In today’s digital world, photos have become an integral part of our lives. From capturing special moments to showcasing our creativity, we use photos for a variety of purposes. However, sometimes our photos may not turn out as we hoped. Fortunately, there are numerous photo editing applications available that can help us enhance our photos and make them more attractive. In this article, we will explore 15+ of the best photo editing applications.
16 of the best photo editing applications for you
We have compiled a list of the best photo editing apps for you. You can also use some of them as video editing applications, you know, like VSCO Cam and Snapseed.
These apps also allow you to turn your photos into a source of cash. Either through various places selling photos online, or through websites.
Here are the recommendations for the best photo editing applications for Android, iPhone, and desktop phones:
1. PicsArt
- Platform: Android, iOS, PC (online)
- Price: free, premium version starts from around IDR 75,000/month.
- Pros: provides complete photo editing features such as custom image sizes, various filters, cropping, and changing the background.
- Disadvantages: performance may be heavy and even crash on some devices.
- Media format support: JPG, WEBM, MP4 (free); PNG, PDF (premium).
PicsArt is one of the best photo editing apps that are suitable for beginners who want to edit photos quickly. This application provides a variety of complete photo editing features, filters, stickers, collages, and adding text.
For those of you who use social media like Instagram and Facebook, PicsArt might be one of the best photo editing apps that you should consider.
2. Canva
- Platform: Android, iOS, desktop (online)
- Price: free, premium version starts from around ₦2,800/month
- Pros: uses a beginner-friendly drag-and-drop system
- Disadvantages: not available offline and only suitable for simple designs
- Media format support: JPG, PNG, PDF, GIF (free); SVG (premium)
Canva is an online graphic design application that offers a range of features for creating social media graphics, posters, and flyers. It is an excellent option for those who want to create visually stunning designs without any graphic design experience.
That’s because Canva provides a variety of filters, as well as basic photo editing features such as zooming in and out of photos, combining multiple photos, and adding design elements.
Of course, using Canva is quite easy. From individuals, and small businesses, to online entrepreneurs, anyone who wants to edit photos can use this photo editing application for personal or professional purposes.
3. Adobe Photoshop Express
- Platforms: Android, iPhone, desktop (app)
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦4,500/month.
- Pros: provides various features to edit simple photos quickly and easily, such as filters and crop.
- Disadvantages: features in the free version are quite limited.
- Photo format support: JPG, PNG, SVG
Adobe Photoshop Express is a photo editing application developed by Adobe and focused on mobile devices. Therefore, the features of this photo editing application are quite simple.
Through Adobe Photoshop Express, you can use various basic photo editings features such as cropping, adjusting color and contrast, creating and applying presets, and applying filters and effects.
In addition, because it was developed by Adobe, it is certain that Adobe Photoshop Express is one of the best photo editing applications that you should choose.
4. PhotoScape
- Platform: Android, iOS, desktop (app)
- Price: free
- Pros: provides complete basic features for photo editing
- Disadvantages: the available features are quite basic, so they are not suitable for expert levels
- Photo format support: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, and RAW
If you are looking for a free photo editing app for Android and iOS, consider PhotoScape. This application provides basic features that allow you to edit camera captures easily and quickly.
However, the free version has quite limited features. If you need more complex features, there is also a paid version available, PhotoScape X. This version is also recommended for Windows 10 and Mac users.
5. Pixlr
- Platform: Android, iOS, desktop (app)
- Price: free, premium version starts from around ₦1,000/month.
- Pros: provides auto-fix and auto-contrast features for quick editing of multiple images.
- Weaknesses: the choice of filters and templates is not too much.
- Media format support: PSD, PXD, JPEG, PNG, WEBP, SVG
If you are looking for an application for editing photos that can be used both online and offline, Pixlr will probably be your favorite.
This photo editing application provides complete and professional photo editing tools, Pixlr offers a variety of advanced features such as curve settings, blending effects, and editing layers separately.
6. PhotoGrid
- Platform: Android, iPhone, desktop (online)
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦ 1,500/month
- Pros: user-friendly interface, lots of collage features available, and easy-to-use grids.
- Weaknesses: there are times when advertisements on the web or application versions are quite annoying to users, and the choice of photo formats is few
- Photo format support: JPG, PNG
As the name implies, PhotoGrid focuses more on providing various photo collages, as well as attractive layouts and effects. Even though the photo editing features are not as sophisticated as other applications, you can still add filters, effects, text, or stickers to photos.
This photo editing application is suitable for those of you who like social media and like to share stories through photo collages. For sure, your photos will be more interesting with this photo editing application.
7. B612
- Platforms: Android and iOS
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦ 2,000/month
- Pros: has many unique features such as AR face filters
- Disadvantages: contains ads and editing features are quite limited compared to other, more professional applications
- Photo format support: JPG, PNG, and HEIC
B612 is also one of the best photo editing applications lists. Especially for those of you who like to take selfies or want to take photos with a unique perspective.
Through this photo application, you will be spoiled with unique features such as Augmented Reality (AR), beautifying cameras, real-time beauty effects, photo collages, and up to more than 1500 beautiful filters and effects.
8. BeautyPlus
- Platform: Android, iOS, desktop (online)
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦ 4,500/month
- Pros: has interesting features to beautify the face and body in photos
- Disadvantages: some of the beautification features may be too much to make photos look unnatural
- Photo format support: JPEG, PNG, and BMP
Next, Beauty Plus. As the name suggests, this app offers a variety of photo editing tools to beautify your face and body. Such as smoothing, whitening teeth, and improving skin tone.
Downloaded by more than 100 million users, BeautyPlus is a mainstay for influencers, celeb grams, or anyone who wants to make their photos look more attractive.
9. Take
- Platform: Android dan iPhone
- Price: free
- Pros: you can enjoy all the features for free and without a watermark
- Cons: photo editing features are not very advanced
- Photo format support: JPG, PNG, and GIF
Do you like taking selfies? If so, Cymera is perfect for answering your photo editing needs. This best free photo editing application provides a variety of features to improve photo quality, especially for selfie mode.
Cymera’s mainstay feature is a tool for editing facial beauty, making collages, and sharing photos easily on social media. What’s more, Cymera is also a free photo editing app!
10. Photo Lab Editor
- Platform: Android, iOS, dan desktop (online)
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦ 2,500/month
- Pros: offers facial photo montage maker features, animation effects, to unique photo frames
- Disadvantages: displays ads that are sometimes annoying
- Photo format support: JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF
Photo Lab Editor is one of the most popular photo editing applications. Downloaded by more than 100 million users on the Play Store, this application offers advanced features and is easy to use.
Photo Lab’s main features include Neural Photo Art Styles to turn any photo into a more artistic one, face photo montages, realistic photo effects, and create collages with awesome layouts.
11. VSCO Cam
- Platforms: Android, iPhone, desktop (app)
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦ 10,000/year
- Pros: provides many preset options, as well as montage and collage features
- Disadvantages: the features for the free version are quite limited, and how to use it is not very beginner-friendly
- Photo format support: JPEG, PNG, RAW, TIFF, DNG
VSCO Cam is an application for editing photos that is quite popular, especially among professional photographers, influencers, and celebrities. This is inseparable from the uniqueness of VSCO Cam which allows its users to get photos with smooth and natural edits.
Using VSCO Cam, you can enjoy filter film emulation. This filter mimics the look of the film, giving photo edits a smoother, more luxurious look. In addition, there are also photo presets that allow you to edit photos quickly and easily.
Not surprisingly, this photo editing application is also one of the best options we recommend.
12. Snapseed
- Platforms: Android and iOS
- Price: free
- Pros: provides features to improve image quality such as softening photos and improving image quality at some point.
- Disadvantages: not friendly for beginners, and sometimes lags or crashes.
- Media format support: JPG, PNG
Snapseed is a photo editing application made by Google. The available features range from editing tools to beautifying photos, including effects, cropping, and color control.
If you need a sophisticated and detailed photo editing application, maybe Snapseed is the answer. Because its features are quite complex, Snapseed is widely used by professional photographers and graphic designers.
13. Unfold
- Platform: Android dan iPhone
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦ 1,500/month
- Pros: provides many editing features to make photos more aesthetic, especially on Instagram
- Disadvantages: features in the free version are quite limited
- Photo format support: JPG and PNG
Unfold is a mobile-only app designed to make your Instagram content even more interesting. This application is suitable for those of you who need an aesthetic Instagram feed or combine photos and text with a beautiful appearance.
This photo editing application provides various kinds of content templates for Instagram. They range from simple to complex, and with fonts and styles that you can customize yourself.
14. Afterlight
- Platforms: Android and iOS
- Price: free, paid version starts from ₦ 1,500/month
- Pros: provides a variety of unique features that other applications do not have such as Dust and Light Leak Overlay and Double Exposure
- Disadvantages: the default selection of filters and presets is quite limited and standard
- Photo format support: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and HEIC
Still regarding photo editing applications on cellphones, Afterlight might be an interesting choice for those of you who want to have cool photo results. The reason is, Afterlight provides features that other photo editing applications rarely have, such as Dust and Light Overlay.
This feature allows you to add dust and light effects to your photos so that your photos give off a vintage and retro feel.
15. Adobe Lightroom
- Platform: Android, iPhone, desktop (online)
- Price: free, paid version starts from around ₦ 2,000/month.
- Pros: provides advanced features for editing photos, such as preset recommendations and an automatic photo editor.
- Disadvantages: not always compatible across several types of operating systems (for example, iOS 12), and the graphic design elements are quite limited.
- Photo format support: JPEG, PNG, PSD, PSB, TIFF, HEIF, DNG
The next photo editing application is Adobe Lightroom. Adobe Lightroom is an application for editing photos developed by Adobe Systems. Not surprisingly, this application allows integration with Adobe Creative Cloud.
Besides these advantages, Adobe Lightroom also offers a variety of professional photo editing features. Starting from color settings, and exposure adjustments, to managing metadata to add important information to photos (location and tags).
16. Polarr
- Platforms: Android, iOS, desktop (app and online)
- Price: free for a trial period, paid version starts from around ₦ 2,000/month
- Pros: offers the AI Face Enhance feature, a comparison mode before and after changing photos
- Disadvantages: it’s only free for a trial period and full features are in the paid version
- Photo format support: JPEG, PNG, and TIFF
Turning to Polarr, this best photo editing application is suitable for anyone who wants to produce photos with a professional and artistic impression. The existence of advanced features such as AI Face Enhance, color grading, and comparison mode will help you edit photos.
What’s more, you can access Polarr online and offline. Editing photos from anywhere and anytime is not impossible.
Turn Photos Into Money with the Best Photo Editing App!
With so many photo editing applications available on the market, choosing the best photo editing application is a challenge in itself. Consider platform availability, price, advantages, disadvantages, and photo format support to choose the most appropriate application.
