A few touch-ups made on a photo can change its meaning and looks for the better. But the question is; what is the best free photo editing software for Mac 2020? This is an app that will help you edit your photos and make them better. They will serve you right and solve all your editing needs. Best Mac Photo Editing Software - Free/Trial or Cheap 1. Apple’s Photos (Built-in app) 2. Luminar (7 days trial) 3. Photolemur 3 (Free Version with watermark) 4. Aurora HDR (14 days trial) 5. Pixelmator (Trial 30 Days) 6. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 (Trial link) 7. Affinity Photo (Free Trial) 8. Jan 16, 2020 Photo editing programs are hugely popular on Mac. There are lots of opinions on which are the best. With the Photos app on Mac, some of the best editing programs have extensions so you can quickly jump in to edit your photos without having to first load them into their full-service apps. Best Photo Editing App for Social Media Canva is an easy to use photo editor app that allows users to create graphics and edit photos by merely dragging and dropping. It takes no time at all to build a design from scratch, and you don't have to be a pro to learn how to use this free photo editing software.

Photographers never stop looking for picture-perfect moments. With smartphone cameras now offering great optics to capture high-resolution, sharp results, a lot of images get clicked on mobile phones now. There are a ton of free and paid photo apps available now from the basic camera and sharing tools to full-featured photo editing apps that let you shoot, edit, and organize images better on your mobile phones.

The question is - Which photo apps are worth your while and can help you save time and give great results on-the-go.

In this article, we're focusing on 36 best photo apps for every photographer's smartphone. Our recommendations are based on the photo app features, their ease-of-use, and social sharing capabilities.

The Best Photo Editing Apps for iPhone and Android:

1. VSCO

VSCO is not only one of the best photo editing apps, but it is also a photo-sharing app. VSCO is one of the best iPhone photography apps and features an excellent 3-in-1 camera, social sharing, and iPhone photo app. VSCO has a dedicated community of photographers, unlike Instagram, where you can find all sorts of people.

At first glance, you'll immediately appreciate VSCO's intuitive design – the main menu is clean and straightforward, and tools are designed with simple, easy-to-understand icons.

Its main features are:

• VSCO camera features are impressive. VSCO also has an advanced camera app built-in which can shoot manually as well. You can adjust focus and exposure, switch between 3 flash modes, enable gridlines for a balanced composition, and choose interface color. VSCO also comes with a built-in camera that you can manually set up and utilize with features such as shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and manual focus.
• As a photography app, VSCO offers two methods – applying presets or using manual adjustment tools. VSCO has a total of 10 presets that let you quickly and easily adjust your photos. You can even edit your photos so that they take on an 'old film' appearance, which includes color and exposure editing.
• But if you're into serious editing, you can use the manual adjustment tools. The adjustment tool includes, but not limited to crop, exposure, clarity, contrast, sharpen, straighten, saturation, and shadow save.
• The editing tools include the option to add contrast, grain, saturation, and more. The photo enhancer can adjust the filter strength in the photos. For the paid version you get 130+ filters.
• For the social butterfly, the VSCO photo app also comes with a photo-sharing platform and access to the VSCO photography community. Through this platform, you can share your photos, browse through other photographers' pictures, and discuss photography in general with your peers.
• VSCO is undoubtedly one of the best photo apps for the iPhone, and it works smoothly on Android as well.
• People who are looking for an app in which they can shoot, edit, and communicate with a similar community will prefer this app over others.
  Price: Free
  Download VSCO for Android or iOS.
  

2. InstaSize

Instasize is the photo editing best friend you never knew you needed. With so many features combined in one, it’s no surprise that Instasize has been coined the “all in one” photo editing app. Available for both IOS and Android, the app comes equipped with a robust library of filters, resizing options, border/photo frame packs, retouching tools, a text editor, video editing capabilities, and MORE.

Intuitive in design, Instasize is easy to navigate. Whether you’re a first-time photo editor or a full-time beauty blogger - beautiful edits are a single tap away.

Main features:

• 100+ filters that will instantly enhance any image.
• Resizing options for instant cropping - stories, banners, etc.
• 10+ photo adjustment tools (brightness, contrast, sharpness, and more)
• 6 retouching tools (whitening tool, blemish remover, glow enhancer, and more)
• 30+ border packs for further customization of your edits
• Photo SPOTS, instantly find unique photo locations near you, perfect for the Instagram obsessed
• Video editing, color grade your video content before uploading to social
• Grid planner, shuffle around your edited images before uploading to Instagram, plan your feed!
• Text editor, choose from 20+ fonts to add your voice to any edit
  

Download Instasize for IOS or Android.

3. Google Snapseed

Snapseed is a professional photo editing app developed by Google. If you're looking for Photoshop-like photography app, then Snapseed is the app to download. This app is known for its ability to edit RAW images as well. As smartphones now are capable of shooting RAW images, editing them properly in a good editing app is also essential. Though it doesn't have all of Photoshop's features and functionalities, most of its controls and process of editing are closely alike.

Some of the outstanding features of Snapseed are healing brush, structure, HDR, perspective, etc. Another feature in this free photo editing app is the function to save your style (presets); which you can use in other photos. Photo effects and filters can be precisely edited; giving more control to users to get the result they want. Snapseed is one of the widely used free photo apps.

Its main features are:

• Snapseed's primary purpose is to edit images, although it does support capturing images on iOS smartphones.
• Snapseed's primary purpose is to edit images, although it does support capturing images on iOS smartphones.
• Snapseed may have a camera restriction, but in editing, it's packed with features. It has 29 filters and tools to tune images, face poses, glamour glow, and double exposure.
• When it comes to social sharing, it doesn't have a specific social network.
  The only disadvantage of editing in Snapseed is its gesture-based tools which are quite challenging to use for first-time users.
  Price: Free
  Download Google Snapseed for Android or iOS.

4. Adobe Lightroom for Mobile

Adobe Lightroom is one of the best apps for professional photographers as it's the only photography app that can allow viewing, editing, and organizing a large number of images.

The editing app has a built-in camera feature which can take photos in RAW through your smartphone where you can edit the exposure, aperture, and use other manual features. The app also has filters for adding various effects which can be applied with one tap to edit pictures. The premium version of this app has more advanced features like healing brush, selective adjustments, cloud storage, RAW image editing of DSLR photos, and more. This photo editing app by Adobe gives you advanced features such as curves through which you can make fine adjustments to the color, exposure, tone, and contrast.

Its other main features are:

• Editing in Lightroom mobile version offers a wide variety of presets and tools to choose from – ranging from simple to advanced correction and adjustment tools.
• Navigation-wise, its presets and some tools can be used by tapping the presets once.
• Lightroom can share to different social media platforms.
  Prices: Free + In app purchases
  Download Adobe Lightroom for Android or iOS.

5. Camera+

If you’re an iPhone user, you probably heard Camera+. Or maybe, you’re currently using it now and addicted to it.

It isn’t surprising as Camera+ is one of the best photography apps for iPhone and has impressive features and capabilities:

• Camera+ is intended to help users shoot like pros. This app is equipped with touch exposure, easy controls, a stabilizer to ensure steady shooting, gridlines for composition and more.
• Aside from the usual editing tools (e.g. crop, borders and captioning), Camera+ offers advanced tools, like tone adjustment tool, red-eye remover, vignette, straightening and white balance.
• You can share all the photos you captured and edited on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

The only downside of Camera+ is it’s only available for IOS smartphones.
Price: iPhone: $2.99 and Ipad: $4.99
Download Camera+ for iOS.

6. Pixlr

Available for iOS and Android, Pixlr is one of the most popular free photo apps and has a wide range of different photo effects, overlays, and filters that you can use to create truly unique and visually appealing images. This picture app offers four different web apps, all HTML5 applications that load right in your browser. Pixlr Editor is their best free web app, and it offers a lot of features, even layers and color replacement tools.

Pixlr Express is a toned-down version, with simplified user experience and lots of preset filters. Pixlr Pro is a paid tool that provides a free trial, but it's the only tool on our list that can open a Photoshop PSD file and save it as a PNG or JPG. Finally, Pixlr Today is a task manager extension for the Google Chrome Browser. The app is free but offers in-app purchases of things like effect packs. When you've completed your work, the app can save directly to your social media accounts or email.
Price: Free
Download Pixlr for Android or iOS.

7. Adobe Photoshop Express

Another high powered photo app is the Adobe Photoshop Express. Unlike many other photo apps, Photoshop Express includes the functions 'straighten' and 'flip' that can help you achieve even more flexible editing options. If you want to edit in RAW format or even in TIFF format, you can do so with the best photo editing app - Photoshop Express. There are 45 filters to choose from if you want to add creative effects to your images. One-click sharing, image resizing, and watermarking are also features which come in handy.

However, compared to Adobe's Lightroom photo app, Photoshop Express is much weaker and limited in scope. Photoshop Express offers quick editing, but for a more professional feel, Adobe Lightroom app provides more options.
Price: Free
Download Adobe Photoshop Express for Android or iOS.

Best Photo Editing App For Macs Computer

8. Enlight

Enlight is a more advanced photo app with the usual tools that most photo apps have, including exposure, color, and cropping, as well as several unique features: built-in filters with duo color toning, black and white filters, and maximum control over photo highlights and shadow quality.

Enlight's top features are its Mixer tool, which allows you to combine two photos for a double exposure image and plenty of additional features for fine-tuned editing. This best photography app also has a Mask tool which lets you directly paint onto an image to fix abnormal color spots or create subtle, visually pleasing effects.
Price: $4.45
Download Enlight for iOS.

9. TouchRetouch

This is the ultimate photography app when it comes to 'healing' and 'cloning' functionality for your photos. TouchRetouch can efficiently remove dust marks, telephone wires, and virtually any other object or mark that you may not want in your picture. Best of all, this photo app is incredibly easy to use. Simply touch the object or area of your picture that you want to correct with the tip of your finger, and the picture app will immediately start analyzing the picture and determining the best way to smooth out the unwanted portion to create a clear and natural looking image.
Price: $1.99
Download TouchRetouch for Android or iOS.

10. Instagram

When over 1 billion people are using it, there has to be something special about it, right? The Instagram photography app started with simple filters and fun photo frames and has quickly transformed into one of the best photo apps that allows you to edit photos and create photo 'stories' that can be shared with friends and followers. It fulfills the same social needs as Facebook does. But this free photo editor focuses on sharing your day to day life in the form of photos and seeing what others are sharing on your feed. Instagram also allows for direct messaging with fellow users for private conversations or photo sharing. The ability for a user to put updates in different creative ways like Stories, Live, Text, is fantastic.

The filters Instagram provides for editing photos are intuitive and straightforward. The editing tools are not nearly comprehensive as Snapseed or Afterlight 2. If you are looking for a free photo editing app with essential editing tools, but you place more emphasis on the sharing features and a good community, then this free picture editor is for you.
Price: Free
Download Instagram for Android or iOS.

11. FilterStorm Neue

This stunning photo app allows you to accomplish advanced editing tasks on your images. Filterstorm Nue offers advanced and interactive features like adjustments over curves, tone, and levels along with channel mixers. The clone feature of this iPhone photo app is outstanding and lets you remove unwanted objects with ease.

You can also easily apply sharpening, watermarking, noise reduction and clarity effects using this app. The downside is that this paid app only available for iPhones.
Price: $3.99
Download Filterstorm Nue for iOS.

12. Mextures

Mexture is an iPhone photo editing app suitable for adding gradients, textures, light leaks, dust, and grains. This photo editor allows you to create an unlimited number of layers which you can blend later. These layers can also be individually edited for texture, blend mode or rotation. There are over 150 texture presets in the Mexture photo editing app. Along with the 12 blending modes, the possibility for creating something creative are numerous.
Price: $1.99
Download Mextures for iOS.

13. Google Photos

Google photos app is built to save and share photos and includes a built-in editing feature. The images are backed automatically and can be accessed from anywhere through any connected device. The benefit of this app is that you can free up space on your mobile. The editing tools can edit the light, color, brightness, and more in this gallery app itself.

14. Photo Lab Picture Editor

Photo Lab provides one of the vastest collections of stylish and funny photo effects: almost 1000 effects to date. The 40 categories in the app offer awesome face photo montages, photo frames, animated effects, overlays, sketches and paintings, and photo filters that can be applied to your photos in a few taps. Any template can be used on its own or combined with different effects to get an entirely new one (called 'Combos'). The photos can be saved to the Gallery, shared to the 'apps' Feed or any messenger or social media. Besides, Photo Lab is a one-tap answer for any problems in your picture. Be it a color correction, background replacement, or just an easy touch-up - the app is there to guide you! There is more to it, but we'll let you explore every corner of Photo Lab on your own.
Price: Free with In-App Purchases.

15. Afterlight 2

Afterlight 2 is a picture editor which has an extensive collection of natural filters, and the editing tools are designed with simplicity in mind. These editing tools give you full control of the editing process. Afterlight 2 allows you to import photos in RAW format as well and the export can also be done in HEIC format. A user can create filters using their Fusion feature and save them to give consistency to the editing if required. The photo editing app has advanced tools such as Curves in which you can edit the brightness, color, and contrast of the image, making it the best photo editing apps for iPhone.
Price: One-time price of $2.99 Platform: iOS

16. GramSpacer

GramSpacer allows you to create clean line breaks on Instagram easily and effortlessly. Using GramSpacer, you can create line breaks for Instagram comments, captions, and even in your IG bio. GramSpacer is also a great tool for creating clean line breaks for captions and comments on TikTok. No matter what photo editing app you use, GramSpacer is a must needed app if you're going to be distributing your photos and videos on Instagram or TikTok.

Price: $2.99

You can download GramSpacer for iOS and Android.

17. Lens Distortions

Lens distortion is another best photo editing app which is mainly used to add glass textures, natural sunlight, rain, and fog. A photographer has the option to make the effect stand out or blend in by customizing according to their needs. The app also has a paid version, which gives you more than 200 filters to expand the possibilities of getting creative results. /apps-that-work-with-mac-photos.html. A user in this free image editor can add layers and blend multiple effects on the same image.
Price: Free and Paid at $0.99 per month
Platform: Android and iOS

18. Superimpose X

As the name suggests, Superimpose X is one of the best photo editing apps mainly used to superimpose photos on to each other. The app has some powerful features like editing in layers, blending modes, masking adjustments, etc. The editing app is suitable for both amateurs as well as professionals. A user while working can switch to other projects in the middle without losing data. Another feature which people look are for background removal; this app perfectly does that. In Superimpose X, you get filters, shadows, blur, gradients, and more features to use in a layer while editing.
Price: $4.99
Platform: iOS and Android

19. PicsArt

With more than 500 million installs, PicsArt can be used in 30 languages. PicsArt is one of the best photo editing apps which has a built-in camera, video editor, collage-maker, clipart library, and more. Some of the powerful features include adding curves, add text, stretch, clone tools, etc. The app is known for its creative remixing features in which you can remix any photo that is free to use, and you can use this feature to edit with your friends. The PicsArt Gold feature gives you thousands of stickers, collages, masks, and frames.
Price: Free and Premium version at $55.99 a year.
Platform: Android and iOS

20. TouchRetouch

TouchRetouch is one of the excellent editing apps which focuses on removing blemishes from the photos. So, if you want to remove those telephone wires and pimples, this is the best picture editing app for it. For these retouching features, TouchRetouch provides you with tools such as lasso, eraser, clone stamp, etc. These tools can be used without much hassle to get the job done; most of the unwanted things can be removed with one touch.

Price: $1.99

Platform: iOS and Android

21. Ribbet

What makes Ribbet stand out from all of the other online photo editors? Its collage function. You can create shape collages made up of as many photos as you like and choose their layout based on preset shapes like dog paws, music notes, stars, hearts, and smileys. How fun is that?

Ribbet easily imports photos from direct upload, Facebook, Google, or any website URL. It includes all the basics like cropping, straightening, filters, and text. The blank canvas feature allows you to create your collages or even use the picture editor for design and publishing. You can save your works of art to your local hard drive or sign up for a free account to store them and work on them later.

If you like Ribbet, give Ribbet Fly a try on your iOS devices. The Android version is coming soon.

The Best Photo Apps for iPhone and Android:

Photo editing is not the only activity where smartphone apps can help photographers. There are a bunch of awesome photo apps that can assist a photographer in making crucial decisions about photoshoots, locations, and even business.

22. Magic Hour

All photographers know about the 'golden hour' when the sun is just rising or setting, and the light outside takes on a soft, reddish hue that is unique to these specific time points. This soft light is ideal for photography, and knowing when to hit that time just right can help you snap the perfect photo. Magic Hour focuses on all the information that you need for understanding when the golden hour arrives based on your location, if the weather will be clear enough, and the approximate times of sunrise and sunset for your area.

Furthermore, the app also tracks moonrise and the full moon for those photographers interested in night time photography. You can set up notifications through the app so that you can know when the golden hour (or moonrise) is going to occur, which can be extremely useful if you are busy or otherwise distracted and unable to keep a close eye on the time of day.
Price: Free
Download Magic Hour for iOS.

23. Dark Skies

Nighttime and night sky photographers will find this night photography app incredibly useful so that they can shoot photos of star formations without having to worry about long star trails. By plugging in the type of camera and focal length of your lens into the Dark Skies app, the picture app will calculate how much exposure you will need to get the best picture. The app also has a 'night mode' setting which will decrease the app's light so that you do not lose your night vision when on a shoot.
Price: Free
Download Dark Skies for Android or iOS.

24. Yr.no

From the Norwegian Meteorological Institute comes this high tech weather app that will reliably keep you up to date on possible precipitation so that you can plan your outdoor photoshoots with confidence. Despite Yr.no's Norwegian construction and foundation, the app is available in full English and covers more than 10 million locations worldwide. Even better, the app's built-in GPS functionality will help you track your location with more accuracy than typing in a region or city name. A photographer can plan outdoor shoot based on the weather, and accuracy is what matters.
Price: Free
Download Yr.no for Android or iOS.

25. Pocket Light Meter

Before you even consider pulling your camera out, this useful app will allow you to take a quick reading of the light quality in your vicinity so that you can go into your photo shoot with a clear idea of what settings (etc.) that you will need to utilize for the best picture. This app works just as well as a more traditional light meter, but like other photo apps, it can be a part of your smart phone's overall tool chest that fits comfortably in your pocket.

This photography app can also keep a log of light readings so that you can track the different variations of light quality in an area across the course of the day. When you are preparing to go on a photo shoot in that area, you will have a handy log that will work as a quick and easy to use reference guide.
Price: $12.62
Download Pocket Light Meter for iOS.

26. Google Photo Scan

Google Photo Scan is a photo app for scanning old photos with your phone and transfer them to other digital devices. Photo scanners can be complicated or bulky to use and often are expensive. This Google photo scanner app is free and allows you to scan images with your phone.
Price: Free
Download Google Photo Scan for Android or iOS.

27. Cortex Camera

Night photography apps are the perfect tool for excellent night time photos. The app gives you the ability to shoot in low light and attain clear, captivating images. Cortex Camera also comes with a built-in electronic image stabilization feature that makes tripods unnecessary to achieve a stable image, which is essential for nighttime photo shoots in particular.

To achieve this effect, Cortex Camera takes several photos in a very short amount of time and blends them in the chance that you might have been moving slightly while taking the picture. By averaging out the overall image with its duplicates, Cortex Camera can efficiently create a clear photo with no graininess or artifact.
Price: $3.7

Download Cortex Camera for iOS.

28. Releases

This photography business app is a necessary tool for professional photographers that need quick access to a release form for photoshoots that may involve private property or models. Releases include nearly every industry standard template that you may need, including Snapwire, ASMP, Getty Images, and Shutterstock. Simply pull up the release form that you need, have your client sign with their finger on your smartphone's touchscreen, and then download the PDF file that is automatically generated. Not only will this keep your release forms more organized since you do not have to worry about losing physical forms, but it is a handy tool that can be used anywhere at any time.
Price: Free
Download Releases for iOS.

29. Sun Surveyor

This useful app tracks the passage and location of the sun throughout the day so that you can always have a good idea of what your light situation in outdoor photoshoots will look like. Sun Surveyor also comes with a digital sun that will show you in real-time how the sun is moving across the sky and how its light will interact with your surroundings. Always have a clear idea of where the sun will be and plan your photoshoot accordingly to achieve the best lighting results.
Price: $8.99
Download Sun Surveyor for Android or iOS.

30. GorillaCam

This photo app is the brainchild of Joby, who is a leading manufacturer of camera accessories. GorillaCam includes several useful and exciting features such as time-lapse capabilities, self-timing photo shooting, and a rapid-fire photo shoot function. So long as your smartphone can take pictures, you can use GorillaCam to snap photos at a faster rate with better overall quality. The time-lapse feature does require that the phone is continuously running and awake to work correctly, which can lead to your phone battery draining at a faster rate. When utilizing this function, make sure that you switch off your phone's auto-sleep function and use whatever battery-saving features you can.
Price: Free
Download GorillaCam for iOS.

31. Sylights

To give you a much needed helping hand when it comes to setting up lighting for various photoshoot locations, Sylights offers a highly useful and easy to use lighting blueprint diagram function that will allow you to carefully record how you set up a lighting situation for future reproduction. This can be particularly useful if you are working with a repeat client who requests the same lighting scheme as a previous photoshoot. When you are setting up a lighting system for your photoshoot, simply record the setup on Sylight and save the diagram forever. The professional photography app comes with a wide array of different icons that closely represent your equipment for an easy visual reference.
Price: Free
Download Sylights for iOS.

32. Hyperfocal DOF

What is Hyperfocal distance?

Hyperfocal distance is that distance which determines the maximum depth of field of the object of your photo and using this equation can help you determine the best distance from which to take a high-quality picture.

For professional and expert photographers, this mathematical equation may be second nature; but if you struggle with determining the ideal hyperfocal distance for your photoshoot, this app can seriously help you out. Once in the app, pick your camera model, set your focal length and the aperture that you are using, and select 'Calculate Hyperfocal' for a quick and easy determination of your ideal photo distance. Even a pro can find this app highly useful, especially if he or she is on a time crunch or wants a quick reference before a photoshoot is set to commence.
Price: Free

Download Hyperfocal DOF for Android or iOS.

33. WiFi Photo Transfer

This photo transfer app is particularly useful for iPhone users who will find it extremely difficult to pull or otherwise download photos from their smartphone's internal album. WiFi Photo Transfer allows your iPhone and computer or laptop to communicate together over the same WiFi connection and easily transfer photos or photo albums between the two devices.
Download WiFi Photo Transfer for iOS.

34. Crello

Crello is a design maker that allows users to create animations, videos, posts, ads, banners, logos, cards, and much more visual content. With Crello, anyone can create beautiful and professionally-looking designs for social media, blogs, web and other purposes quickly and easily. A huge collection of premium photos, illustrations, design objects, animations, and video clips allows users to create awesome designs without spending a lot of time. All templates, photos, and design objects are grouped into thematic categories and can be easily filtered by specific keywords. The coolest thing about Crello is that you can pick any pre-designed template and customize it to fit your personal needs. For those, who have a specific idea on their mind, it’s possible to create a design from scratch by entering uncommon dimensions and uploading their own fonts, images, and videos.

Crello doesn’t require having special skills and is so easy to learn that it takes just a couple of minutes to figure out how to create videos, animations, and graphic designs that look wonderful.

The main Crello advantages are:

• thousands of static and animated templates
• a variety of design formats
• a big library of stock images
• tons of video clips and animations
• a huge amount of design objects

Pricing: Free plan. Paid PRO plan, $7.99 per month. Free trial of the PRO plan.

Crello also has mobile apps for Android and iOS.

35. Geotag Photos Pro

If you’re looking for a photography locations app that lets you organize your images and share their locations easily with your friends, family, or co-photographers, then Geotag Photos Pro is the one to install.

Geotag Photos Pro is one of the best geotagging app designed for both Android and iOS smartphones. The simplest way to make it work properly is by going to Accuracy settings and set the Get location by choosing GPS+GSM.

The only downsides of this app are that it isn’t free, and even you’re not actively using it, it may use your location. As a result, it can decrease battery life.

Download Geotag Photos Pro for Android or iOS.

36. SKRWT

Sometimes when a picture is taken, the overall perspective of the image may seem distorted or otherwise visually unappealing. SKRWT offers an easy way to fix distortions by providing several editing features that focus on correcting photo and lens distortion. For example, iPhones tend to take pictures that show more depth than is natural because of its wide-angle lens. Simply put the photo into SKRWT, and the 'bulging' center of the image can be easily smoothed out to look as if the picture were taken with a non-wide angle lens. SKRWT can also straighten out images where the horizon is off-center with easy to use manual manipulation of the app's functions.
Price: Free with In-app purchases

Download SKRWT for Android or iOS.

Conclusion

There are a plethora of photography apps out there that can take your mobile photography to the next levels and enable you to use advanced editing tools on the go. Our selection of the best photography apps is an excellent place for you to start exploring the potential of apps to complement your photography and overall business.

Are you using any other useful photography apps? Please do share your feedback and suggestions in the comments.

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• January 02, 2020
• 30 min to read

With smartphones increasing in popularity, nowadays everyone (even a professional photographer) needs a tool that will help them to manage and organize their photos. After all, you do not want the risk of running out of storage space be the reason that do not capture every special moment? And with thousands of photos on your hard drive, you will for sure need a tool to help you track down a specific photo or remove those annoying duplicate photos.

Plus, let’s face it, hard drives do fail (and usually the day before you planned to make backups). Therefore, it is a very good idea to invest in a photo management software solution that lets you upload your pics to the cloud.

Though, the right photo management tool will offer you so much more than simply an organized storage space for your shots. Some tools will even let you add metadata about things like the camera model that was used, the dimensions, aperture value etc. The majority of these software solutions will also offer you a couple of standard editing tools such as color filters and cropping.

So, which features should you look for in a photo management tool? Here are 18 of the best photo management software solutions, in no particular order, that are currently available on the market. These will give you a good idea of what the current standard is.

1. Adobe Bridge

If you use the popular Adobe Creative Cloud software package, you will most likely already be very familiar with Adobe Bridge CC. It is a photo and digital asset management software solution that is compatible with both Windows as well as Mac OS.

With this free tool, you can access all the resources and files that you require for your specific project. It boasts several useful features that include on-demand metadata generation, batch photo editing, organizing general and individual files, watermarks, centralized color settings and much more.

To help you organize your different photo folders, you can use its metadata tools, tagging or rating features. Plus, you can also rename and organize a bunch of images at the same time.

It is also very simple to import pics or videos from your card reader, smartphone, tablet or digital camera, thanks to its picture upload feature. All things considered, it is one of the best solutions for professionals and can help them to streamline their workflow significantly. Though, it might be a bridge too far if you are looking for a tool that will help you to sort only your own (personal) photos.

2. Luminar 4

Luminar 4 boasts really great photo management features! The beauty of Luminar 4 is that it makes it easy to navigate your library with the help of shortcuts. For example, if you select “All Photos”, you can sort your photos either by their date of capture or the date on which the files were created. Another popular and easy-to-use shortcut is marking it as a Favourite. This way you can even add a star rating to all of your top photos.

You can also use folders to organize your photos. What makes this feature so convenient is that Luminar’s folders actually connect directly to your hard drive’s folders. This means that you can organize the folders of your hard drive via Luminar and the other way round. What’s more, you can then also group your photos together in Luminar by using albums without changing the location of the images on your actual hard drive! All in all, this is one of the best photo editing software solutions available on the market.

3. XnView

With the help of XnView, you can look at more than 400 photo formats and save as many as 50 different file formats. It is available free of charge for educational or non-commercial use and is compatible with Linux, Mac OS and Windows operating systems.

This multimedia viewer, photo converter and browser is powerful and boasts all the fundamental features, yet remains very simple to use and sleek. Some of its most popular features include lossless JPEG conversion, adjusting images automatically, a duplicate file finder, batch processing and a built-in picture editor. You can also use it to get info about all your images, making it one of the most popular tools for organizing your photos.

4. Nomacs

While Nomacs might be small, speed is for sure not something that you have to worry about as this free open-source image viewer is built for speed. After all, dynamite comes in small packages, right?

It is efficient and can be used with all of the most popular file formats which include PSD and RAW. Just like with XnView, you will get all the info about your pictures that you need.

One of its best features is that you can use it to synchronise different viewers who use the same local network or computer. It is also a great tool if you need to compare photos in order to identify differences. Some of its other useful features include a built-in graphics editor and automatic photo adjustment. It can be used with Mac OS, Linux and Windows platforms.

5. Google Photos

Google Photos is one of the best free photo management solutions that you can use for your videos and photos. Everything that you have come to expect, Google Photos can offer.

It is very simple to upload a photo. You can either use the button (that is somewhat difficult to spot) or the drag-and-drop feature which is much easier. As your videos and photos get uploaded and sorted to cloud storage automatically, it is a really convenient tool to add to your arsenal. It will sort out and display your panoramic photos and high dynamic range (HDR) ones in no time at all. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to sort out your albums and make suggestions regarding which images you should archive. What is more, you can also search for a specific photo or video at once, after it has been uploaded.

Some of its most popular features include creating metadata and drafts on request and photo batch processing. It also boasts a couple of basic photo editing tools that include color filters and cropping. Then, last but not least, all you have to do is select the pics that you want to share and either post it on social media, create a link or include it in one of your shared albums.

All things considered, Google Photos is the complete opposite of a tool like Adobe Bridge CC, making it the perfect tool if you are simply searching for a way to share those special moments with your friends and family members. And, thanks to the unlimited backup storage that is available if you choose not to upload it in full resolution, you do not have to make plans for when you run out of space. All things considered, with millions of users already who upload over a billion photos every single day, surely Google Photos is doing more than a couple of things right.

6. XnViewMP

If you like XnView, then you will really like XnViewMP which is an enhanced version of the first-mentioned. It is the ideal tool if you have to sort file formats that are not as common as it supports over 500 different image file formats. Unfortunately it does not arrange your photos for you automatically. However, it does offer a feature that you can use to edit the metadata and tags of your photos via a convenient batch mode. Thanks to this tool, you can issue those tags at the speed of light.

That being said, XnViewMP is more than just a basic photo management tool. You can also use it to create a graphic presentation, screenshot, slideshow or multipage animated file. Just like, XnView, XnViewMP is also compatible with Linux, Mac OS and Windows operating systems

7. Pictorial

If you are familiar with using Lightroom, you will find Picktorial quite similar. Though, Picktorial is more convenient as you do not have to create a directory or folder in Picktorial as you can work directly from your PC’s file system. What’s more, you can also modify its interface so that it suits all your specific tasks. Some of its other useful features and tools include color correction and image retouching. All things considered, it is a very practical photo editor that will help you to sort out your photos and even possibly edit them. Sadly, it is only compatible with Mac operating systems.

8. JetPhoto Studio

JetPhoto Studio is compatible with Windows and Mac OS and boasts almost all the tools you will need to sort out and edit your photos. This free photo management software solution boasts powerful photo batch processing, geo-tagging and tags. Although it does not offer cloud storage, you can use it to share your photos with others by making a Google Map gallery or using the JetPhoto Server or Flickr. And, if you use a browser that supports Flash, you can use JetPhoto Studio to create a Flash gallery in a flash.

Best Free Photo Editing Software For Mac

9. Apowersoft Photo Viewer

If you are searching for a software solution that is really user-friendly, be sure to check out Apowersoft Photo Viewer. Its interface is very easy to use and understand! If you want to view one of your photos, all you have to do is click on it and it will be displayed instantly. Plus, with Apowersoft you can also view detailed info about your different images.

Compatible with Linux, Mac OS as well as Windows, it supports a wide range of file formats, which includes PDF. If you use Windows, you can even view your High Efficiency Image File Formats (HEIF or also called HEIC) directly.

/how-to-reinstall-apps-on-mac-without-installer-files.html. Some of its other features include a built-in graphics editor, the ability to take screenshots and edit photos. That being said, its biggest perk is most likely the fact that it is very fast. Thanks to the use of advanced technology, you will be able to work at the speed of light. All in all, Apowersoft is truly a powerful software just as the name suggests!

10. StudioLine Photo Basic

Best Photo Collage App

If you use Windows and are searching for basic photo editing tools as well as a tool that can help you to manage your photos, you will like what StudioLine Photo Basic has to offer. With this free software solution, you can rotate, crop, correct red eyes and resize your photos. It also lets you add tags and descriptions to your photos. Then, after you are done editing and organizing your photos, be sure to use the online gallery to publish and share your images with your friends and family members. Or, even better yet, why not use it to create a slideshow of all your best memories?

11. FastStone Image Viewer

FastStone Image Viewer is another great free photo management software solution for Windows users that supports all the big file formats. In addition to its wide selection of features that will help you to manage your photo memories, it also boasts several photo editing tools that you can use to tweak and manipulate your images. Some of its most popular features include EXIF data viewing, resizing, image viewing, red-eye removal, cropping and tagging.

Although it is very easy to use, it sadly does not offer cloud storage and you cannot use it to upload your “share-worthy” pics to social media sites. So, if you are happy just to store your photos on your laptop, FastStone Image Viewer is one of the best programmes for Windows.

12. digiKam Photo Manager

With digiKam Photo Manager, you can organize your photos by means of albums, tags or folders quickly. What’s more, you can also view and edit your metadata and it boasts a built-in graphics editor and RAW support too. All things considered, its intuitive interface makes this advanced app one of the most popular picks amongst Mac OS and Windows users.

Free Photo Management Software

13. MAGIX Photo Manager

This is one of the magic tools for Windows users (and the MAGIX Photo Manager Deluxe version offers great value for your money too). With this free tool, you can sort out your images effortlessly and quickly, locate specific videos, see detailed info about your images, share your best pics and make the most effective use of your library.

Best Photo Editor App For Mac

Its clean interface is easy to understand and use and, what’s more, it also offers a couple of tools that you can use to correct your images. If you simply want to use it to sort out your photos, you can use it to arrange your photos according to tags, date or the actual name of the file.

14. Flickr

Flickr is one of the best-known tools for organizing and managing your pics. It offers impressive storage space and lets you set your own privacy settings which is very useful.

It is also very easy to upload and edit your photos. With its built-in photo editing tool, you do a couple of basic tasks like cropping, adjusting the color and applying a blur effect. It also has a batch feature that makes it easy to edit multiple photos.

And, if you are worried that your edited version will not look better than the original, you can simply save it as a copy instead. Then, when you are done playing around with different frames, filters and brushes, remember to use Flickr to share your creations on social media or use the link and embed it on your blog.

15. Phototheca

Phototheca is one of the top photo management software solutions that are compatible with Windows. With the help of this free tool, you can view, arrange and share your videos and images effortlessly. Just like most of the other tools mentioned already, it also shares detailed info about your individual pics. All you have to do is upload your digital images to its database and then you can arrange them according to date or event or even organize them by creating a specific album. If you can look past its dated interface, this tool is one to add to your list.

16. SmugMug

You have got to love the name of this program! This software solution has actually been on the market for over a decade already and can be used by both pros as well as amateurs.

Similar to Flickr (it actually obtained Flickr), it offers great privacy and security features. While it does offer editing tools, it only has the basics like color effects and cropping. Though, what it might lack in the editing department, it makes up for when it comes to layout. The default layout is easy to use and understand, but you can also select other color schemes or themes. It is also super simple to organize your photos manually thanks to its drag-and-drop feature.

All things considered, it is this intuitive experience and smart features like the upload progress bar that make it one of the top tools.

17. PicaJet Digital Photo Management

With PicaJet, you can view your photos by date, rating or keyword and automatically sort out your photos at the speed of light. It also boasts a host of other features that include image sharing, automatic photo enhancement, a photo search engine, direct import and basic editing tools. And, if you want to get more creative than simple cropping or red-eye removal, you will love its slideshow feature.

Best Photo Editing App For Mac Pro

18. 500px

One of the most attractive features of 500px is that it is suitable for professionals as well as amateurs. In fact, it has a very nice marketplace feature that pros can use to connect with their customers and generate some extra money. Even though you will not be able to upload a whole folder in one go, it is pretty straightforward to upload your photos one for one. Plus, you will also be able to include metadata, while it will add recommended tags automatically.

That being said, there are some glaring areas that need improvement. For starters, the interface is not that modern and sleek as you have come to expect and also not that intuitive. Another feature that it lacks, which most of the other programs mentioned in this list offer, is a couple of photo editing tools. While 500x allows you to edit the metadata, users are unable to edit their actual pics.