The best photo editing apps for your iPhone
iPhone expert Craig Grannell reveals his favourite apps for editing photos taken with iPhones – they greatly expand what your phone is capable of!
I recently wrote about Apple’s oft-overlooked editing tools in the Photos app inside your iPhone. But Apple didn’t popularise “there’s an app for that” for nothing. And since the App Store’s earliest days, third-party photo-editing tools have pushed your iPhone far beyond what Photos is capable of.
I’ve installed and reviewed hundreds of apps over the years. But only a handful survive my regular Home Screen culls, and so they must be doing something right.
These, then, are the photo-editing apps I keep coming back to – and perhaps they’ll earn a place on your iPhone too.
Quick list of the best iPhone editing apps:
- Photomator – best for automated fixes and upscaling
- Obscura Studio – best for immediacy
- Snapseed – best for quick fixes and text
- SKRWT – best for fixing perspective
- Hipstamatic Classic – best for film effects
- Mextures – best for textures and light leaks
- Artomaton – best for turning photos into art
Photomator – best for automated fixes and upscaling
Photomator (free + $29.99/£29.99 per year) wasn’t the first app with a one-tap fix button, but it was the first that really impressed me. Trained on 20 million professional photos, the feature routinely pulls off remarkable results.
But the reason I kept the app is the depth behind that button. You can dig into a wealth of granular controls that let you experiment with and fine-tune your shots in ways Photos just doesn’t give you. And its noise-reduction and upscaling tools are fantastic too, helping to rescue much older digital photos.
The only catch? Subscription pricing because the ‘lifetime’ unlock now comes with added uncertainty after Apple acquired the developer in 2024.
Obscura Studio – best for immediacy
If Photomator’s depth feels like overkill but you still want to go beyond Apple’s Photos, Obscura Studio (free + $19.99/£19.99 per year) is a gentler on-ramp to more capable editing.
I’ve long liked the creator’s Obscura Camera and this editor carries the same polish. You get a compact but excellent set of filters and enough sliders and controls to shape your own looks without getting lost. But when you do want finesse, the curves tool lets you target specific channels and selective colour tools allow you to hone individual hues.
The entire app feels approachable and modern. And that extends to the price: you can try everything risk-free, and only need to pay when you want to start saving your edits.
Snapseed – best for quick fixes and text
If there’s one app every iPhone photographer should install, it’s Snapseed (free). Despite costing nothing, it’s loaded with tools that regularly bail you out of “Photos can’t do that” moments.
The interface is initially strange but quickly becomes second nature as you drag vertically to select tool properties and then horizontally to define values. I regularly jump into Snapseed for its adjustment tools and especially to add text, which it handles better than many paid apps.
Beyond the basics, Snapseed has a range of creative effects. As you’ll see later, there are bespoke apps in that area I recommend. But Snapseed’s ideal if you want an all-in-one sandbox. And because every edit is stacked in a non-destructive manner, there’s plenty of room for experimentation.
SKRWT – best for fixing perspective
Two truths haunt photographers: camera lenses distort (especially those on phones) and you’re rarely in the perfect spot when you take a photo. This can leave potentially amazing shots of architecture and the like lacking impact. SKRWT ($1.99/£1.99) has been my solution to both problems for years.
Sure, Photos can match SKRWT’s crop and flip capabilities. But it’s got no answer for its perspective and lens correction tools, which make fixing skewed buildings and warped lines a cinch. SKRWT is also a reminder of a bygone era when apps tried to do a few things brilliantly rather than everything passably. Maybe that’s another reason why it’s lingered on my iPhone all this time.
From fixes to filters
Editing isn’t always about accuracy and blemish removal. Sometimes you just want to give your photos a whole new personality. The Photos app’s built-in styles hint at what’s possible, but these next apps go much further when you want true creative reinterpretation.
Hipstamatic Classic – best for film effects
When it comes to film effects, all the cool kids love VSCO (free or $29.99/£29.99 per year) and its handy per-photo suggestions. On iPhone, Dehancer (free or from $4.99/£4.99 per month) is even better, superbly emulating over 60 real film stocks. But the app I return to most is Classic Camera by Hipstamatic ($2.99/£2.99 + one-off IAPs), largely because it’s so much fun.
With Photos, you can sort of mimic film via the Styles tool. But put Hipstamatic in landscape and you transform your iPhone into a playful analogue camera, mixing virtual lenses, films and flashes before you even press the shutter.
In portrait, these options fold into a modern editor. Either way, the results have a warmth and charm I find digital photography too often strips away. iPhone photos look great, but they can be a little too perfect. Hipstamatic brings back the soul.
Mextures – best for textures and light leaks
If Hipstamatic gives your photos a dose of old-school film-oriented charm, Mextures ($1.99/£1.99 + one-off IAPs) hurls them into a glorious experimental chaos. That Snapseed grunge stuff I mentioned earlier? Mextures is an entire playground devoted to potentially limitless layers of grain, light leaks, scratches and grit.
Yes, all the imperfections photographers spent years trying to avoid, bundled into a single app. Today, though, that stuff feels refreshing – at least to me – and Photos has nothing like it. Hence why I’ve spent many happy hours stacking textures to create delightfully photo-wrecking visuals. But if that sounds like too much work, Mextures also has a big selection of ready-made formulas to choose from.
Artomaton – best for turning photos into art
My last pick comes straight from my art-school past. Having spent years surrounded by charcoal and paint, I’m a sucker for apps that turn photos into sketches or paintings – without the cleanup.
These days, an AI – including ChatGPT tools within Apple’s Image Playground – can provide instant art gratification, but I still prefer Artomaton (free or $9.99/£9.99), which – like other apps I’ve covered – balances immediacy and control. Tap a tool and Artomaton will ‘paint’ a new version of your photo in seconds.
But you can customise everything, including hatching patterns, distortion levels, brush density and more. You can even manually paint the effect on to the canvas with a finger, giving the result a human touch that AI filters simply cannot match.
Further reading
