The 10 Best Photo Apps for iPhone

The best iOS apps for taking photos, editing them, and using advanced techniques

By
Brad Stephenson
Brad Stephenson - Lifewire Writer
Brad Stephenson
Freelance Contributor
  • Western Sydney University
Brad Stephenson is a freelance tech and geek culture writer with 12+ years' experience. He writes about Windows 10, Xbox One, and cryptocurrency.
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Published on March 13, 2020

The default iPhone camera and iOS Photos app may be reliable tools for doing basic photography and image editing on an iPhone but there are a plethora of other iOS apps worth checking out. Some of these picture apps for iPhone can enhance the photos that you take while others can inspire the inner artist with some truly creative editing options and stunning filters.

Here are some of the best photography apps for iPhone worth trying today.

01
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Best Photo App for Adding Text: Typorama

Typorama photo app on iPhone.

Typorama
What We Like

  • Extremely easy to use.

  • Lots of high quality free templates to customize.

What We Don't Like

  • A lot of templates require the $4.99 monthly subscription.

  • Monthly subscription is needed to remove watermark though this can be countered by simply cropping the image.

Typorama is one of the best apps for taking pictures on your iPhone and turning them into posters, pamphlets, or shareable memes. You can import any photo from your iPhone camera roll or choose from a variety of stock images already available in Typorama. From there, a variety of text templates can be added to make a professional-looking presentation that most would pay a graphic designer an expensive fee for.

What’s truly impressive is the high level of customizability available within the app for free. You can change the text color, add a shadow, and even transform it and apply effects. There is a paid monthly subscription for additional pre-sets and filters but the free content is more than enough for most people.

02
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Canva photography editing app on iOS.

Canva
What We Like

  • Pre-set aspect ratios for Instagram posts, Instagram Stories, business cards, and more.

  • Free tools for making animated images with your photos.

What We Don't Like

  • You need to create a Canva account before you can use any of its features.

  • The UI can take some getting used to even for experienced designers.

For folks looking for a less expensive alternative to Adobe Photoshop, image editing tool Canva is great app. The iPhone app boasts a wide variety of editing tools for resizing and adjusting photos saved on your device and, while it doesn’t offer to nuanced color fine-tuning of other apps, Canva does feature numerous filters which should be enough for most users.

What really sets Canva apart is its large library of pre-set projects which feature the exact pixel width and height for specific use cases such as a Facebook cover photo, business card, or Instagram Story. The only downside is the UI which can be quite frustrating at times with its ambiguous gestures and controls.

03
of 10

Best Photo App for iPhone Collages: PicCollage Grid & Photo Editor

PicCollage Grid & Photo Editor app on iPhone.

Cardinal Blue
What We Like

  • Very easy to add images and customize the collage.

  • Lots of free options with no need to pay for an upgrade.

What We Don't Like

  • The amount of advertizing for the paid upgrade is a bit obnoxious.

  • Lots of prompts for app notifications.

PicCollage Grid & Photo Editor is a free iPhone app that does exactly what its name suggests. Within seconds, anyone can use this app to create high quality collages using their own photos and images uploaded directly from their iOS device. Not only can the style of the collage be customized but the width of the gap between each image can also be changed, as can the background color or pattern.

Editing a collage in PicCollage Grid & Photo Editor is very easy as almost every task just requires a single tap or the dragging of a slider. Unlike other iPhone photo apps, there’s no guesswork here. This is a photography application that anyone can use.

04
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iPhone Photography App for Advanced Users: Darkroom Photo Editor

Darkroom Photo Editor photography app on iPhone.

Bergen Co
What We Like

  • Direct access to your photo library from within the app is really convenient.

  • Lots of advanced editing tools that professional photographers use.

What We Don't Like

  • A bit too advanced for casual users.

  • Costs around $50 to unlock all features which is very expensive.

Darkroom is an extremely comprehensive photo editing app for iOS that features a variety of tools for fine tuning every aspect of the image. Basic filters and cropping tools are present but so are some truly in-depth color controls that make Darkroom one of the best photo apps for iPhone designed for true professional photographers and designers.

Though admittedly too advanced for casual Instagrammers, this photo app is clearly not designed for that demographic hence the high price point which is required to unlock all of the features on a permanent basis.

05
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Best Instagram Picture App for iPhone: Instasize Photo Editor + Video

Instasize Photo Editor + Video Instagram photography app on iPhone.

Instacize Inc
What We Like

  • Works as a great complement to the official Instagram iPhone app.

  • Lots of features and easy to use.

What We Don't Like

  • App tries to trick you into signing up for a monthly subscription upon start-up. 

  • Some of the color tools are pretty weak.

Instasize is one of many picture apps for iPhone aimed at modern Instagram users and social media influencers looking to up their social game and make an impact with their photography. A good selection of color tools and filters are available here so you can save and immediately upload the finished product to Instagram without making any additional changes but the real star is the frames tool that adds a border around your photo

The width of the frames can be adjusted to taste and the ability to add gradients, designs, and photos to them places Instasize above its rivals. A $4.99 monthly subscription is needed to unlock extra filters but there’s plenty on offer for the free user on a budget.

06
of 10

Most-Unique Filter Photo App: Prisma Photo Editor

Prisma Photo Editor image editing iPhone app.

Prisma Labs
What We Like

  • Filters are really high quality and varied.

  • Very fast and easy to use.

What We Don't Like

  • App’s splash screen makes it look like a subscription is necessary but it isn’t.

  • Premium paid subscription required for HD photos.

Prisma Photo Editor is an iPhone photography app that focuses entirely on transforming regular photos or images into stylish works of art. Many photo apps offer similar filters but few live up to the promise of making artwork that can stand on its own and impress rather than just being a curiosity that no one uses.

A $7.99 monthly subscription is needed to access all of the filters but one of the premium options is offered randomly on a daily basis alongside the acceptable selection of free ones. Worth a look if you’re looking for something different.

07
of 10

Best Retro Photography App on iPhone: FIMO Analog Camera

FIMO Analog Camera app on iPhone.

JUSTMAE Tech
What We Like

  • A fantastically-original idea for a photography app.

  • Photos look noticeably different when each film type is used.

What We Don't Like

  • Minimalist UI may confuse and turn off some users.

  • Those who don’t know about film types will be lost. 

FIMO Analog Camera may not be one of the best photography apps for iPhone but it is one of the more unique ones with a great retro vibe that will appeal to the nostalgic photographer.

Once opened, the entire app acts like an old-school camera with none of the typical app controls that iPhone users would be used to. Instead, you need to tap the on-screen camera button to take a photo or swipe the camera roll along the bottom to select a different type of film which artificially makes whatever photo you take look like it was snapped on actual film.

08
of 10

Coolest iPhone Photography iPhone App: Glitche

Glitche image and video editing app on iPhone.

Glitche Ltd
What We Like

  • Brilliant use of 3D editing to create some epic imagery.

  • Massive library of tools for free users.

What We Don't Like

  • Saving and editing a gif can be a little confusing due to the streamlined UI.

  • Camera and Video filters need a $4.49 unlock for each.

Glitche is a unique photography apps in Apple’s App Store due to its rather exclusive focus on digital distortion filters and edgy 3D imagery that can be edited and placed over a photo. The app also allows for the creation of gifs and videos and also contains some AR (augmented reality) functionality.

The amount of image editing and creation potential in Glitche is truly impressive but it is held back significantly by in-app purchases and a profoundly confusing UI that will take most users an entire weekend to work out. Once mastered, though, Glitche can be a powerful iPhone photographer’s tool.

09
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Best iPhone Photo App for Photoshop Fans: Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express app on iPhone.

 Adobe
What We Like

  • The UI will be very familiar to PC and Mac Photoshop users.

  • Integration of Adobe’s own in-app social network is great for inspiration.

What We Don't Like

  • Sometimes it can be hard to tell which action will trigger a paid subscription ad.

  • Amount of features can be overwhelming at first.

If you have even the slightest interest in photography, you would have heard of Adobe’s Photoshop software which is used by numerous professional photographers, designers, and journalists all around the world. Adobe Photoshop Express is its little sibling designed purely for touch devices such as the iPhone and it impressively offers most of the commonly tools found in the main version.

You can crop, adjust color levels, and transform photos and, while there are quite a few filters and tools hidden behind a monthly paid subscription, all of the core functionality is free and works really well. As an added bonus, Adobe Photoshop Express also feature its own in-app social network which shows you edits made by others users showed alongside the original image that they worked on.

10
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Best iPhone Motion Blur App: Slow Shutter Cam

Slow Shutter Cam app for iPhone.

Cogitap Software
What We Like

  • Adds proper camera settings to iPhone smartphones and iPads.

  • Great for taking light trail photographs.

What We Don't Like

  • Casual photographers will need to look up some terminology before using.

  • App isn’t free but $1.99 isn’t expensive either. 

Slow Shutter Cam is the best app for taking pictures of traffic light trails and scenes that require a motion blur on an iPhone. The app is also a necessity for iPhone owners given the fact that the default iOS Camera app can’t slow the shutter speed to create these effects by itself.

Slow Shutter Cam is fairly easy to use with its basic point-and-click functionality but it is worth reading up on the importance of ISO and shutter speed to truly get the most out of the app.

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