best photo apps

Fotor
1. Looking for a flexible photo editing app that s easy to pick up and produces quality results? Fotor delivers all of this, and best of all you can download it for free. This versatile app lets you edit, collage and share images, plus you can discover masterpieces snapped by other users. The latest version, Fotor 5.7.0, comes with the world s first focus feature. Making the most of new SLR technology, you can now use your phone to create pictures .....
Lifecake
2. Save and organise pictures of your children growing up with Lifecake. In a timeline free from the adverts and noise that clutter most social media channels, you can easily look back over fond memories and share them with family and friends. Touted as a time machine of your child s life , you can skip to select stages and compare different dates. You decide who can see your images, and because Lifecake is now a Canon company you can order a print .....
Qwik
3. Qwik describes itself as the fastest and easiest way to make pretty photos, and with other 600 filers, plus tons of fonts and frames, it s hard to argue with them. Edit your images in seconds with straightforward hands on tools, and share them with Qwik s online community. With new filters and features being added every week, Qwik is constantly keeping itself fresh and exciting. .....
VSCO Cam
4. Connect with amazing photographers from around the world, and create your own stunning photography with VSCO Cam. Create your own VSCO Journal to join in with the community and find inspiration form other users. Unlike other social platforms, your followers and clout are not displayed, giving everyone an equal creative playing field. VSCO Cam comes packed with top performance features, including high resolution imports, and before and after compa .....
Camera MX
5. The Android exclusive photo app Camera MX combines powerful enhancement tools with a beautifully simple user interface. Thanks to intelligent image prcoessing you can take visibly sharper snaps, as well as cutting and trimming them to perfection in the edit. In the latest version you can record those hard to capture moments with the shoot the past feature. Take pictures before the actual photo and never miss a moment again. .....
Lensical
6. Lensical makes creating face effects as simple as adding photo filters. Lensical is designed for larger displays and utilises one handed gesture based controls making it the perfect complement to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus s cameras. .....
PixelWakker
7. If you re a fan of pointillism then this is the photo app for you. PixelWakker breaks down your images into their component pixels and that s where the fun begins. You can apply one of four great effects pixel image, dots, line, or color rain to your pics and watch in wonder as dot art unfolds before your eyes. Okay, this app is quite limited but the results are excellent and as it s free, you may as well git it a whirl. .....
PicLab HD
8. PicLab HD is a nifty app for creating those inspiring images that you get all over the internet these days. You know, the ones featuring a photo probably with at least one retro filter applied with a helpful aphorism layered over the top in an attractive, friendly typeface. Yeah, those. PicLab HD makes them an absolute doddle, enabling you to either snap a photo or grab one from your photo library, then go to town on it. As well as adding typ .....
Sktchy
9. Connecting with people around the world in a new way, here you can choose from a selection of photographs, uploaded by the Sktchy community and create a portrait from that image. Sktchy co founder Jordan Melnick comments Our community of artists is growing every day because Sktchy is the perfect place for them to find inspiration and share their art with the world, in part because of the neat way we layer portraits over the photos that inspired .....
Photoristic HD
10. Photoristic HD is an iPad image app that s just powerful enough to be quite useful without overloading you with features that you don t really want. It s all about the photo editor it features standard image adjustment tools (white balance, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, vibrance and saturation), with additional colour controls, a black and white mode, split toning and a hefty collection of presets for Instagram style quick fixes. It .....
Photochop
11. We probably like this app for its name (in full Photochop Chop Up and Distort Your Photos) as much as for its function. It s a cheap and cheerful little photo editor tool for mucking about with pictures. Simply pick a snap from your iPhone s photo library, chop it up into a set of tiles and then go crazy. You can either work directly with the tiles, dragging them around, rotating and resizing them to create a collage effect, or there s a warp .....
Handy Photo
12. The selling point of photo editor Handy Photo is its interface, which uses the corners of the screen to cater for rotating menu options. It s all designed to keep the central area of the screen clear, allowing you to use swipe gestures to tone your effects up or down, much like Luminance. It s a powerful photo editor the UI isn t for everyone, but this is an amazing price for the effects you get. .....
Path On
13. Path On lets you add funky text to photos in unique ways. You draw the path you d like the words to take, then type in your message .....
Frametastic
14. Frametastic is a tool for sharing the big picture not just a moment but a memory. It allows to you to have a creative outlet for organising the photographic elements of your life whilst also allowing you to alter your images with a set of colour filters. Kind of like Instagram but more framey. iPad retina and iPhone 5 screen support has just been added. .....
Camera+
15. The Camera app that comes on the iPhone by default is not brilliant yes, you can use it to take some decent shots, but it doesn t offer you much creative control. This is where Camera+ excels. The app has two parts a camera and a photo editor, and it truly excels at the latter, with a huge range of advanced features. Tip Camera+ doesn t just limit you to editing new pics you can quickly import your existing photos into the Lightbox so that y .....
Facetune
16. Embarrassed about your laughter lines? Feeling blue about those blemishes? Fear not, Facetune is here Grab a photo from your Camera Roll and start your makeover you can remove unwanted freckles, blemished skin or hide bags under the eyes with Smooth reshape that wonky nose or misshapen jawline with, er, Reshape and make subtle tweaks of colour using Tone. The results of this photo editor are truly impressive. .....
Gelo
17. A splash of colour can alter the look of an photo dramatically. Give your iPhone shots some extra oomph with this cool app for the iPhone. Gradients have become a lost art in iPhone photography, but Gel .....
FxCamera
18. If an app maker claims on its website that its app makes you creative , incredulous eyebrows will be raised. But when the app is FxCamera, the hugely popular and highly rated photography and photo effects app from Bitcellar, you can take that bold claim a touch more seriously. The killer feature here is Voice Picture, which enables you record a voice message at the same time as you are taking photos. This is done via the on screen shutter button .....
Clone Camera
19. A smart photo compositing app that allows you to double up on your images. Clone Camera lets you produce a photo of a scene with the same person in it multiple times. It s simply a case of taking up to four photos of the same person in a different location, and then selecting the areas you want to stitch together into the final photo. Tip The app works best if you have a tripod, or can otherwise keep your device still .....
Retromatic
20. 50s inspired photo app Retromatic enables you to import your photos, cut them out using an instant alpha tool, and then apply vintage effects to them. It s quick and easy to use, and looks great, although expect frustration if you want to do anything more than the basics. Tip The instant alpha tool works well, but you have to hold down on the screen to make it switch between a brush and pinching to zoom. .....
Camera360
21. Camera360 is a remarkable smartphone photo app. It s perfectly self contained with a huge range of functions, no ads and no insistence in promoting paid content. Touching the photo after applying a filter produces a nifty quick comparison of the before and after versions. One drawback is that the process of importing photos is slightly tedious, with one too many clicks involved. .....
PhotoWonder
22. Excellent user interface makes PhotoWonder one of the speediest smartphone photo apps to use. It also has a good collage feature with multiple layouts and photo booth effects. The filter selection isn t huge, but many are so well designed that you ll find them far more valuable than sheer quantity from a lesser app. .....
Vintage Deco
23. Vintage Deco is a brand new iPhone photo app designed to give your images a retro scrapbook feel. The filters are a bit clumsy and lean towards Instagram, but there s a lot of fun to be had by importing a picture just to play around with the nostalgic stamps and borders. .....
Magic Hour Lite Free
24. The combination of subtle filters and tilt shift function allows Magic Hour Lite (called Magic Hour Free on Android) to produce some truly unique results. The filters create effects that are far more sophisticated than some of the tinted, overexposed pre sets from other apps. Note that this photo app forces you to crop your image to a square, which can either be a hassle or very convenient if you re uploading to Instagram. .....
LINE Camera
25. Sleek and easy to use, LINE Camera comes with a solid range of filters, borders, icons and stamps. You can also add text to your pictures in over 100 fonts and 20 colours, making this free smartphone photo app one of the best for typography. .....
Tadaa
26. Tadaa lets you adjust the strength of all its filters, which is ideal for people who like fine tuning their photos with subtle effects. This iPhone photo app tries to get you to use its own social network, but you can still use all features without a login. .....
Rakuga Cute
27. At first glance this iPhone photo app seems aimed at Japanese schoolgirls rather than discerning designers but Rakuga Cute actually contains some unusual editing functions which makes it an interesting addition to your photo repertoire. .....
Camera Awesome
28. An extremely slick interface and witty copywriting makes iPhone and iPad photo app Camera Awesome a delight to use. The functions and filters are grown up and sophisticated. The only inconvenience is that in the process of editing a picture you ll inevitably end up previewing demo versions of paid for features so there s constant backtracking involved if you want to stick with free content. .....
Photoshop Express
29. As you would expect from Adobe, the interface and user experience of the Photoshop Express photo app for Apple and Android devices is faultless. It fulfils all the functions you need for picture editing and will probably be the one you turn to for sheer convenience. However none of the filters really jump out, and some are surprisingly naff for an app that comes from the developer for designers. .....
Photo Editor by Aviary
30. Aviary is a very pleasantly designed app that strikes the perfect balance between serious photo editing and playful photo decoration functions without looking bland or childish. Perhaps because it s quite new, the selection of filters and stickers are fairly small, so any future updates would give this app great room for play. .....
Paper Camera
31. Filter effects aren t exactly a new thing, but Paper Camera takes a different approach to the post effects found in the likes of Instagram. What does it do? Well, it displays effects in real time on your camera as you re using it. There are some neat effects on offer including cartoon, half tone and sketch. .....
Pixlr o matic
32. Whilst it s not necessarily an app that will change your workflow or outlook on life, Pixlr o matic is a nice tool for adding retro effects to your images or photos. It has 100 effects, 280 overlays and almost 200 different borders so for the grand cost of nada it s worth including in our run down. .....
3DSteroid Pro
33. Want to create stereoscopic 3D images from the camera on your phone? Yes, thought so. Check out 3DSteroid Pro an app that enables you to do just that, with some excellent tools and a very user friendly interface. .....
Ampergram
34. Combining typography with popular photo editor Instagram led Phillip Pastore to create Ambergram, a cool app that enables you to create endless typographic compositions using cool photos of fonts. You can capture and tag your own letters, or use the app s already stellar offerings generated by the communtiy. .....
SnapBlend
35. This app allows you to make impossible images in seconds on your phone, things that would normally require Photoshop and a lot of expertise. Multiple exposure photographs and blended images are as simple as a few taps of the screen .....
Overgram
36. If you are one of those people who really likes to add text to your photos, then this is probably a good app for you to use. Some of the fonts in the range can be quite beautiful and will really make them stand out in this way, with quotes, etc. .....
Pic Stitch
37. It can really be a pain sometimes to have to share a whole bunch of photo updates all at once and that is where Pic Stitch comes in. As the name might suggest, it lets you put multiple photos together in to one well framed image. .....
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