What is the worst possible outcome of a photoshoot? It’s not getting a bad photo. It’s doing everything right for the perfect shot, wearing your best outfit, finding the right spot, the right angle, the right time to take a photo, taking hundreds of pictures, only for the perfect one to end up blurry and completely unusable. Once the moment has passed, it is nearly impossible to recreate, and professional photo enhancements can get pricey. Fortunately, you have technology on your side. Revive your low quality images with these free photo enhancer apps.
As camera quality continues to improve by the day, free photo editor apps aren’t far behind. Each one competes to give their users an edge, because truly, editing is the one factor that can turn ordinary images into digital masterpieces. There are thousands of apps to choose from, but even amongst the best free AI photo enhancer apps, there are a handful that stand out. Here are the top 10 user favorites you need to try.
BeautyPlus
Among the best image enhancer apps, BeautyPlus leads the way, with AI doing all the gruntwork by scanning, identifying, and enhancing the blurriness, but it also allows users to have manual control. BeautyPlus’s most impressive asset is its AI-enhancement feature, which is quite impressive due to its unique ability to preserve natural texture, which makes for a realistic finish.
Pros
BeautyPlus AI auto-detects the blurs and faults that require enhancements.
It gives you the option to manually adjust the strength of enhancement, you can choose None, HD, Ultra HD, or Portrait.
BeautyPlus also lets you adjust and enhance colors to make them vibrant if they appear washed out.
The enhancement tool also removes noise that you can scale from none to high.
If your photos appear blurry or unfocused because they were taken at night, you can adjust the night view to make it clearer.
Picsart is also one of the most notorious photo enhancer apps, which makes up for its popularity with a powerful AI enhancement feature. It’s incredibly easy to use and requires minimal manual intervention, making it a great option, especially for those who don’t want to bother with complex editing tools.
Pros
Users praise Picsart for its vibrant, user-friendly interface.
It comes packed with powerful AI tools, including a AI photo enhancer.
Picsart allows non-destructive editing through layers.
It comes with presents, templates, stock photos, stickers, modes, and a large collection of tools that allow creative freedom.
It is available on both iOS and Android.
Cons
The free version is limited and has restrictions, such as AI credits to access premium features.
Slower performance with larger files.
It’s a paid feature.
Canva
Canva is probably the easiest and most popular design tool for the casual user. Canva is synonymous with convenience, and that is why it offers a one-click enhancement with its AI-powered image enhancer that refines blurry images and defines details. It also allows its users to make use of the image editor with scalable sharpening and clarity tools, giving them more control over the outcome.
Pros
It is extremely beginner-friendly.
Has an extensive template library.
Comes with an AI-powered image upscaler and editing options to increase sharpness and clarity.
It is the ideal option for collaborative projects.
Cloud-based.
Cons
It has limited output formats and requires an internet connection for use.
The free version has restrictions and requires users to pay for a premium for certain tools, graphics, and templates.
It doesn’t allow users to download raw files.
Fotor
Visually speaking, Fotor is the closest app to a professional-grade editing tool that is accessible to the casual user. Its image enhancer tool famously goes by the name “Pixels Enhancer”, which is a clever way to indicate its effectiveness. It too depends on AI enhance images from blurry to clear, and is overall a decent tool.
Pros
Fotor has an easy-to-navigate editor that one can learn and use fairly quickly.
It features an extensive range of design and editing tools to give you just the right finish.
It comes with efficient AI features for enhancing blurry or low-quality images.
It has a cloud-based interface that is accessible through multiple devices.
It has better subscription packages compared to many professional and non-professional editing tools for premium features.
Cons
Some of the features require a premium.
The AI feature can be inconsistent in its results.
The desktop app lacks certain valuable shortcut keys that are necessary for editing.
It has a credit-based system for the premium features.
PixelCut
If you want to edit multiple photos at the same time, PixelCut is the way to go. Not only does it allow users to use AI to upscale their images, but it also allows them to process several of them, saving time and energy. It is popular amongst business owners for its image enhancer and background removal tools that make multiple product photography efficient and affordable.
Pros
One of the few free photo enhancer apps that allows batch processing, meaning you can edit multiple images at the same time.
Comes with several AI-powered object removal and image upscaler.
If you generate any images using the PixelCut AI, you have the license to use them commercially.
PixelCut comes with a library of templates for various uses.
Cons
Some of the features are locked behind a paywall.
The platform itself is not suitable for professional editing.
The AI-generated images might be lower-quality than other image generation AI tools.
The mobile application is reportedly not as user-friendly as the desktop version.
Remini
Remini is the one free photo enhancer app on this list that uses deep learning for its enhancement, allowing it to restore photos within seconds with impressive clarity. The deep learning aspect allows it to reconstruct photos with context awareness and also makes quick work of the restoration with one-tap features.
Pros
User-friendly interface.
Remini has an AI photo enhancer that allows its users to restore photos with a single tap.
The app performs faster edits and downloads.
Offers users more control over the output through toggles for features they wish to use.
Has skin-smoothing features.
Cons
The subscription fees are fairly high, especially considering it’s not a professional-grade editor.
The photo enhancer feature is limited.
Over-editing leads to loss of texture, details, and sharpness.
Part of the YouCam franchise, YouCam Enhance has the stellar performance of its sister apps, with several advanced upscaling features on a single platform. It has the advantage that it was designed to enhance photos, which means it does that spectacularly, allowing users to make full use of YouCam’s editing features by letting them connect to other YouCam apps for the perfect edit.
Pros
It produces high quality results.
It is primarily an app designed for enhancement; therefore, it has all the necessary features linked to restoration, including scratch removal, noise reduction, and colorization.
It is fairly easy to use with a shallow learning curve.
It is part of the YouCam franchise and easily connects to other apps by YouCam for further editing.
Cons
It is slower than others.
It is more AI-driven, which means less user control.
It is purely for enhancement and does not have advanced editing tools.
It’s a paid tool.
PicWish
Many users prefer being able to see their progress in real time to know what changes to make with each step. PicWish allows you to do just that. It allows you to view your progress and also lets you clean up backgrounds for a cleaner look. Its enhancer features are primarily AI-powered, but it also allows its users to have a manual approach for a more precise finish.
Pros
It allows users to see the changes in real time.
User-friendly interface.
Besides enhancement, it also features background and object removal.
No image quality loss and supports several image formats.
Cons
Advanced features are locked behind a paywall.
Slower processing, and sometimes there are reported crashes.
It is not effective against severe blurring.
PhotoGrid
PhotoGrid is just as much a good photo enhancer app as it is a photo editing app. It restores your photo and doubles as a photo and video editor that comes with presets for social media, so you can post your content stress-free. This is the one app on this list that combines social media content creation with photo enhancement, and it does it for free.
Pros
Comes with powerful, automated AI features.
It gives users presets to use for social media.
Allows both photo and video editing.
Allows users to improve resolution when enhancing photos.
Cons
Contains ads.
Certain features are behind a paywall.
The automated enhancement feature does not let users have more control over the output.
Difficult to navigate.
PhotoApp
PhotoApp is yet another powerful and commendable photo enhancer app that uses AI to not just unblur your photos but also repair and colorize old ones, so you can take a walk down a colorful memory lane.
Pros
Allows users to colorize and restore old photos.
Includes features like object removal.
Does not need a premium.
Impressive enhancement. Can fix blurry images and sharpen details using AI.
Cons
Users report inconsistent performance.
Reported bugs.
Has unexpected charges.
Contains too many ads.
Bottom Line
Photos are meant to be preserved. They are reminders of times that we cherish, and that is why upscaling technology is so important. With the latest AI-powered free photo enhancer apps like BeautyPlus, not only are you preserving your best moments, you are capturing them exactly as they were meant to be seen.
With a background in both beauty and tech, Joan is passionate about integrating AI advancements with creative expression, making BeautyPlus a go-to platform for enhancing and sharing personal style.