Top 12 Free Photo Editing Apps for Android and iPhone [October 2025]

Why I picked it: It’s full of loads of presets and stickers/assets.

When I wanted to get playful, PicsArt’s stickers and AI background remover gave me the most fun.

It lets you retouch selfies and even create memes from templates. The layer system can feel confusing. I quickly got used to it and could make some creative edits.

There are some other AI features in this app such as image generation and even upscaling at the tap of a finger.

Why I picked it: I liked that it opened my RAW files and gave me precise brushes to control exposure and detail.

Snapseed is developed by Google, and offers a lot of advanced tools and filters, as well as some interesting effects. Those with a real interest in photography will find it useful that the app can open RAW files, making it a top free photo-editing app for Android and IOS.

The software has 29 editing tools and an HDR mode. I often used the healing brush to fix small issues in my photos. I can see how saving favorite looks as presets can be a big time-saver.

The brushes make it easy to apply looks to different parts of the images and control the effects. On top of this, you can also incorporate text and add many different styles of text and fonts to the images. They even recently added some vintage filters.

Why I picked it: I liked how I could start a design on my phone and finish on my laptop.

Canva has become a very well known photo-editing app with tons of functions that people can use. The desktop version is very powerful along with the mobile app. I loved the fact that I could start a design on my phone and finish on my laptop.

Canva is all about templates for things like social media and posters. I used it for collages and quick Instagram stories. It also supports basic video editing. It has stock images and graphic elements that mean people can make graphics from scratch or add to existing images.

Why I picked it: An option for those who don’t want to do the editing themselves!

As a photo editor app for Android and iOS, the FixThePhoto: Face, Body Editor app offers professional-level editing services that cater to both face and body enhancements. I was surprised that the edits are done manually by a team of skilled retouchers who manually edit each photo behind your phone’s screen in several minutes.

One of the key strengths of the FixThePhoto: Face, Body Editor app is its ability to handle complex edits that would typically require advanced software. I requested some fun edits like slimming the waist or adding muscles. They were pretty good!

The app’s manual editing process guarantees that the final product is not only high-quality but also realistic. Just don’t ask them to do too much.

Why I picked it: Designed for editing selfies and people.

YouCam Perfect is really one of the photo-editing apps with a focus on selfies and portraits, so when people take photographs they may want to change things about the image or perfect it to look their best.

I liked how quick it was for selfies and retouching was just a tap. The app has portrait tools but also things like body tuner, background remover, and blur options. I mainly used it for skin smoothing and background swaps.

YouCam Perfect does this well with a set of smart features and effects. They even added a Double Chin retouch option (giving people what they want).

Why I picked it: I like the range of features – it’s like a full editing suite.

Pixlr is another piece of software that serves as a full editing suite for Android phones and iPhones. It can do far more than just the basics of cropping and resizing. I found their AI image generation (a pretty new feature) to be better than a lot of the alternatives.

I loved the features such as Auto Fix that can make the photos colors look more professional without any time or effort. There is also a simple tool for removing red eyes and loads of ways to make other adjustments.

I did find Pixlr’s learning curve a little frustrating. It was not super simple to get to grips with the interface.

Why I picked it: A simple way to colorize and repair images

BeFunky is another piece of software that has been designed as a way for people to edit the kind of selfies they take on their phone.

I didn’t use it for selfies, but I tested the claims that it can even repair certain old pictures and colorize black and white images. It worked well. I could also add things like captions with ease.

BeFunky is a way to get rid of blemishes and perfect selfies, as well as add some little extras such as filters (there are way more than you would find inbuilt on your phone).

Why I picked it: A simple meme editor

piZap is somewhere between a simple photo editor and a full on design suite. It has more features that lend themselves to this kind of thing. Background removal and stickers are examples. I had a lot of fun adding stickers to pictures and putting me and my family in funny scenarios.

piZap is a good app for making memes and creatively adding text. With the design tools including AI tools, people can add a lot of other interesting extras to their images, including painting and adding stock images.

piZap also has a lot of fun features if you just want to add some funny or interesting text or memes. I didn’t even get through a fraction of the 4530 stickers that people can add to their pictures. piZap may not be quite as professional as some of the other apps for making the top graphics, but it does provide a lot of fun when editing.

Why I picked it: Its presets gave my shots loads of different looks in seconds.

VSCO has a lot of different features when compared to the other apps on this list. It has more options for editing landscapes.

VSCO has lots of presets, and I was annoyed to learn that you do have to pay for some but there are 16 made available without any form of payment. Presets can make the images look very different.

The inbuilt camera option has an inbuilt GIF maker as well as lots of different effects that can be added. I felt it was all a little closer to being a sort of camera extra app rather than a full editing suite.

Why I picked it: To give AI filter options for face selfies.

FaceTune, as you might expect due to the name, is an app that is very good for editing pictures of someone’s face! I was able to explore all sorts of effects. People can edit the way a face looks with extras like adding or darkening hair and even refreshing eyes that look tired. I also used it to see how I would look with a different look and a beard.

AI selfie generator is another fun feature that allows people to tweak the way their selfies look and even create otherworldly images. FaceTune is even a way to add makeup after a photo is taken!

Why I picked it: I like the variety of quick filters

Polish - AI Photo Editor is a good option for those who want to add a lot of different filters and experiment with different looks, including filters such as 2K, VHS, Aesthetic Glitch, Vignette, Natural, Warm, Dew, Dark, Cocoa, and loads more.

I liked some of the funny glitch effects and ways to make images look unusual, but it also has useful blur tools for blurring certain parts of an image. These have now been enhanced with AI features to help cut out the backgrounds. I was able to put myself on a sunny beach scene with ease.

There are facial and body retouching options for people to tweak the way they look, and over 100 different effects available for free. Some in-app purchases are needed for the full range of features.

Why I picked it: Retouching and facial editing features (including video)

AirBrush is another app that has a real focus on the way people look and “airbrushing” the portraits taken of people.

The HD features help to add a dramatic and artistic look to people's pictures. They can alter the pictures to give them more of a professional look so they look like DSLR model shots.

Real-time editing technology is one of the most impressive things on offer, which means that people can edit the pictures and choose filters before they’ve even taken the picture. AirBrush has loads of presets and filters that people can simply and easily apply. I put this in here partially because of the use of video. A selfie can be put inside a background video or edited in new and interesting ways using this app.