mesh removal deals with fences and railings, and there are background replacement and natural face retouch tools as well.
TouchRetouch does one job. It has no exposure, color or curve controls, so it sits alongside your main editor rather than replacing it.
Polish is a photo editing app that centers around AI features. This approach means the user will have a range of one-click edits that automatically enhance photos. A few of these features are HD portrait, Remove Object, Smart AI Cutout, and Trendy Makeup.
In addition, the app lets you create collages and slideshows. These can be great ways to display multiple images. Polish could be the app for you if you are looking for an app that can cover a wide range of automatic photo edits.
One thing to check first. Polish is an iPhone app, and there is no version of it on Google Play. Android users wanting the same one-tap cleanup should look at TouchRetouch or YouCam Perfect instead.
YouCam Perfect is another all-in-one photo editor that gives you a wide range of AI controls. This app has regular photo editing tools, but it boasts other features like Remove Object and Body Tuner.
This app is great for photographers who want to quickly enhance their images. The AI Enhance tool can sharpen up your photo in seconds. YouCam Perfect is ideal for influencers or people wanting to add an extra touch to their image before putting it on social media.
The app leans hard on beauty retouching, and its presets go further than most photographs need. Back the sliders off when you are editing a portrait that should still look like the person in it.
BeFunky is a fun and simple photo editing app that is ideal for all photographers, from beginners to everyday shooters. You will find all the basic editing tools in this app and a range of more advanced ones. The interface is easy to navigate, and each adjustment is simple to control.
BeFunky focuses on some more fun aspects of photo editing. You will find features that turn your photographs into paintings, cartoons, sketches, and more. This is a great way to share images with friends or produce your own unique cards or prints. It also runs with no ads and no sign-up, which is rare on this list.
BeFunky is not a precision editor, though. The artsy effects are the point, so reach for something else when a photo needs real tonal work.
Facetune is another one of the photo editing apps that are great for subtle touch-ups as well as full portrait transformations. As a retouching app, it specializes in producing fashion-like portraits where every detail of the photograph is free of imperfections.
The app has a range of one-click edits to specific controlled tools. The more specific tools have easy brush features that you can control with your finger. This is an easy way to select the imperfections in your photographs. You will also find tools to enhance your smile or even change your hair color.
Facetune only makes sense on people. There is nothing here for landscapes, product shots or street photography, and the free tier holds most of the newer AI tools back.
Instasize is one of the best photo editing apps for simplicity. The app focuses on providing crop abilities for different aspect ratios for social media. Since the app has been successful, you can now find other useful actions, such as background removal and enhancement.
This app is ideal for phone photographers who know the kind of actions they will take rather than looking for experimentation. The simplicity of the app is its winning feature. Combining this with great abilities, Instasize is perfect for those who want simple edits.
It is a cropping and framing tool at heart. If you want to change how a photograph actually looks, edit it somewhere else first and bring it here to size.
Foodie specializes in food photography. It is an app that prioritizes editing through presets and filters. This makes it easy to transform our images to fit a particular aesthetic. It still has a wide range of basic photo editing tools.
A great feature of Foodie is its in-app camera. This camera comes with a range of different film and camera types that replicate certain styles. Its smart guide even lines up top-down shots for you, which is the angle most food photos want.
Foodie only knows one subject. It has no AI tools and no object removal, so it belongs on your phone as a second app rather than your only one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which free photo editing app is completely free?
Snapseed. Google’s app costs nothing and sells nothing inside itself, and version 4 opens up every tool it has. Every other app on this list is free to download and sells a premium tier on top of it.
What is the best free photo editing app for beginners?
BeFunky or Adobe Lightroom. BeFunky runs with no ads and no sign-up, and its one-tap enhancers do most of the work for you. Lightroom’s Quick Actions and Adaptive Presets do the same job while leaving you room to grow into the manual controls.
Do these photo editing apps work on both Android and iPhone?
All of them except Polish, which is an iPhone app with no Google Play version. The other sixteen are on both the App Store and Google Play.
Which free app is best for removing objects from photos?
TouchRetouch is the specialist. Its Erase AI finds background clutter on its own, and it also removes wires, fences and people. Snapseed’s Healing tool, Adobe Lightroom’s Generative Remove and Picsart’s Object Remover each do a version of the same job inside a broader editor.
Can a phone app replace desktop photo editing software?
For social and web work, yes. Snapseed and Adobe Lightroom both open RAW files and give you curves and selective adjustments. What phone apps still lack is layers. Photoshop Express has no layers, blending modes or smart objects, so composite work stays on a computer.
Conclusion: Best Photo Editing Apps
After looking at the best photo editing apps, we can see that there is a wide selection of apps to choose from. They fall into four groups: all-in-one editors, filter and effect apps, graphic design tools, and retouching apps. Some combine several of these, and most include basic editing tools.
Be clear about what free means before you commit. Every app here is free to download, but only Snapseed gives you everything it has with nothing held back. The rest keep something for a paid tier, which is worth knowing before you build a habit around a feature you will later have to buy.
Start with Snapseed. It costs nothing and it covers most of what a photograph needs. Add Adobe Lightroom next if you want presets and sync between your phone and your computer. After that, only add a third app when you hit a job those two cannot do, such as a collage, a specific film look, or an object you need gone.
