If you are in the market looking out for some of the best photo editing apps for Android devices, then look no further since we have just the perfect guide curated for you! Read on to learn more about some awe-inspiring photo editing applications.
It is 2021, and most of the Instagram models and influencers depend oh so heavily on their smartphones to push out likable content to their followers. It isn’t just them who rely on their phone though, most of us unconsciously utilize our smartphones far more than we just realize. One such essential aspect of everyone’s life is being able to capture and quickly edit photos on their smartphones. While many people would still go for Photoshop or Lightroom on their Windows or Mac computers for meticulous editing, many would still prefer being able to tweak a few things in their photos right from their phones. This is where the genre of photo editing applications comes into the big picture.
Photo and video editing applications have been around for ages, both for Android as well as iOS devices. However, in the recent past, thanks to the quench for more and more features, many applications have revamped their UI and the tools that they offer have gone up by tens and hundreds. Though the question remains – which photo editing app is the best one out there? While there is no one such perfect application, we have narrowed down the listing for you guys. We have categorized the applications below in terms of their UI, flexibility, ease of use, and just raw potential to edit the most out of their pictures. Sit back, and enjoy as we list you some of the best photo editing apps for Android devices!
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All of the apps mentioned below have been tried and tested by yours truly, and I recommend only those apps that provide a fulfilling user experience. As far as availability goes, most of the apps we’ve mentioned below are free, to begin with, but run on a freemium basis which means users can opt into buying the premium versions which unlocks a whole lot of other cool features. Overall, if you don’t plan on spending any money on a photo editing Android app, you can still enjoy most of the listings here too! With that being said, let’s take a look at our top picks!
#1 – Fotor Photo Editor
Kicking the list off, we have one of the oldest photo editing services that have been on the Google Play Store for ages. Fotor brings to the table a ton of powerful photo editing tools. This includes the usual and basic stuff like being able to crop, rotate, straighten or flip your photos, and also complex actions like converting one type of photo into another extension, reducing the film grain to provide a smoother look, and adding sharp details to increase the vividness of your images. It doesn’t end there, the app has a bunch of free frames, filters, and effects that you can apply to your photos in one tap. You can also choose to subscribe to the premium version of Fotor which unlocks even more tools and a vast library of filters and effects. Fotor also has a photo licensing feature that allows its users to apply copyright statements to photos taken by them and post them online. Fotor makes this happen by collaborating with PxBee which is an online community where you can share your own photos and discover others. Other features of this app include a smart AI-enabled “Enhance” mode which automatically fixes the lighting, applies saturation and balances the colors for you.
Overall, for being a free application, we really feel Fotor Photo Editor is one of a kind. It also has the reputation to back it up since it has been around for ages on the Play Store. If you want to try out Fotor Photo Editor, then follow the link below which will redirect you to its Google Play Store page.
#2 – PicsArt Photo Editor
The next one on this list shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. PicsArt is a famous photo editing application that took off the charts in the recent few years. This is all thanks to the number of rich features it came with at a time when most of the photo editing apps and services were being very restrictive in regards to the number of features and filters that the end-user had access to free of cost. Fast forward to 2019, and PicsArt is an always evolving and always growing application, and has transcended from being just a simple photo editing app to being a big platform for like-minded people to share what they’ve come up with using the service. If we talk about the raw feature set of PicsArt, we would perhaps exceed a thousand words. However, all you need to know is that PicsArt is made for those who want the best results with the least bit of effort. There are several auto styling toggles that do the dirty work for you and fix things like exposure, brightness, and saturation. You can obviously also use dozens of free frames and filters to stylize your photos just the way you want them. Lastly, PicsArt also comes with a “Gold” mode which is essentially its paid service that opens the doors to literally thousands and thousands of filters, frames, and more. Users can also share their work on the PicsArt platform and see what others have made using the app.
Overall, for being a free service we really feel there is no other app quite like PicsArt not only on this list but on the entirety of the Play Store. You can get most of your photo editing done while sticking to the free version itself, and we recommend the pro version only to those who think they could really use the hundreds of free templates, designs, and filters. In any case, you can try out PicsArt on your Android phone by following the Google Play Store link below :
#3 – Pixlr
Coming up next is an app that was formerly known as “Pixlr Express” on the Google Play Store. We added this one to the list because of how good and reliable its one-touch effects and color fixes are. If you are out there looking for an application that does all the dirty work for you and consumes the least bit of your time, then you have found yourself a winner. Pixlr allows the users some complex editing tools as well, like being able to manage the color sciences of the image manually, and being able to play around with the brightness, saturation, and contrast aspects of your photos. Using Pixlr, you can create beautiful and minimal-looking collages with the press of a button and add effects that give your photos a very personal look. Every time you import a new image into the canvas, Pixlr allows the user to fix all the lighting and saturation issues with the press of the one “Auto Fix” button. We found this to be a very reliable service for those who want the most out of their photos with the least bit of effort and time. Other features include being able to use the “Color Splash” mode to pop out only the colors you want, which brings a lot of vibrancy to your images if you choose the right angles and the right colors.
Overall, if you are in the market looking for an easy, no sign-up required photo editing application to fix all of the lighting, color, saturation, and grain issues in the photos you take, we couldn’t recommend Pixlr anymore than we already do. You can download its latest version from the Google Play Store by following the link given below :
#4 – Adobe Photoshop Express
Coming in at 4th place on our list is by far the most complicated but also the most feature-packed photo editing app available on the Google Play Store. We all know and love the Photoshop program that we have installed on our Windows or Mac computers and have always wished for such a suite to be available on our smartphones. However, due to the limiting resources, the entire build of a fully-fledged Photoshop PC is hard to port to an Android or iOS device. This is where Adobe came in and announced its own Photoshop application for mobile. While the service isn’t even half as packed as its desktop counterpart, we still feel the number of raw editing options that Adobe Photoshop Express gives to its users is beyond the reach of any other application. You have all the basics like being able to crop, rotate, straighten and flip your photos, but you also get a color wheel to precisely color code your images to get the best and apt levels of color sciences in them. Users can also add text with unique styles and blend them into their images. The famous blemish tool is also available here which can also act as a content-aware fill tool that we all love and respect in the desktop app, It basically allows the users to remove and blend any part of the image they want to without leaving a patched hole in between. As a plus point for existing Photoshop users from Windows or Mac, you get unlocked features if you install the mobile app and can access your files from the cloud as well.
Overall, if you have been on the lookout for an application that could make the most out of your RAW photos by editing them exactly as per your requirements, we feel Adobe Photoshop Express will always be left unparalleled. You can download the latest version of Adobe Photoshop Express by following the Google Play Store link below :
#5 – Snapseed by Google
The next one on our list, and by far my top pick for the best photo editing app that’s available on Android phones. Snapseed is an application that comes straight from Google and is, in my opinion, the most seamless way to edit your photos. What makes Snapseed so great in my opinion is the fact that it is built for both kinds of people. People who don’t have much time or expertise to spend on editing their photos, and also for those people who want the perfect kinds of edits and don’t mind spending time and effort in making their photos come to life. For the former kind of people, Snapseed allows a very powerful AI-enabled auto-fix mode that applies the best-looking filter, effect, and does lighting corrections to your images. You can also select a filter you like from the carousel of filters available on the home page of the app. However, if you do dare to go in deeper, you will be delighted to see just how many things you can tweak your photo with. There are over 29 different tools and options to make your photos just perfect for that Instagram post or Facebook selfie. When you go into an option you’d like to change, you can edit your photos all using gestures – swiping in and out, left to right, and even up and down to increase or decrease the intensity of the applied filter or option. Like Photoshop Express, even Snapseed has a content-aware tool that patches up items selected in your photo without making them look weird. Other features include a rich HDR mode, film grain control, adding vibrancy and retro effects, and much more.
Overall, Snapseed has always been one of my old favorites and always will be. You get a countless list of features and options to play with, and can even make presets to apply a uniform look throughout all of your photos. You can grab the latest version of Google Snapseed by following the Google Play Store link below :
#6 – PhotoDirector Photo Editor
Up next is PhotoDirector Photo Editor, and this is one of the more fun photo editing apps that you can use on your Android phone. While it does feature the basic options like being able to adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation of the images you edit, it opens a whole world of new possibilities with the other tools. You can add elements in your image that are animated, and these look especially cool when done right. The AI integration within the app allows you to completely change the sky in your images as well. There are live camera filters within the app which you can use to capture some exciting photos as well. Overall, there are many features that make PhotoDirector Photo Editor a very unique photo editing app and we highly recommend you try it out for yourself! You can grab the latest version of PhotoDirector Photo Editor by following the Google Play Store link below :
#7 – VSCO
If you are even remotely into photo editing, then you must have already heard about VSCO. This is a highly capable photo editing app that is mainly used by photography nerds and enthusiasts who love to color grade the images they have taken. VSCO offers some of the most classy filters of any photo editing apps that you can find on the Google Play Store. Granted, most of the filters within VSCO are locked away for premium users only, but even the ones that you get for free can really spice your image up by a ton. VSCO still offers the usual set of options that will allow you to tweak your image to look better. VSCO also has a whole community of avid photographers where you can share your captures as well as see what other people post! You can grab the latest version of VSCO by following the Google Play Store link below :
#8 – TouchRetouch
Up next on the list is a slight niche app, but something that everyone will eventually end up needing at one point or another. TouchRetouch is essentially like the content-aware tool from Photoshop, but easier to use. We all have that one photograph that is *almost* perfect but is ruined by something silly like a road sign, somebody’s hand, or telephone wires.
TouchRetouch can easily get rid of any of those unwanted things from your photos. All you need to do is draw a simple trail across the item you want to be removed, and the app will do its best to recreate the image without the selected object. The app is also good at removing pimples or blemishes on your skin.
#9 – AirBrush
AirBrush is an excellent app for people who like capturing and uploading a ton of portraits on social media, either of themselves or of other people. The app has a curated set of features that can enhance portraits or selfies. We’re talking about simple yet useful features such as a pimple remover, skin smoothing, teeth whitening, and more.
You can even use the liquify feature to change the shape of any part of your face or body. The blur mode adds convincing artificial bokeh to your images or selfies, making them seem highly professional. Of course, like most other photo editing apps, AirBrush has its own set of filters that you can use to quickly spice things up.
That’s all folks! We hope you enjoyed our roundup of some of the Best photo editing apps for Android devices! Which one among the list is your favorite, and how many of these editing apps have you already known or have been using? Know other good Android photo editing apps that you feel people might find interesting? Do let us know in the comments section below, we’d be delighted to hear from you guys!