Last Updated on 13.09.2022
Universal image editors are one of the most popular and demanded types of applications, and their popularity only grows with time.
There are many of these applications in the mobile segment. In many ways, they are the same type, but there are also original things with unique capabilities. They have their own details related to the size of the screen and how to interact with it.
Expert developers take these details into account when creating applications, and it is in programs for working with graphics that the correct design of the interface is of greatest importance.
We also try to keep these details in mind when reviewing applications.
Some developers prefer to release several specialized apps instead of releasing one multifunctional app, and in this review we discuss some such apps.
The most requested applications are the ones included in this overview.
Adobe Photoshop Express
A simple and high-quality image editor.
We originally included this app in this review mainly because of its name; otherwise you might have ended up in a photo editors review.
In general, there is nothing of the “real photoshop” here, except the name. In terms of functionality, the app is more of a very light version of Adobe Lightroom, to which two essential features have been added: the possibilities to add texts and create collages.
In principle, this gives us reason to say that it is a graphics editor.
If you look closely at the app, you can easily find out that it is a kind of hybrid of a simple photo editor and a simple composite image editor. This simplicity, of course, is due in large part to the capabilities of mobile devices.
However, everything is very high quality, simple, intuitive and very professional.
To enhance your photos, the app provides tools for perspective correction, noise reduction, sharpening, red-eye removal, and background blurring. You can also perform simple touch-ups, color corrections, and add filters and effects to your photo.
To work with composite images, tools are available to create collages, apply text, and overlay frames, vignettes, and custom watermarks.
The application can import files from different sources in different formats, including RAW and TIFF, and save the result as a JPG file, as well as post it on social networks.
The application is free, available for Android, you can connect Adobe paid services.
ArtistA Photo Editor
A program to automatically convert photos into drawings.
A very simple application to automatically stylize your photos. Contains sets of filters and effects (about 50).
One of the Lyrebird Studio company applications, part of a series of simple graphic editors, focused on applying effects to quickly transform photographs into stylized images.
Designed for an unskilled user, it has a very simple interface. To edit, you need to upload a photo or take a new one with the built-in selfie camera. Next, you need to select an effect and adjust its intensity.
The app is free, contains ads and the ability to purchase additional effect libraries, it is available only for Android.
Comica
A simple tool for creating graphics from photos – a simple specialized image editor.
The application creates images from photographs, which are stylized as drawings. Several different types of drawings are supported: marker drawings, pencil sketches, color and black and white comics.
You can add inscriptions to drawings on stickers in various ways, as well as arrange images in the form of comic pages.
The application interface is simple and intuitive.
The app is free, contains ads and is available for Android.
Graphionica
An application to create graphics from templates – collages in geometric dimensions for Stories and posts for Instagram feed (vertical and square format, respectively).
It is possible to edit photos while creating a collage. Rotation and reflection can be applied. There are also simple tools for point retouching and background removal.
When creating collages, you need to choose a suitable template, place images on it and apply stickers and texts. You can correct the placement of images in templates. As such, the template can also be edited alongside the collage.
The app also supports video collages and allows you to create mixed collages from photos and videos.
To create collages, the app has a collection of templates, a sticker clipart, and a set of fonts.
The app is free, contains ads and is only available for Android. When you purchase the paid version, ads are disabled and access to an expanded collection of fonts and stickers is provided.
Instasquare
Simple square format image editor for image editing for social media posting.
The application allows you to create collages, images with various effects and apply the double exposure technique, all based on photographs.
Photo editing is limited to adjusting brightness, contrast and saturation, retouching and applying filters.
The user has access to various filters and effects, backgrounds, fonts, frames, a gallery of stickers and a collection of templates for collages.
The app is free, available for Android, with ads. You can disable ads for a fee.
LightX
A true graphics editor.
This app has everything we’ve come to expect from a mobile image editor.
In any case, the developers tried to do it and convince us that everything worked out for them.
The strong point of the application is its powerful smart selectors that allow you to highlight the background, individual objects and even areas with the same brightness in the image. The selected background or object can not only be replaced or removed, but can also be edited within a fairly wide range, changing color reproduction, brightness, sharpness, and illumination.
The app contains basic and advanced tools for editing, color correction, rotation and perspective change. There is also a classic set of photo effects. In general, the application has a sufficient set of tools for working with photos.
Specialized retouching tools do a good job of dealing with imperfections in portraits. You can whiten teeth, even out skin tones, or apply preset filters for portraits and selfies. You can also locally sharpen or sharpen the image. There are free drawing tools that can be used for both touch-ups and calligraphy.
There are also tools to change the face and body. You can add stickers, frames, letters, and combine images in various ways, using double exposure, smooth transition, or creating a collage.
In its basic configuration, the app can be used for free. For a fee, all capabilities and tools are provided, and the number of objects and images available in the application’s library increases.
The app is available for Android and iOS (iPad) devices.
For iOS, there are two variants of the app with different payment methods.
LightX for AndroidLightX for iOS
Photokit
It’s a hybrid of the classic photo editing toolset, smart editing media, and lots of effects. This image editor is simple yet powerful.
For photo editing, a common set of tools and adjustments are available to enhance the photo before applying effects and transformations.
All other possibilities are fully revealed with the use of smart object selection. The application can, in addition to replacing the background and isolating the object, highlight the object with a contour line of a specific color, add shadow and glow effects to it.
There are tools for adding text, lots of effects, including a cartoon effect, and a few other less common options.
All operations are provided with tips and step-by-step instructions.
The standard file format is JPG, you can convert the image to PNG.
The application is free, for Android, with ads.
PhotoStudio
In this application, the developers have combined three components: classic photo enhancement tools and settings, automatic mode of its operation and an extensive set of little-known filters and effects.
The result is a quite original application.
It can also be noted that the application also includes lettering tools and a collection of decorative overlays.
The application is quite balanced: it has classic instruments, unexpected effects, without lack of novelty, stickers and texts. And of course a collage maker.
The app is free, available for Android, with ads. For a fee, ads can be disabled, and additional collections of filters and effects are provided.
PicHero
A combination of a simple editor with many effects, with which it is difficult to surprise the owner of a mobile phone.
The developers of this app tried it, combining a collage editor, a simple photo editor with the ability to replace the background, an entertaining clipart, photo frames with texts, and a collection of artistic filters including 3D stickers.
It turned out to be a good tool for mobile phone entertainment.
The application is distributed in an Android version, free of charge, contains ads. For a fee, you can disable ads and gain access to a vast collection of objects, effects, and filters.
PicsArt
Versatile Image Editor.
This app is primarily intended for decorating photos, but it has other capabilities as well.
The app has a set of media for basic photo editing and enhancement, as well as tools, collections of filters and effects, and built-in clipart for creating collages, various compositions, and graphics for social media.
Compared to other similar apps, this editor has quite an interesting and varied set of simple and embossed stickers, as well as decorative overlays. It is also possible to freely draw with a decorative brush, overlay inscriptions, and apply various artistic effects.
Also, the app has a simple built-in video editor to create slideshows and short videos in the Instagram Stories format.
You can use the application for free, and after paying for the “golden” license, additional editing functions will be available and access to all media collections of the service will be provided.
The application is connected to the cloud of the online editor of the same name, released for Android and iOS (iPad) devices.
PicsArt for AndroidPicsArt for iOS
PicsKit
Image editor for creative people.
A universal editor of the classic type with advanced creative possibilities.
In this application, the developers have tried to combine a powerful photo editor and a large number of creative tools. The attempt can be considered quite successful.
The application allows you to work with layers, the number of which is not limited. The application interface is well adapted to the screen, comfortable to use, well structured and intuitive.
For editing, traditional tools are available for working with exposure, color, brightness and other adjustable parameters, cropping, scaling, rotations, free drawing, an eraser and everything we are used to.
There’s also a fairly extensive set of modern tools: a smart picker for isolating objects and backgrounds, means for advanced facial retouching and shape adjustments, and background blur controls.
The app contains a very large collection of filters and effects (more than 400), as well as an editor for collages, animations and memes. Built-in clipart is also available, there is the possibility to control the camera.
The app is free, available for Android, contains ads, no watermarks. For a fee, you can turn off ads and get access to advanced clip art.
Pixellab
Image editor that works well with text.
An editor with advanced tools to create and edit inscriptions.
The app comes with a set of simple photo editing tools, which are enough to prepare an image for use in a meme, poster, postcard, banner, or social media post.
You can remove the background (chroma key) and isolate the object to replace the background later, work with layer order, edit perspective, and use the brush to draw freely. There is also a set of filters and effects.
The main thing about this application is the functions of advanced work with inscriptions. There are really a lot of type options, including 3D. There are a variety of configurations available for each option. There is a special collection of text effects. There are tools to search for text quotes and a selection of templates to create memes.
The app also has a built-in sticker collection.
The app is free, available for Android, and contains ads that can be turned off for a fee.
Pixelmator
Versatile mobile image editor
A universal app for mobile photography, mobile drawing and mobile design professionals.
This is how the developer positions it, and we will not argue with him. The app has a desktop version of Pixelmator Pro, which we cover in a separate review.
As in the desktop version, the application is very rich in features and tools and has an original, convenient and intuitive interface.
Working with layers and using a coordinate grid is supported. All types of operations are supported on layers, including effects.
When editing photos, work with a resolution of up to 100 megapixels is supported. All the basic and many advanced editing tools are available, a large number of filters and transformations, retouching, object duplication, smart correction tools and much more.
For painting, the app provides a wide variety of brushes and textures for customization, supports Apple Pencil capabilities, and offers plenty of options for choosing and mixing colors, textures, and effects when layering.
For design, the app has a complete set of tools. When creating composite images, you can use non-destructive editing technologies, tools for grouping and joining objects and layers, various types of blending, and numerous effects. Tools for creating and editing vector objects, advanced selection tools, object isolation and background removal tools are available. There is an advanced set of tools for working with texts.
The app can process various image formats including PSD and HEIF. The result of the work can be saved in the application’s own format, as well as in PSD, JPG, PNG and many others.
The application supports work with iCloud, so Apple technology users can sync their files and projects between devices without additional copy operations.
The app is available for iOS devices (iPad and iPhone). The application is paid and available for a one-time payment.
ToolwizPhotos
Image editor for professionals and amateurs of mobile photography.
A feature and tool rich app that contains all the basic and advanced photo editing tools and a host of filters and effects. The classic tools are very comprehensive and include a full set of color correction tools, including work with curves.
Among the filters and effects, there are such exotic options as automatic make-up and a reflection generator, adjustments of underwater shots and night landscapes, the possibility of replacing faces and adjusting the parameters of their age and even facial expressions, as well as modeling the body. .
Advanced facial retouching tools allow you to quickly and easily perform all the usual facial retouching actions: enlarge the eyes and make them brighter, whiten the teeth and even out the skin tone. Spot retouch tools are also available.
Of course the app contains stickers, texts, builders and slideshows. For every occasion, there is an opportunity to use clipart, layouts, and templates. There are over 100 filters, all conveniently and logically grouped by purpose rather than transformation type. Among them are various artistic filters, vintage style filters and others.
Decoration opportunities are also not overlooked: the app contains decorative frame sets and overlays.
The app is free, available for Android, and contains ads that can be turned off for a fee. Additional tools are also available after payment.
In general, we can say about the application that this is the implementation of a completely successful attempt to create a really powerful image editor for the most affordable and massive hardware and software platform. At the same time, the app itself is also very affordable.
Conclusion
Some applications in this segment are quite universal: they are designed to solve fairly typical tasks and differ from each other only in how elaborate their tools are for solving these.
There are also specialized graphics editors, and their possibilities are much more diverse in creative terms.
There are very few mobile graphics editors for professional use. These applications are generally designed for use with high quality tablets.
Universal mobile graphic editors
Universal mobile applications for image editing are designed for quick photo editing, creating simple compositions (collages, postcards, memes) and posting the result on social networks or sending it via message.
This is a typical mobile photography job chain.
This group includes Adobe Photoshop Express, Photokit, PicsKit.
Specialized mobile graphic editors
This group consists of applications that are designed to perform various photo transformations. The results of the work of this type of applications cannot be classified as objects of art, but rather one can speak of gender stylization or the following of pop culture trends.
In addition, the applications in this group can be designed to solve some specific tasks, for example, to create graphics in popular social media formats.
This group includes ArtistA Photo Editor, Comica, Graphionica, Instasquare, PicHero.
We also include PicsArt and PhotoStudio, which are quite versatile, since they are mainly intended to decorate photographs.
Pixellab is a useful tool mainly for drawing and editing text, which may be needed for various tasks.
Mobile graphic editors for professionals
By professionals we mainly mean mobile photography professionals, internet marketers and SMM specialists.
Of course, no one will edit photos taken with a regular DSLR or mirrorless camera on a mobile phone, but mobile photos can be quickly and efficiently modified with their help without using a desktop computer.
This group includes applications that allow you to improve and modify photographs and carry out design work from them for any purpose, without a specific specialization.
Of course, these apps will also suit mobile photography enthusiasts for personal use.
This group includes LightX, Pixelmator, ToolwizPhotos.
