I’ve attended trade shows of Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech, and before that I headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team, but I’m happy to be back in the more accessible realm of consumer software. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft win and misstep up to the latest Windows 11. I’ve been reviewing software for PCMag since 2008, and I still get a kick of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. PC hardware is nice, but it’s not much use without innovative software. Platforms: Android, iOS, web Adobe Lightroom Mobile (for iPhone) Review
Price: Free $4.99 per month for full feature set and cloud storage A standard Lightroom Creative Cloud Plan ($9.99 per month) gets you full use of the app and 1TB of storage. You can subscribe to the mobile-only apps for $4.99 per month, with just 100GB of cloud syncing storage. Lightroom Mobile even lets you submit your work to its Discover community of photographers who may try their hand at editing your shot. The app is full of help and tips for producing great photos.
The June 2022 update added video trimming and effect options.įree users get a decent selection of editing tools and even filters-now with an Amount slider to increase or decrease the effect's strength-and paid users get cloud storage for photos and a lot more effects, such as masking, healing, and suggested presets. You can even shoot with filters like black-and-white enabled.
The mobile app offers deep post-shot editing, as well as a camera feature that lets you shoot in raw format on the iPhone (Android can do so with its native camera) which gives you more leeway in correcting exposure, white balance, and other aspects of your images. Lightroom Mobile is a great photo app even if you don’t use the desktop version of Lightroom, Adobe’s category-leading photo workflow software. Please feel free to weigh in on any app listed here you think we're wrong about-or any you think we should add-in the comments at the bottom.
We're not including any gimmicky apps that only do one type of editing, like face beautifying or collage creation. Some also add tools for organizing, cloud storage, and even social photo spaces of their own. Even advanced functions, such as masking, tone curve adjustments, overlays, blemish fixing, HSL color correction, and gradients are no longer the sole province of desktop photo programs.įor this list of the best mobile photo editing apps, we’re sticking with Android apps and iPhone apps that do full standard photo editing. You may be surprised at just how much you can do with photos on a mobile app. But there are times when you want to clean up a picture while you’re on the go, and there are people who simply can’t be bothered with powering up large hardware only to make a compelling Instagram post. I have to admit, I’m a fan of having a big screen when it comes to using photo editing software.