The Best Photo Editing Apps For iOS And Android

For: iOS

If you’re set up on an iPhone and Mac computer, this is the easiest, most seamless method for storing photos — though it will eat up your iCloud quota if you’re not careful with movies. Over the last couple years, Photos’ editing tools have improved dramatically. The sliders for Contrast, Brightness, Brilliance, etc. are more intuitive, the filters are more subtle, and starting with iOS 11, it can handle RAW photos. The auto-enhance function (that magic wand icon on the upper right) is great about half the time, but otherwise, you’re better off adjusting yourself. One complaint: enthusiast amateurs will notice that there’s no way to edit a specific portion of a photo for redeye or blemishes.

For: iOS and Android

If Photoshop or previous versions of Lightroom felt intimidating, the latest versions of Adobe’s apps are easy to learn within a few days. The Exposure, Shadows, etc. tools are fantastic, but the big editing sell is Clarity and Vibrance, which subtly give more depth to images without making it look like you just turned Contrast all the way up. Lightroom is great at editing, but it’s better at organisation and cloud storage — a monthly plan gets you 1TB (for reference, my 15,000 photos and videos adds up to 73 GB) of storage on Adobe’s servers, which means you can access them from any device. It’s the top pick for prosumers, but unless you’re an #influencer, it might be more than you need for that money.

For: iOS and Android

Man, when did every photo app try to be a social network? If you ignore the Discover section, you’ll find loads of functions that helped make “Photoshop” so ubiquitous it became a verb — for example, I used the plaster icon to remove zits from my selfies. You can also add stickers, overlay text, or do that lame colour pop treatment, where only one object is in colour and the rest is black and white. As with Lightroom, for anyone nervous about having to learn a pro-grade system, Adobe’s apps have gotten much more user-friendly.

For: iOS and Android

Originally introduced in 2011 before being bought by Google, Snapseed has been a reliably excellent photo editor for years. Sliding to adjust different settings is intuitive, and the Tools show their effect immediately. It’s wonderfully simple to make basic adjustments. But go deeper, and you’ll functions like selective healing and perspective shift. As in PS Express and VSCO, if you want to have a consistent tone to all your images, you can store your own custom adjustments in “Looks.” It’s a hell of a lot of function for a free and ad-free app.

For: iOS and Android

After pushing through prompts to create an account and to pay $4 monthly for PicsArt Gold, you’ll get to an app that is refreshingly not self-serious. It has the standard tools like Free Crop and sliders for Brightness, Saturation, and Temperature. But you can also build collages, and add stuff like goofy knock-off emojis and lens flare. For me, PicsArt loses major points for forcing you to create a username and password so you can participate in its social network. If that annoys you as much as it does me, there are better options.

For: iOS

A standout editing app for years because it looks and feels like something Apple would’ve made itself. The small conveniences add up. For example, by default, it hides screenshots from your photo collection, so you can concentrate on finding the real photographs you want to edit. The most helpful function, however, you probably won’t notice: when you edit a photo in Darkroom, you don’t need to import it into the app, and you can tell it to modify the original image, rather than producing a copy. It’s not the only app that works this way, but it’s a function I wish every photo app had. Otherwise, you end up with copies and incorrect metadata. Darkroom also has every slider and filter most amateurs could want. If Apple’s Photos app isn’t working for you, this is your next stop.

For: iOS and Android

Among the few apps with olde tyme filters that are subtle enough to look cool. Specifically, VSCO can mimic classic film from Kodak and Fujifilm, and you can subtly tweak those filters to get a custom look. You’ll have to pay for access to all of them, though. The app also loses points for pushing its social network. For example, the arrow icon that looks like it should be the “Share” button that lets you save the photo to your Camera Roll or AirDrop or text? That’s for you to publish your photo to VSCO’s social network system — if Instagram is YouTube, VSCO’s social system is Vimeo: fewer, but more dedicated viewers. If you can deal with that and are willing to pay the annual fee, the filters are the best in the game.