My Favorite Photo Editing Apps on Android

Hi! I know I've fallen off with my weekly 'Things' posts, but you'll be getting all of those late entries very soon and I'll be back on track. This week I thought I'd talk about some of my favorite photo apps. I've been trying to do a review on various photo editing apps for some time now, but it sort of evolved into me just talking about my favorites instead. That still kills two birds with one stone, because I get to give a mini-review of those apps while explaining why I enjoy them so much. Another reason why I wanted to do this post was because while I hear about so many good photo apps for iOS, I don't hear too many about Android. I'm a Droid gal, so personally I'd rather talk about those because I can test them out. 

So what apps are my favorites for editing photos? I'm not a pro by any means and I'm sure my photos look completely amateur compared to larger bloggers with more resources, but because of these apps I'm finally figuring out the look I'd like my product photos to have. Let's get started!

1. Aviary (free for iOS & Android; in-app add-ons cost extra)

iOS | Android

This is the primary app that I use to edit my photos. I don't really like editing my product photos too much because I want you to get an accurate idea of what the products look like, but I do like to polish the image a little bit. This app is easy to use, doesn't manipulate my photos too much, and if I'm not adding in fonts or extra images this is the only app that I need to use. If I am using another app, I can share the image directly from Aviary to the other app without any trouble, and if I'm only using Aviary I can share it directly to my social media sites after I'm done editing. There are a lot of add-ons, from frames to filters, overlays to stickers, all of which are inexpensive. I love Aviary because it gives a clean, polished finish to my images, its ridiculously easy to use, and its free.

2. Phonto (free for iOS & Android, add-ons cost extra)

iOS | Android

This is the only font app that I use if I have to add any text to my photos. The only thing that I don't like about this app is that the quality of the finished photo seems to decrease. A perfect example of this would be my "About Me" panel, which should be at the top right of the blog. Both the raw image of my header photo and the initial completed image of the "About Me" box are clear, crisp images. But I had to run them through Phonto so I could add my text, and that is how I ended up with the lower quality appearance that it now boasts. It doesn't do that to every photo I use though, so I've been playing around with it, trying to figure out what creates this finish. But my favorite feature about this app isn't that you can add text to your photos, but that all web fonts available for download are available for use in Phonto. For a font head like me, this was a godsend. The decreased quality of my finished pictures, however, not so much.





3. Photosuite Pro (available for Android; Lite version is free & Pro version is $4.99)

Android

I had the Lite version of this app from the Play Store until I downloaded a free for a limited time Pro (or full) version of Photosuite from Amazon Underground. I'm going to be reviewing that sometime soon, btw. Anyway, if you're a GIMP user you'll love Photosuite. It's the closest option to a mobile-friendly GIMP that I've ever seen. GIMP is the PC program that I used for any graphic designing before I found out you could edit photos from your phone (I know, I'm a fossil) and for the longest time, my biggest complaint was that I couldn't find anything with as many options or features as GIMP in a mobile format. Photosuite is the closest I've seen, with tons of customization and creation options for your photos. My only complaint is that it's a little difficult to find your saved files; it's easier to share or export the open file directly to another app.







4. PhotoGrid (free for iOS & Android; in-app add-ons cost extra)

iOS | Android

This is the app that I used for all of my Spring Inspiration collages last month. Much like Aviary, PhotoGrid is easy to use, has enough customizations available to give my photos the look that I want, and can easily be shared to other photo editing apps or social media. I don't use it for anything except collages, but there are other features as well as a little community for you to share your own creations on. There are also paid features of the app, but I don't need them so I don't utilize them.









5. Kalos Filter (free for Android)

Android

This app is a bit newer to me; I haven't been using it for too long but I'm loving it so far. The app is exactly what its title says; a collection of random filters meant to enhance your photos and give them some flavor. You can use a single filter or a combination of filters of your choice or selected at random, another element that I like. Aviary has filters, but if I want a more artistic look to the photo, Kalos Filter is the app that I go with.











6. AfterFocus (free for Android; paid Pro version on iOS is $.99)

iOS | Android

I don't use this app as often as the others, but this is what I use to blur or sharpen any aspects of my photos. I usually use it when I want to focus on a product and blur out the background because, like the other apps on the list, AfterFocus is easy for me to navigate. There really isn't much else to this app; if you want to blur any part of a photo's background in order to bring attention to other elements of the photo, you can do that with ease when using AfterFocus.

Those are my favorite apps for editing photos. I don't really take selfies, so I primarily use these when I'm editing product photos but I've developed a system (that's become quite efficient) with these apps that helps me edit much faster. I'd like to think that compared to when I first started doing reviews seriously, the photos I take and upload now are much better. I've been thinking about doing a series about finding substitutes for iOS-only apps, but I have to stay on track with the posts I'm already doing before I add on something new. So we'll see about that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post and I'll see you soon!