If you’ve been looking for a way to touch up your photos or edit high-definition video footage, there are many image editing apps. But which ones are the best? Whether you’re looking for photo or video processing apps, we’ve found some options that are perfect for all skill levels.
The smartphone is one of the most powerful tools in a photographer’s arsenal. While many smartphone cameras are now capable of producing high-quality images, there are times when it’s helpful to have additional photo effects or edit images beyond what is possible with the phone’s native app. So, we’ve rounded up the six best image editing apps for your phone(iOS and Android), including apps that add filters and text, as well as tools that give you the ability to correct exposure, color, and other image details.
PicsArt
PicsArt is hands down one of the most popular photo-editing apps on mobile devices. With more than 100 million downloads, this free app lets you manipulate photos using a variety of effects and filters. The editing is intuitive, and you can customize the effects and filters to fit your style. There are over 80,000 user-created effects available, so you’re sure to find things that fit your taste.
Snapseed
Snapseed is an image editing app for Android and iOS. The Android version of the app has gained popularity in recent years and is considered by many to be the best image editing app for Android. The app puts the options you want right up front and lets you customize the interface. There’s also a built-in sharing feature compatible with Instagram and Flickr.
Adobe Photoshop Camera
The king of photo editing apps is Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe’s newest offering, Adobe Photoshop Camera, aims to compete with the likes of Apple’s Camera+ and Google’s camera app. While Photoshop Camera doesn’t offer the same degree of control as Photoshop, it does offer some of the basics, namely filters, exposure, cropping, and a handful of other tweaks.
Pixlr
Pixlr is free to download, and the app comes packed with all the essential tools needed to edit photos. With Pixlr, you can add filters, edit lighting, and more. It provides users with the ability to customize their photo filters using a variety of settings, such as contrast, brightness, saturation, and more, as well as the option to apply different effects like vignettes and effects, which can be located at the top toolbar. It also provides a brush tool that can be used to select the area you would like to enhance.
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Creative Cloud’s Lightroom has an easy reputation to uphold. It’s easy to use, intuitive, and gets the job done—that’s why Adobe has made Lightroom their flagship photo editing program. But Adobe’s not the only player out there—there are plenty of excellent free apps that can compete with Lightroom’s feature set, if not surpass it.
Instagram, which makes it easy to touch up portraits on the go. The Instagram app (Android, iOS) gives you access to all the filters and editing tools you’re used to from its desktop and laptop counterparts, as well as the quick filter, which lets you instantly brighten a dark photo or adjust color saturation.
Everyone knows that editing photos are one of those activities that just about anyone can do with the right tools. But if you know what you’re doing, there are some benefits to using the best photo editing apps.