Quick LinksPicsart - Has the Most Features and Effects Canva - Offers the Best Free Features InShot - The Simplest Creative Photo Editing App Key Takeaways Picsart offers a wide range of AI tools, filters, stickers, and drawing features for unique photo editing. Canva provides free design elements, templates, and filters for creative photo editing. InShot offers vintage filters, doodle and sticker options, and layering capabilities for artistic photo editing.
Sometimes, a simple photo just isn't enough to capture the vibe you're going for. Whether you want to add a dreamy filter, create a surreal double exposure, or turn your shot into a digital masterpiece, the right app can open up a world of possibilities.
After experimenting with countless options, I've found a few standout mobile apps that make it easy to add unique and artistic effects to your photos. Here are my favorites that take photo editing to the next level.
1 Picsart - Has the Most Features and Effects
First on my list is Picsart, and app that goes beyond typical photo editing. Picsart is my go-to for everything from AI art to drawing and graphic design. With a wide range of AI photo tools, drawing features, and a huge library of creative elements like stickers, painting filters, frames, and shape masks, Picsart offers endless possibilities for turning your photos into something truly unique.
Let's turn this ordinary photo of my cat into something more creative (not that it needs much improvement with a face like his). I'm going to skip the AI features to highlight Picsart's other artistic features.
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My favorite place to hang out in Picsart is the Artistic and Magic sections, found under Effects. There are dozens of unique filters that can completely transform a photo. Below, I used Oil Painting, Mirror, Halftone Dots, and Soul. These effects aren't normally found in standard photo editing apps, you'd have to create them manually or prompt an AI generator, both with no guarantee that you'll get what you're looking for.
Let's move over to my second favorite part of the app, Stickers. Here, you can search for anything your heart desires and overlay it on your photo, from symbols, gradient overlays, lens flares, illustrations, graphic elements, and cartoons, to even real pictures of other cats. Reportedly, there are over 60 million stickers in the library. Even when you discount the paid ones, that's still a massive collection.
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The Draw section is what sets Picsart apart from other photo editors, in my opinion. It's not just a pencil tool with a few colors; you can select from a large variation of brushes and colors, and modify the parameters for each. There's also a handy Fill tool. It's an easy way to get started with digital painting and drawing. If, unlike me, you're an actual artist, you can probably create some impressive drawings in this section.
Lastly, I can't ignore the Brushes and Frames sections. They're such an easy way to add a little pop to your image, and there are loads of options to choose from. And if you can't find exactly what you're looking for, Stickers will have it -- just use the Erase/Restore functions to use an overlay like a brush.
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Download: Picsart for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
2 Canva - Offers the Best Free Features
Canva is primarily a design app, but I use it as a photo editor in most cases, and I don't have a subscription because the free features are plentiful. As it specializes in graphic design, you've got loads of creative elements to work with. There's also a Draw section, but it's not nearly as robust as Picsart's, so I rarely use it.
Most of what you're looking for is going to be in the Elements section. Here, you will find graphics, stickers, shapes, photos, mockups, and even videos if you want to create a video with Canva -- it's very nice how all of this is under one section. Because I love my cat, I went a little overboard with the hearts, adding the love symbol from nearly every one of these sections.
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My photo looks a bit ridiculous at this point, but Canva's mobile interface makes it easy to arrange, edit, and delete elements, including text. Just tap on something, and you can move it around, resize it, trash it, or modify it with the options in the bottom panel. Now my photo looks much better.
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Canva is probably best known for its massive library of templates, which are also accessible on the mobile app via the Design tab. Some of them are paid, and most of them are quite professional-looking, but there are also a lot of free artsy and cutesy templates, you just have to search for them.
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Lastly, Canva also offers a decent number of effects and filters -- I actually like them better than the ones my iPhone Photos app offers. Whenever you tap on your photo, open Effects or Filters in the bottom panel, and tap to apply something you like. These also come with modification options.
Download: Canva for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
3 InShot - The Simplest Creative Photo Editing App
I mainly use InShot for its video editor, but it has a very decent photo editor with a ton of creative options. It has about as many filters and effects as Picsart, and there's also a Doodle and Sticker section. Doodle lets you draw using a small selection of brushes, and Stickers is not quite as expansive as Picsart's, but there are still enough to give your photos a unique look.
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InShot sports a lot of vintage and film-style filters, which I'm a huge fan of, making it my go-to app for that aesthetic. The Effects section has more modern-looking styles, such as glitches and neon colors. You can create just about any look, from historic to futuristic or other-wordly.
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Because, just like Picsart and Canva, InShot also works with layers, it allows you to overlay your own photos via the PIP (picture in picture) tool. You can then further edit that photo to make it pair well with whatever is in the background or create an awesome double exposure.
InShot has a few AI features, but I never bother using them because there are better generative AI options out there. The standard InShot tools are all I need.
Download: InShot for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
All of these apps have free versions that give you plenty to work with, but getting a subscription will unlock all their tools and features. I recommend playing around with the apps first to see if it's worth the investment. If you find yourself craving more creative freedom, it might be worth upgrading. Either way, these apps are bound to infuse your snaps with creativity.
