These are the best free photo editing apps for iPhone and Android

Phones like the iPhone 13 Pro, Pixel 6 Pro and Galaxy S21 Ultra pack cameras that can give DSLRs a run for their money. When we return from our day trip to the hills or our walk through town, it’s easy to forget the images we took that day and let them gather dust further and further into our minds. telephone galleries.

Doing some creative photo editing can be a great way to get the most out of your photography. And it doesn’t matter if you have the latest and greatest phone with the best rear camera setup or an older, cheaper phone. The iPhone App Store and Google Play Store on Android are full of great free and paid photo editing apps that can give your existing photos a whole new look, all from the comfort of your favorite plush chair.

I’ve rounded up a selection of my top picks, so read on, make a cup of tea, and settle in for an evening editing session. You can even Turn your favorite photos into a photo book.

You can also check out these creations ideas to flex your photography muscles at home if you want to film and edit something new.

1.Snapseed

Free on iOS and android.

Snapseed, owned by Google, offers a wide range of exposure and color tools to make edits to your images, but also offers plenty of filtering options, from vintage styles to punchy modern HDR looks. You can layer the effects to create interesting changes on your image. And best of all, it’s totally free.

2.Adobe Lightroom

iOS and androidsome features available for free, or $5 per month for full access.

Adobe Lightroom remains an industry standard for professional photographers and the mobile version is pretty much the same. You won’t find stickers, animations, or emoji here, but you’ll get precise control over your image and the same set of tools you’ll find in Lightroom on the desktop. It’s the app I use the most to edit my own images on my iPhone and iPad, especially because the images sync to the cloud, so I can start on one device and continue on another. .

3.Adobe Photoshop Express

Free on iOS and android.

Photoshop Express has many of the same features you’ll find in Lightroom, including exposure, contrast, and color-editing options, but removes some of the pro tools and cloud syncing and, most importantly, drops the fees. of subscription. It’s a great tool for tweaking your images to bring out their best, but you’ll also find a decent selection of overlay filters and textures, as well as tools for creating cool collages from your images.

It’s not as open to wild creativity as the other options on this list, but it’s a solid editing app at a hard-to-talk-about price.

4. Prism

iOS and android$8 per month or $30 per year.

Prisma does not deal with subtle filters and basic image corrections. Instead, its trippy filters will transform your images into often bizarre artistic creations. The results have a painterly effect and indeed many filters are inspired by artists such as Salvador Dali and Picasso. Filters are powerful and although you can modify them, not all filters will work with all images. I found some to be more suited to portraits while other filters worked better with landscapes.

But it’s great fun to experiment and when you find a photo that works, it really works.

5. Bazaar

iOS only$8 per month or $48 per year.

Bazaart’s editing and collage tools allow you to combine several different elements – from photos to text to graphics – and layer them to create a finished work of art. It has tools that allow you to instantly erase the background behind a portrait subject (I was amazed at how well this worked!) in order to put in a new background or layer multiple effects . It also offers a wide variety of templates to create beautiful collages for Instagram stories.

There are so many different ways to try to compose different images together that the only limit comes down to how creative you are. Head over to Bazaart’s Instagram page for inspiration.

6.Photofox

iOS only.

Like Bazaart, Photofox has powerful tools for removing subjects from the background that allow you to compose new backgrounds or apply impressive effects. I especially like Photofox’s scatter effect, which makes your subject look like it’s bursting into particles (trust me, it’s cool), as well as the glitch effects, and the double exposure that superimposes two images together. one over the other.

As with Bazaart, there are endless possibilities of what you can do by layering and composing different types of images and applying different effects to each.

7.VSCO

iOS and androidfree limited features or $20 per year with a seven-day free trial.

VSCO started life creating color grading presets for Lightroom and its roots are clear in the app today. Rather than offering stickers and animated GIFs to Snapchat enthusiasts, VSCO focuses on the niftiest cinematic color filters. The app offers a huge range of presets, including looks designed to emulate classic film rolls from Fujifilm, Kodak, and Ilford.

It also has a great selection of black and white filters, making it a great choice to experiment with if you like moody monochrome photos.

8. PicsArt

iOS and androidfree limited features or $48 per year for the entire suite.

PicsArt puts a huge range of editing tools at your fingertips, from basic adjustments like exposure and contrast, to cinematic color grading and dramatic filters that turn your images into art-like works of art. paint. There are many options for your face tone and shape in selfies – I won’t get into the ethics of using these tools for “beauty” purposes, but I had fun using the tools to intentionally transform my features into bizarre proportions.

There’s also a whole Instagram-style social sharing element to PicsArt, if you’re interested. Personally, I was mostly interested in the editing options.

Be sure to check my guide to creative home photo projectscheck out our a whole catalog of awesome tips and tricks for better phone photos.