Smartphone camera technology continues to improve in amazing ways. Low-light performance, portrait modes, and exposure that takes the type of scene into account are now standard on Androids and iPhones. The better smartphone cameras these days do a lot to make sure that lighting, focus, and colors look great in your photos. But they’re still not perfect, and there are some effects they can’t apply without the help of the right Android app or iPhone app.
Most of the apps here, just as with desktop photo editing software, can fix lighting and apply preset effects or filters. Some add text, social sharing, and syncing to online cloud storage. One even fixes your pet’s flash-ruined eyes! Most included apps are free, though a few offer subscription upgrades for premium features. It helps a lot to have a smartphone with a good camera system. I tested the apps on two of the most popular smartphone models, the Apple iPhone X and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Adobe Lightroom
Android, iOS
The app is free, and on iPhone it gets you raw camera file capability—something you don’t get with the stock camera app. You do need to sign in, with and Adobe, Facebook, or Google account. The free app lets you shoot and edit photos. For shooting, the app offers manual control of lighting and focus. For editing, you get all the expected overall lighting and color adjustments—even curves—as well as a generous set of presets.
The mobile app even includes lens-profile-based corrections for geometry and vignetting, though it didn't find a profile for my Samsung Note 8’s lens. Organization tools include star ratings, pick and reject, and keyword tagging. If you need local adjustment (such as healing brush), face recognition, or cloud syncing, you need to subscribe to Lightroom CC, which comes with a terabyte of cloud storage for your pictures.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Android, iOS, Windows
Another one from the king of imaging software, Photoshop Express is nothing like the full desktop Photoshop application, but it offers plenty of photo-editing prowess. It’s more targeted to consumers than the professional-level Lightroom. It now lets you create collages as well as applying decorative stickers and text overlays on your pictures—for that meme factor. It lets you fix not only red people eyes, but also unnaturally blue or green pet eyes. The app is also available on the Microsoft Store for mobile tablets like the Surface Go.
Apple Photos
iOS
Obviously this one is limited to iPhones, but its power and feature set puts it right up there with paid third-party apps. It even does things with the iPhone’s Live Photos that you can’t do in any other app. For example, Apple Photos can turn a live photo into a time lapse, bounce, or loop. In addition to corrections for exposure, contrast, highlights, and shadows, the app offers a Brilliance control that lives up to its name. Adjustments are gradually revealed as you need them, so you can do as little or as much editing as you like. The app also includes nine high-quality preset filters.
Flickr
Free
Android, iOS
True, the venerable photo sharing service no longer offers a free terabyte of storage, but it does still offer free users 1,000 images, regardless of size. It's one of the best all-around for photo-editing apps along with its function as a portal to a still-huge photo social network. You get a good auto-enhance tool along with all the standard adjustments—crop, brightness, contrast, white balance—but there’s even an editable histogram view. As with most of our photo editing apps, the Flickr app lets you shoot pictures, too, but unlike most, you can shoot with enhancement filters enabled. And the filters even include sub-controls for vignette, tilt-shift, color burst, and worn texture effects.
Google Photos
Android, iOS
The go-to app and service for many mobile shooters, Google Photos offers a lot, including unlimited storage for photos under 16 megapixels, automatic gallery creation, and all the basic photo adjustments you need. Twelve filters can get you started, but you’ll find goodies like the Deep Blue control for seas and skies and the Pop control for sharpness and contrast. Some day I may even forgive it for killing off my beloved Picasa and Picnik photo apps. You may also have qualms about privacy, with all your photos' place and people info being stored on the advertising megacorporation's servers.
Android, iOS, Windows
Most people already have this world-beating photo social network installed on their mobile. It’s not here not for its social domination, however, but rather for its respectable photo-editing features. In addition to the well-known filters, Instagram also includes some pretty powerful yet easy-to-use image editing tools. With automatic leveling, highlights, shadows, and even tilt-shift—actually a selective focus tool with both radial and linear options—Instagram goes way beyond filters, selfies, and memes.
Microsoft Pix
iOS
Though this app is more about shooting pictures, it also does some cool things with artistic AI filters. It also lets you auto-enhance, crop, and add borders to your photos. And since its built-in camera feature captures a burst of 10 images, picks the best, removes noise, brightens faces, and corrects tone and color—you don’t need to do much editing after shooting in the app! Another strength is its ability to extract text from images. You can also use it to capture Panoramas of any angle with the Photosynth feature.
PicsArt
Android, iOS, Windows
PicsArt is the department store of photo apps—it has just about every photo-editing feature you can think of, including Photoshop-ish things like layers and masks. The full app costs a $7.99-per-month subscription, but you still get a ton of capability for free. In addition to the basics, PicsArt gives you face-tuning, stickers, text overlays, borders, lens flares, frames, and full drawing capability. And like a few other of our choices, the app boasts its own photo and art sharing community.
Prisma
Android, iOS
This app from an independent Russian programmer made a big hit a couple years ago with its AI filters that transform your images to look remarkably like a painting in the style of Picasso, a Van Gogh, or Mondrian. Several other apps have subsequently added similar features, but Prisma is the original, and still impresses. The filters are applied in the cloud, so some can take a while, but they can also sometimes take your breath away. In addition to the renowned art filters, Prisma also gives you the basics, such as exposure, saturation, and vignette.
VSCO App
Android, iOS
VSCO (which stands for Visual Supply Co.) is a favorite of PCMag's crack camera analyst, Jim Fisher. Best known for film-look effects, the app offers paid and free levels. You get a good selection of editing tools, including adjustments for exposure, contrast, cropping, sharpening, saturation, highlights, shadows, skin tone, grain, and fade. VSCO's paid option ($19.99 per year) adds Borders and HSL adjustment, along with exclusive presets, early access to new features, photo contest challenges, and video editing. The VSCO app is also a gateway to yet another photo-based social network, featuring some interesting artistic work.
Tips for Better Mobile Photos
