You don’t need to print model releases or carry paper around for your models to sign. Your phone does the job, and the signature is legally the same one.
This list used to run to seven apps. It runs to four now, because five of the originals have been pulled from the app stores. That story is worth reading at the bottom if you came here from an older bookmark.
What is a Model Release App?
If you want to get into commercial photography, you’ll be hearing ‘model release’ a lot. But what is it exactly and why do you need it?
A model release is proof that a person gave you permission to sell the images you produce. It protects you from legal problems when the photos are used commercially.
There are a few types. The general model release covers anyone 18 or older. The photo release form for minors covers anyone younger, and needs a parent or guardian. The property release form covers buildings and privately owned places.
You might be wondering why you need proof at all. Isn’t it enough that your model turned up and posed willingly?
People change their minds. Someone can decide a year later that they never agreed to the shoot, and without documentation it is your word against theirs. That is the whole reason the form exists, and it matters most when you plan to make money from the pictures. Most microstock agencies will not accept a submission with people in it unless a release comes with it.
Get the signature before the shoot starts, not after. And bring a witness if you can, because a witness signature makes the document much harder to challenge.
4. Adobe Scan
Adobe Scan is not a release app. It is here because it solves the specific problem of a release you cannot edit.
Some agencies and clients hand you their own form and will not accept a substitute. Adobe Scan turns a photo of that paper into a clean, straightened PDF, which you can then sign in Acrobat Reader. It handles the awkward cases the purpose-built apps refuse to touch.
It is free, and it is on both platforms.
3. Adobe Acrobat Reader
The old version of this article recommended Adobe Fill & Sign. That app no longer exists as a separate download. Adobe folded the feature into Acrobat Reader, so this is the same tool under a different name.
What you get is a way to fill in and sign any PDF on your phone. Take your release, drop it in, tap the fields, sign with a finger. It is not built for photography and has no model database, no agency templates and no reminders.
What it does have is universality. Every client, agency and lawyer can open the file it produces, and you already need it to read PDFs anyway. Treat it as the thing you keep alongside a proper release app, not instead of one.
2. SnapSign
SnapSign is the newest of the group and the one that filled the gap when the older apps disappeared.
It is built around remote signing, which is the part most of the old apps got wrong. You send the release to the model’s phone and they sign it wherever they are. That covers the shoots where the paperwork gets forgotten in the rush and you are chasing a signature two days later.
It carries agency templates, including Getty, and it works on both platforms.
1. Easy Release
Easy Release has been the standard for years and it is still the most complete option.
The feature that keeps it ahead is multi-page releases. On a big commercial shoot with several pages of legalese, everything else on this list makes you compromise. You can customise the wording, which matters when a client’s legal team has opinions about it.
Auto-save is the other reason to pick it. Releases go to the cloud as you create them, so losing your phone does not mean losing the paperwork. Keep that in mind alongside your usual backup routine.
It is the most expensive option here. For anyone shooting commercially it pays for itself the first time a client asks for documentation.
What Happened to the Old Favourites
If you have used this article before, five apps you remember are missing. They were removed from the app stores, not from our list:
- Releases by 500px and Releases by Snapwire are both gone from the App Store. Neither was ever on Android.
- Model Releaser has gone from both stores.
- Model Release Pro and Model Release X have gone from Google Play. Neither had an iOS version.
- Adobe Fill & Sign is no longer a separate app. The feature moved into Acrobat Reader, which is why Acrobat Reader is on the list now.
If one of these is still sitting on an old phone, it will keep working until the next OS update breaks it. Export anything you need before that happens, because you will not be able to reinstall it.
One more option worth knowing: if you shoot for a single agency, check whether their contributor app already has a release tool built in. Getty’s contributor documentation covers their requirements, and using an agency’s own form removes any argument about whether the wording is acceptable.
Conclusion
Most of these apps do the same job, so the choice comes down to how you shoot.
Easy Release if you shoot commercially and need customisable, multi-page forms. SnapSign if you need models to sign after they have gone home. Acrobat Reader and Adobe Scan for the client who insists on their own paperwork.
Whatever you pick, the important habit is not the app. It is getting the signature before the shoot rather than after, and keeping the file somewhere you can find it years later.