With the rise of smartphone photography, photo editing apps have become incredibly popular for editing photos on the go. There are many great options available, including several high-quality apps that are completely free to download and use.
Top Free Photo Editing Apps
Here are some of the best free photo editing apps available for iOS and Android:
- Adobe Photoshop Express
- Snapseed
- Pixlr
- PhotoCollage
- Fotor
- VSCO
- Polarr
Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express provides a scaled down Photoshop experience right on your mobile device. It has many basic editing tools like crop, straighten, rotate, as well as exposure, saturation, contrast, and color adjustments. It also features filters, auto fix, and an option to access Premium more advanced features with a paid Creative Cloud subscription.
Snapseed
Snapseed is developed by Google and provides professional-level photo enhancements. You can fine-tune images with tools like Healing, Brush, Structure, HDR, Perspective, and more. It also features filter effects and the ability to save custom looks. The user interface is clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate.
Pixlr
Pixlr offers robust photo editing tools in an easy-to-use interface. It has all the essentials like crop, resize, color balance, and also more powerful options like layers and blend modes. You can quickly enhance photos with effects like fisheye, vignette, and ink sketch. Pixlr is great for making quick adjustments on the go.
PhotoCollage
As the name suggests, PhotoCollage specializes in tools to easily create collages, cards, and other projects with your photos. You can add backgrounds, frames, stickers, text, and more. It has a simple design interface with templates that make it easy to quickly build customizable photo projects to share.
Fotor
Fotor provides a complete suite of free photo editing features ranging from one-tap enhance tools to more advanced adjustments. It has filters and also useful tools like background changer, portrait retouching, tilt-shift, and radial blur. You can create collages, apply effects, frames, and text as well.
VSCO
VSCO is a popular photo editing app with a great collection of presets that emulate classic film looks. It also has editing tools like crop, straighten, saturation, and more. The interface has a clean and minimal aesthetic. VSCO really shines for giving photos a unique stylized look.
Polarr
Polarr is a nicely designed photo editor with powerful adjustment tools like color balance, curves, and levels. It makes it easy to achieve precise enhancements. Polarr also includes LUTs, filters, overlays, and custom photo stickers. The design interface is modern, intuitive, and smooth.
Key Features to Look For
Here are some of the most useful features to look for in a free photo editing app:
- Crop, rotate, straighten
- Exposure, contrast, saturation
- Color temperature
- Sharpen and blur
- Noise reduction
- Filters and presets
- Blemish removal and healing
- Vignette
- Frames
- Text
- Drawing tools
- Collage
- Layers and blend modes
- HDR
Having an app with a combination of adjustment tools, creative features like filters, and utility functions like cropping and rotating will give you lots of options for editing photos on mobile.
Factors to Consider
When choosing a photo editing app, here are some factors to keep in mind:
- Ease of use – The app should have an intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate.
- Quality of edits – It should provide professional-level adjustment tools for high quality enhancements.
- Range of editing features – Look for a wide variety of filters, effects, cropping options, drawing tools, text, sticker overlays, and frames.
- Output options – Ability to export to social media, camera roll, or share edited photo is useful.
- Ads and in-app purchases – Many free apps have ads and push paid subscriptions or in-app purchases.
- Editing control – Precise slider adjustments give you better control than simple one-tap tools.
Consider which features are most useful for your specific editing needs. A combination of adjustment options, creative tools, and utility functions provide the most versatility.
Conclusion
There are many great free photo editing apps available for iOS and Android. Top options include Adobe Photoshop Express, Snapseed, Pixlr, PhotoCollage, Fotor, VSCO, and Polarr. Look for apps that offer a robust set of adjustment tools, creative filters and effects, as well as utility features like cropping, rotations, and text. The best apps have an intuitive interface, provide precise control, and enable you to export high quality images to share on social media or elsewhere.
With the wide range of quality free photo editing apps, anyone can enhance their images and unleash their creativity without spending money. Give some of these excellent free options a try next time you need to edit a photo on your phone.