Since mobile technology today offers excellent digital media management capabilities, you can not only take high-quality high-resolution photos with your mobile phone, but you can also edit them directly.
Advanced photo processing used to require knowledge of using computer programs, but fortunately, you no longer have to be a professional to edit your images.
There are now a range of free, feature-packed apps available that allow you to better capture, arrange, retouch, beautify and organize images straight from your smartphone.
The question is which photomontage apps are worth your time and which can deliver the best results on the go?
Check out our selection of the 8 best free image editing apps in 2021 available for Android and iPhone portable devices.
All of these apps are based on great photo processing features, ease of use, and the ability to share on social networks.
1. Snapseed
Snapseed is a professional free image editing application introduced to the world by Google, and some call it Photoshop for mobile.
This app is not for a casual user, but for serious photographers who want or need to spend time creating the best possible image while on the go.
Snapseed features huge processing capabilities that help bring even the most ordinary photos to life. It allows you to control your images by including a plethora of options that can change the vignette of a photo, blur, color temperature, and other attributes.
Additionally, it has a full range of state-of-the-art editing tools, including selective retouching brushes, as well as a nice collection of film-related filters (like lens blur, Retrolux, and dual exposure).
Snapseed’s excellent traditional tools make it one of the best apps for serious photographers who want or need to spend time fine-tuning their images.
2. VSCO
VSCO is not only one of the best photo processing apps, but it’s also great for photo sharing online. Like Instagram, VSCO combines a camera, editing tools and a social network.
This free app provides a range of stunning filters that make photos look like they were taken with an analog movie camera. These soft and subtle filters add a class note to your photos, and you can customize them using a simple slider.
Of course, the app also has all the standard editing tools, like customizations, cropping, borders, and vignettes. You can also use it to adjust exposure, contrast, temperature or skin tone.
When you’re done embellishing the image, you can share it with the VSCO community or on another social network – like Instagram! The app even allows you to share on WhatsApp and SMS using the built-in sharing feature.
3. Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is one of the best applications for professional photographers because it is the only app that can allow viewing, editing and organizing a large number of images.
The app has a built-in camera feature that can take photos in RAW format through your smartphone where you can edit exposure, aperture and use other handheld features.
It also has filters to add different effects that can be applied with one tap to edit images. The premium version of this app has more advanced features like a healing brush, selective customizations, cloud storage, editing RAW images of DSLR photos, and more.
This Adobe app gives you advanced features like curves that let you fine-tune color, exposure, tone, and contrast.
4. Adobe Photoshop Express
Another great free photo editing app is Adobe Photoshop Express.
Unlike many others, this app includes “correct” and “flip” image functions that can help you achieve even more flexible editing options.
If you want to edit in RAW format or even in TIFF format, you can do it with Photoshop Express. There are 45 filters to choose from if you want to add creative effects to your images. One-click sharing, resizing an image, and a watermark are also useful features.
However, unlike Adobe’s Lightroom app, Photoshop Express is much weaker and limited in scope. Photoshop Express offers quick editing, but for a more professional the feeling of Adobe Lightroom applications offers more options.
5. Instasize
Instasize app best friend for editing images you never knew you needed.
With so many combined features, it’s no surprise that Instasize was forged into an all-in-one photo processing package .
Available for IOS and Android, the app comes equipped with a robust filter library, image resizing options, border/photo frame packages, retouching and focus tools, text editor, video editing capabilities, and much more.
Intuitive design, Instasize is easy to navigate. Whether you’re a first-time photo editor or a permanent beauty blogger – beautiful edits are available with one tap.
6. Pixlr Express
Available for iOS and Android, Pixlr is one of the most popular free photo apps and has a wide range of different photo effects, layers and filters with which you can create truly unique and visually appealing images.
Pixlr offers four different web applications that load directly in your browser. Pixlr Editor is their best free web application that offers a lot of features, even layers and color replacement tools.
Pixlr Express is a reduced version with a simplified user experience and lots of preset filters. Pixlr Pro is a paid tool that provides a free trial, but it is the only tool on our list that can open a Photoshop PSD file and save it as PNG or JPG.
After all, Pixlr Today is a task manager extension for the Google Chrome browser. The app is free, but offers in-app purchases like an effects package.
When you’re done, the app can save pictures directly to your social media accounts or email.
7. PicsArt
PicsArt is also one of the best image beautification apps because it’s fun, easy to use, and covers almost all the basics for quality mobile photo processing.
PicsArt offers a rich and very accessible collection of editing tools and provides a lot of creative control while keeping everything fun and alive.
Plus, you can quickly select or create fun stickers, combine your images into highly customizable collages, add artistic text, and share. The fully equipped camera module includes pre-shooting effects and photo tools.
To share your creations, you can use “Remix Chat” together with 150 million users or just with your friends. However, ads for PicsArt premium appear frequently (and irritatingly) in the middle of the editing process.
To turn them off – and get even more tools, filters, and content, you need to buy a premium subscription.
8. Photo Lab
The Photo Lab app offers one of the most beautiful collections of stylish and funny photo effects.
With nearly 1,000 effects and 40 categories, the app offers amazing face montages, photo frames, animated effects, layers, sketches and images, and photo filters that can be applied to your photos in several photos.
Any template can be used alone or combined with different effects to give a completely new effect (called “combinations”). Photos can be saved to the gallery, shared on the ‘app’ feed or any messenger and social networks.
In addition, Photo Lab is a one-touch response to any problems in your image. Whether it’s color correction, background replacement or just simple grooming – the app is there to guide you!
There’s more to it, but we’ll let you explore every corner of Photo Lab for yourself.
9. Instagram
When over a billion people use it, there’s got to be something special about it, right?
The Instagram app started with simple filters and fun photo frames, and quickly transformed into one of the best photo apps that allows you to edit and create “stories” about photos that can be shared with friends and followers.
It meets the same social needs as Facebook. But this free photo editor focuses on sharing your daily life in the form of photos and watching what others share on your feed.
The filters that Instagram provides are intuitive and simple. If you’re looking for a free photo app with basic editing tools, but you’re putting more emphasis on sharing features and a good community, then Instagram is for you.
10. Google Photos
Google Photos is the only photo app we consider necessary for any mobile device.
While it has only minimal editing tools, Google Photos organizes your photos and videos, offers easy sharing, and— most importantly—automatically backs up your entire image library to the cloud.
Google’s photo editing features are designed to require very little user input from users and as such are quick and easy.
For example, the only sliders controlled by the user are adjusting the color, light, and contrast in the overall image. It also has a handful of filters with a slider to control the strength of the effect.
The app can be useful for organizing your media files, but we don’t recommend it for editing. But to make sure you can find all your pictures on any device you use, Google Photos is a must.
Use free image editing tools on your mobile
There are plenty of free apps for photographers that can take your mobile images to the next level and allow you to use advanced editing tools on the go.
Our list is a great place to start exploring the potential of apps that complement your photo and overall business.
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