5 Image Editing Apps For Your Smartphone
PicsArt (Photo Credit: Hranushmanukyan / CC BY-SA 4.0)
PicsArt – Photo Studio
PicsArt is a free, all-in-one, photo-editing and drawing app and a social network. It empowers users to transform photos into works of art, express themselves, inspire and get inspired in turn. The app combines a vast variety of features into a highly acclaimed user-friendly interface.
PicsArt features a photo editor, drawing tool, and a collage maker in addition to various camera enhancements including a video feature. The PicsArt Photo Studio app is available for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Windows 8.1. Currently, the app is distributed through the App Store, Google Play, Amazon.com, the Windows Phone Store, and the Windows Store. The app includes hundreds of individually customizable masks, effects, borders, frames, clipart items, fonts, a fully equipped drawing tool, a collage maker, a video feature and many other editing tools.
PicsArt’s social network lets users accumulate followers and followings, share photos and drawings, interact with other users and join contests. In the Contest section, users can find photography, drawing, and design challenges.
Users can also directly share their images instantly on other social networking services like: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Flickr, Foursquare, WordPress, DeviantArt, Dropbox and more. PicsArt also publishes the PicsArt’s Daily Journal, with photography and drawing tutorials, news, interviews, feature articles, and galleries that promote art and users from the community.
Snapseed
Snapseed is a photo-editing application produced by Nik Software for iOS and Android that allows users to enhance photos and apply digital filters. Nik originally launched Snapseed on the iPad in June 2011, and it was named iPad App of the Year 2011 by Apple. Building on the success of the iPad version, Nik launched Snapseed for the iPhone in August 2011. Later, on February 27, 2012, Snapseed was announced for Microsoft Windows. Subsequent to the Google take-over, Snapseed was released for Android in December 2012 and the desktop version of Snapseed was discontinued.
On April 9, 2015, Nik released Snapseed 2.0 for iOS and Android, bringing new tools, features, and a refreshed user interface. Snapseed users can edit pictures using swiping gestures to select different effects and enhancements. Alternatively, users can opt for an “automatic” adjustment of color and contrast. The list of special effects and filters includes Drama, Grunge, Vintage, Center-focus, Frames, and a Tilt-shift.
Pixlr Express
Pixlr Express is a cloud-based set of image tools and utilities, including a number of photo editors, a screen grabber browser extension, and a photo sharing service. The suite was intended for non-professionals, however the apps range from simple to advanced photo editing. It can be used on PCs, and on smartphones or tablets using a mobile app. Time put Pixlr on its list of the top 50 websites of 2013. Pixlr was founded in Sweden in 2008 by Ola Sevandersson. On 19 July 2011, the suite was acquired by Autodesk.
Photo Editor by Aviary
Aviary is a photo-editing platform for iOS, Android, and the web. Aviary powers numerous mobile applications, including its self-titled iOS and Android apps. It contains a large collection of easy-to-use editing tools such as custom photo filters, frames, graphics, and overlays. The Aviary platform is also a free SDK that provides developers with a customizable photo editor that can be embedded into apps on iOS, Android, Windows, OS X, and the web.
The company was founded in 2007 with the goal of providing professional-quality photo-editing tools to the general public. Aviary has since received millions of dollars in funding from investors such as Spark Capital and Bezos Expeditions. On September 22, 2014, Aviary was acquired by Adobe Systems. Later, on November 13, 2014, Aviary integrated the suite into Adobe’s Creative Cloud.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express is a Flash-based image editing web and mobile application from Adobe used to directly edit photos on blogs and social networking sites, so that users do not have to download or upload images. Similar to Picnik, the application currently works with sites such as Facebook, Flickr, Picasa and Photobucket. In September 2011 the company also introduced Adobe Photoshop Express for Android and iPhone. They allow editing pictures in the smartphone or tablet rather than online. In addition, the Windows 8 version of the Adobe Photoshop Express was also introduced in May 2013.
In the early days of the beta test, the product’s terms of use raised controversy, in that it claimed to retain an irrevocable license to use certain works submitted by end users in perpetuity. At that time, Adobe held users of Photoshop Express to Adobe.com’s general Terms of Use, which had not been drafted in contemplation of the sort of user-created content utilized in Photoshop Express. Following user concerns and negative press, Adobe issued new, more specialized Terms of Use for the Photoshop Express product that superseded sections of the General Terms, and clarified many of these issues. Changes included making the license expressly revocable and indicating that Adobe’s rights to use the content are solely for the operation of Photoshop Express itself.
