Mobile photography has exploded in popularity with high-quality phone cameras and creative apps letting anyone edit images like a pro. While smartphone cameras have gotten incredibly advanced, the photos can still benefit from editing tweaks and transformations.
That‘s why photo editing apps for iOS and Android have also grown robust in not just adding filters but making complex edits through intuitive tools. From perfecting selfies to populating landscapes, photo editor apps allow enhancing, stylizing and customizing your mobile photos through just a few taps.
We pick the 10 best photo editor apps that let you take your phone photography to the next level through stunning edits and effects whether you’re an amateur or a power user.
1. Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom has long been an essential photo editing toolkit for professionals. Now Adobe Lightroom CC offers that advanced photo editing capability right on your phone through an intuitive interface.
While the free app offers great features, upgrading to paid photo editing plans unlocks sophisticated camera controls, presets, cloud storage access and editing tools powered by Adobe Sensei AI to automatically tune image quality.
Use sliders to fine-tune tones, colors & lighting. Access thousands of presets for one-tap transformations. Adjust perspective and remove undesirable objects with ease. All edits sync across desktop and mobile for consistent photos across devices.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free, paid plans start from $9.99/month
2. Snapseed
Snapseed from Google is a feature-packed photo editor tuned for advanced and precise edits. Use selective edits with brush tools to tweak sections of your photos. The app‘s 29 tools and filters include options to embellish colors, enhance lighting, heal, perspective shift and more.
Snapseed cleverly guides you through granular changes with automatic optimization recommendations. Save custom looks to recreate your signature style. And tap into options like double exposure blending for creative edits.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free
3. Adobe Photoshop Express
Tap into the powerful editing heritage of Photoshop through Adobe’s Photoshop Express app tailored for mobile devices. Choose from an array of easy singular adjustments like auto correct, lighting, color & clarity changes that instantly boost photos.
Take it up a notch with Photoshop Express‘s robust editing toolkit complete with layers, masks, blending and precision tuning. Quickly create photo collages to showcase your best shots. And access premium features like noise reduction through In-app purchases.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free, in-app purchases for premium tools
4. Pixlr
Pixlr offers a lightning-fast editor experience designed for mobile while packing enough editing oomph through tools like layer editing, drawing mode and blended filters. Arrange your photos into stylish collages choosing from sleek layout grids.
The app’s one-tap enhancements like Auto-fix automatically adjust brightness, contrast and colors. Additional touches like text elements, stickers, frames and unexpected backgrounds make it easy to craft polished share-worthy photos. While Pixlr shines for casual users, it surprisingly delivers ample adjustments to appeal to editing enthusiasts.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free
5. Prisma
Transform mobile shots into fine art paintings and drawings with Prisma’s whimsical mashup of AI and presets. Pick from over 300 art filters to reimagine photos mimicking styles of renowned artists. Prisma uses neural networks to “paint” images in the style of your selected filter for artistic renditions bursting with color and texture.
Additional adjustment tools refine the look post filter while options like gradient maps add contrast and punch. Overlay text in a variety of artistic fonts and shapes to complete your pic-turned-work-of art. It’s perfect for igniting experiments in surreal, grungy and futuristic styles.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free
6. PhotoDirector
One of the most robust mobile editors, PhotoDirector feels like a feature-packed desktop app tailored elegantly for phones. Refine colors, lighting and details through multi-layered edits using pro controls like curves, levels & tone mapping. Choose from LUTs like cinematic, vintage and posters to dictate color and style.
Unique touches like content aware removal erase undesirable objects cleanly. Breakthrough AI high-res upscaler enlarges shots without losing quality. And built-in stock library of patterns, textures and shapes opens creative options. It’s the closest to a Swiss army knife for editing needs.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free, in-app purchases for some tools
7. PicsArt
PicsArt has grown into more than just apply artsy filters and overlays. Think full-fledged creation center—make polished photo edits along with sleek pro-level collages, iconic double exposure edits, artistic drawings, dynamic animations and more.
With over 1 billion downloads to date, it offers a rich array of beautifying tools and adjustments like teeth whitener alongside trendy stickers, artistic fonts, clipart, frames and mood-altering filters. Plenty of control through layers and brush tools means you dictate the look versus presets. Ideal for amateur to advanced editors and artists.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free, Gold subscription unlocks extra tools and features
8. ToolWiz
As the name suggests, ToolWiz overflows with a toolbox covering nuanced editing needs while staying easy to navigate thanks to thoughtful AI. From flawless blemish removal to painless object eraser using inpainting techniques, clever AI delivers pro edits in seconds. Dedicated tools refine selfie facial features.
But the app stretches beyond an automated editor by incorporating custom filters, manual color adjustments, distortion fixes, vignette, frames and hdr effects for personalization. Balancing smart automation with on-demand effects makes ToolWiz versatile for users at any level.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free, in-app purchases
9. Photofox
Photofox lets you craft unique edits that stylishly transform mundane shots using painterly and glitchy effects. Apply gradient maps to bathe images in striking highlight and shadow impact. Over 130 handcrafted filters repaint photos in cool matte, dusty, pixelated and lens flare effects artistically.
With floating adjustment tools and no predefined order, experience freedom to design the edit look you envision. Additional overlays, textures and light leaks help cast photos in different moods. Photofox makes digital art creation accessible guided purely by your taste without complex tools hampering the artsy process.
Platform: iOS
Price: Free, in-app purchases for more filters and effects
Download: iOS
10. Visage Lab
Visage Lab focuses on putting the power of professional facial tuning and cosmetic enhancement into your hands. Dedicated high-precision tools allow sculpting and enhancing facial features using subtle tweaks. Optimize lighting and skin quality through layered manual settings or use smart AI optimization for natural touch ups.
On-demand expert coaching guides first-timers in applying the right adjustments through tips and interactive demos. With real-time change previews, craft an improved yet realistic version of facial photos. Visage Lab aims to spread beautifying know-how for universal selfie improvements.
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free, subscription for full features
Here are key benefits that photo editing apps provide over native smartphone camera apps:
Sophisticated Editing Tools
Unlock additional editing controls like curve adjustments, hue shifting & noise removal for professional enhancements.
Artistic Filters & Effects
Change the style and mood of images through crafted presets ranging from high fidelity to surreal.
Easy Object Removal
Seamlessly erase undesirable elements in a photo’s background using content aware removal.
AI-Powered Edits
Automated optimization driven by machine learning algorithms instantly improves photos.
Facial Retouching
Dedicated tools refine facial features in selfies such as tuning skin, eyes, smile etc.
Whilemost apps here satisfy essential editing needs, if we had to crown app winners indifferent scenarios, here are our expert recommendations:
Best Overall: Adobe Lightroom
Hard to beat Lightroom’s combo of automatic AI corrections paired with fine manual adjustments tunable to pixel perfection across devices.
Best Powerful Editor: PhotoDirector
Robust multi-layered editing tools allow tremendous editing control for stunning transformations.
Best Artistic Effects: Prisma
Prisma’s neural art filters infuse painterly styles stunningly well for artsy photo interpretations.
Best Selfie Enhancer: Visage Lab
Tuning and touch up facial photos subtly for natural looking improvements has never been easier.
Best for Fast Edits: Snapseed
Smart automatic tune-up recommendations make boosting photo quality rapid along with creative filter looks.
Most Fun: PicsArt
PicsArt’s massive creative community and assets open a world for experimentation from filters to drawings.
As phone cameras and computational photography advances, photo editing apps keep pace delivering sophisticated editing capabilities once exclusive to desktop software. Phone images have never been more malleable to editors.
But if smartphone camera advancements mean you can simply point and shoot for great photos, why still bother editing images? Photo editing apps open creative avenues through stylized filters and effects that can capture a distinct mood and feel transforming the memory. Other times, they salvage and perfect pictures that may benefit from adjustments.
Ultimately, photo editing apps make it enjoyable exploring what a great camera shot could become. Anyone can level up smartphone shots through pro-like tweaks or just apply some fun polish to pictures. The apps above cover that full range of editing needs making your camera roll shine. Try them to experience how powerfulTouching and transforming photos is just a few taps away on mobile now.
