The Top 6 Free Mobile Photo Editing Tools

By: David B.

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I've always had quite the soft spot for photography. Back in the good old days, I wouldn't have dreamt of going abroad without my reliable Polaroid camera in hand. However, nowadays it's a different story entirely, since my smartphone gives me access to an extremely powerful camera at all times. It's just so handy, that I haven't ever needed to carry my actual camera around with me in years.

My only complaint is that sometimes my snaps don't quite come out the way I intended them to, which can be quite frustrating. Thankfully, there's a massive range of photo editing software available for Apple and Android smartphones, and many of the best ones are free to use.

Here are my 6 favorite mobile photo editing apps:

1. Snapseed (available for both Apple & Android)

Snapseed is one of the best free mobile photo editors out there, since it's an ideal all-purpose solution for image corrections and enhancements. This app contains a powerful collection of photo processing tools, including sharpening, exposure, color editing, cropping and straightening, as well as a whole host of selective adjustments. There's even a tool that can remove unwanted objects from your photos! Snapseed's powerful collection of tools is incredibly easy to use, and is ideal for any photo editing beginners.

2. VSCO (available for both Apple & Android)

VSCO, pronounced 'visco,' is perfect if you want to add quirky or elegant filters to your photos. While filters from other apps can often seem garish or overpowering, VSCO's presets are designed to emulate analog filming techniques, giving your photos a professional and authentic flavor. As you can see in the above image, this app comes with some handy sliders that put you in full control of the strength and prominence of each filter.

3. Adobe Photoshop Express (available for both Apple & Android)

The name speaks for itself. Adobe's powerful app features an intuitive editing processor which is quite user-friendly, once you've got the hang of it. All you need to do is to add your photo, and then choose an effect or two to apply to it. Once you've chosen the desired effect, you can simply swipe your finger across the screen to start cropping, rotating, or adjusting your image's color.

4. Aviary (available for both Apple & Android)

If you like to keep things simple, then this tiny app is ideal for you. While you won't find many advanced editing features here, Aviary has got the basics covered like no other free app out there. It comes with a vast wealth of filters, stickers, drawing and text tools, to help turn your ordinary photographs into works of art. Aviary is also perfect for touching up your selfies, since it can whiten your teeth, remove red eyes, and lots more.

5. Cupslice (only available for Android)

Cupslice is one of the cool cats of the photo editing universe. Its impressive collection of filters and stickers are always changing to keep up with modern trends, so you'll always be ahead of the crowd. The only downside is that it isn't available on Apple just yet.

6. Ultralight (only available for Apple)

This stylish app comes with an gorgeous user interface, which make it an absolute pleasure to use. You'll find the standard range of photo editing tools here, but what really makes Ultralight stand out is its option to create, edit and save your own filters, making your editing possibilities limitless! Unfortunately, this one's only for the Apple crowd.