Best AI Apps for Photo Editing in 2026

AI photo editing has reached the point where you can do in seconds what used to take 30 minutes in Photoshop. Here are the apps worth downloading.

Best for iPhone

Apple Photos (Built-in, Free)

Don't overlook what's already on your phone. Apple Photos now includes Clean Up (remove unwanted objects by tapping), automatic background blur, and smart editing suggestions. For casual editing, you may not need anything else.

Lightroom Mobile (Free / $10 per month for Premium)

Adobe's mobile editor with AI-powered auto-adjust, sky replacement, and adaptive presets that analyze your photo and suggest edits. The free version is surprisingly capable. Premium adds cloud storage and the healing brush.

Lensa AI ($4 per month)

Best known for AI portrait retouching. Smooths skin, enhances eyes, adjusts lighting - specifically for portraits and selfies. The "Magic Avatars" feature (AI-generated stylized portraits of you) went viral and remains popular.

Best for Android

Google Photos (Free)

Google's Magic Eraser removes unwanted objects from photos. Photo Unblur sharpens old or blurry photos. Best Part feature lets you combine the best expressions from multiple shots. All free with a Google account.

Snapseed (Free)

Also by Google. More of a traditional photo editor but with AI-enhanced features like selective adjustments, healing, and portrait mode for phones without depth sensors. Completely free, no ads, no in-app purchases.

Best Cross-Platform

Remove.bg (Free / Pay per use)

Does one thing perfectly: removes backgrounds from photos. Upload a photo, get a transparent background in 5 seconds. The free version gives you lower-resolution results. Pay $1-2 per high-res image. There's also a mobile app.

Remini (Free / $10 per month)

AI photo enhancement and upscaling. Takes blurry, low-resolution, or old photos and makes them sharp and clear. The results on old family photos are genuinely impressive. Free tier gives 5 enhancements per day.

PhotoRoom (Free / $13 per month)

AI background removal and replacement designed for product photos. If you sell anything online, this turns a kitchen-table photo into a professional product shot. The batch processing feature is a huge time-saver for e-commerce.

For Serious Editing

Adobe Photoshop ($23 per month)

Generative Fill is the standout AI feature - select any area of a photo and describe what you want there. Extend a photo's background, add objects, remove objects, change seasons. It's the most powerful AI photo editing tool available, but you're paying for the full Photoshop subscription.

Pixlr (Free / $8 per month)

Web-based Photoshop alternative with AI features including background removal, object removal, and AI image generation. The free tier is ad-supported but functional. Good middle ground between phone apps and Photoshop.

Quick Guide: Which App for What

  • Remove a person/object from a photo: Apple Clean Up (iPhone), Google Magic Eraser (Android), or Remove.bg
  • Fix an old or blurry photo: Remini
  • Product photography on a budget: PhotoRoom
  • Quick portrait touch-ups: Lensa AI
  • General photo enhancement: Lightroom Mobile or Snapseed
  • Remove a background: Remove.bg
  • Serious compositing and manipulation: Photoshop with Generative Fill