Editing photos on your iPhone is pretty straightforward and you don’t need much more than your native iPhone photo editor. But if you want to create genuine digital art on the go, you need a better app. This post reviews the 4 best iPhone apps for photo manipulation that allow you to make new and unique image composites on the go – just like in Photoshop!
How Do You Manipulate Photos On iPhone?
iPhone photography is an amazing hobby, and creating photo manipulations consisting of multiple images and other elements is even more amazing!
The good news is that you can also get digital art software on your mobile, and in this post you’ll find the best app to manipulate your photos on iOS devices.
As I already mentioned in my recent post about the best software for photo manipulation on desktop, there’s a huge difference between editing photos and actual photo manipulation.
But first off, these are the best iPhone apps for photo manipulation:
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So, what’s the difference between editing and manipulating photos?
As a baseline, manipulation involves much more complex modifications than photo editing. Photo editing is more of an umbrella term for enhancements you make to get the most out of your captures. This may include changing brightness, tonality, saturation, sharpness, and so on.
Photo editing may also refer to retouching photos. The retoucher may heal the model’s skin, remove blemishes and stray hairs.
At times, editing might involve light manipulation techniques as well, such as adding or removing a small object or replacing the background.
Actual photo manipulations, on the other hand, consist of multiple images put together. Digital artists may blend images together, use textures, or add elements cut out from a different photo or even 2D and 3D objects.
Photo manipulations make it possible to create totally new and fantastic artworks that wouldn’t be possible in real life.
My Surreal Manipulations, for example, are oftentimes made up of a couple of hundred layers that I use to combine different images and elements. In some cases, even my main characters are built from a number of individual pieces.
If you want to learn more about my creation process, feel free to check out some of my Making Ofs!
Check out some of my Making Ofs below:
What Is The Best App For Photo Manipulation For iOS?
If you want to make the type of photo manipulations I talked about above – those where you create an entirely new piece of art – then it’s important that your iPhone app supports layers.
Because without layers, it’s not possible to combine this multitude of different images and elements as you would do in complex manipulations.
All the apps on the list below are capable of handling layers, meaning you can use all of them to make photo manipulations on your iPhone!
If you don’t need such complex editing functionality, you can hop over to my other post about the best apps for editing photos on iPhone and Android. Over there, you’ll find apps like Snapseed and the VSCO app by Visual Supply, which are great for adding filters and stickers, or applying some fun effects to your photos!
So without further ado, let’s get into it and see which apps are best for manipulating photos on iOS!
Best iPhone Apps for Photo Manipulation
1. Adobe Photoshop Express
- Platform: iOS (and Android)
- Developer: Adobe
- App Store Rating: 4.3/5
- Price: Free with limited features; premium version US$4.99 monthly or US$34.99 yearly
Photoshop Express is an iPhone app for manipulating photos from market leader Adobe. The free version offers basic editing features. However, if you want to use layers, selection tools, overlays, etc., you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version.
If you are already used to the desktop version of Photoshop and like to enjoy the same editing features on the go, then the Premium version of Photoshop Express is the best iPhone app for photo manipulation for you!
The app’s interface features three main buttons: Edit, Collage, and Mix. Mix includes all the advanced features that come with the premium version and that you’ll need for photo manipulation. You will find blending modes as you know them from Photoshop CC as well as filters, including blur and noise reduction.
Related: How To Use Blending Modes In Photoshop – (With Blend Modes Cheat Sheet!)
While you won’t be able to use all the layer editing features that are available in the desktop Photoshop version, Photoshop Express has a nice selection of instant effects that you can apply to your photos.
To cut out the subject of an image, you can either use the Scrapbook or the Cutout tool. The Scrapbook tool automatically selects and cuts out the photo’s subject, while the Cutout tool lets you draw around the subject with your finger, refine and feather the selection, and then cut it out from the background.
Photoshop Express allows you to save your creations as PSD file, so the layers remain intact and editable. Subscribers to Adobe’s Creative Cloud can transfer the file to any of the desktop apps like Photoshop CC or Lightroom Classic and continue working on them. A more affordable alternative to the subscription-based software is Photoshop Elements.
To learn more, check out the full Photoshop Express Review. If you are not sure which Creative Cloud app to get, read more about whether you need Lightroom if you have Photoshop.
2. Bazaart
- Platform: iOS
- Developer: Bazaart Ltd.
- App Store Rating: 4.8/5
- Price: US$8 monthly or US$48 yearly
Bazaart is an award‐winning photo editing and graphic design app with a 4.8-star rating in Apple’s App Store. The app is incredibly versatile and allows you to create stunning art on your iPhone and iPad.
Like all apps on the list, Bazaart supports a layer-based workflow, making it possible to create collage art, image composites, and photo manipulations.
You can combine multiple images, graphics and text and create something entirely new. Since the app is layer-based, all edits are non-destructive and you can always come back to the file and make modifications. Your work is being auto-saved, so you never lose any of the edits you made.
Bazaart comes with a large selection of premade templates that you can use. But you can also create everything from scratch. The AI-powered Magic eraser makes it easy to remove the background of an image and replace it with something else.
There are also a number of sophisticated selection tools, such as the Magic wand, to make quick and detailed selections. With filters and overlays, you can add special effects and make sure that all images blend together nicely.
Once you download Bazaart, you will get access to a huge in-app library with free photos, backgrounds, stickers, shapes, and fonts.
Despite being so feature-rich, Bazaart is pretty intuitive and easy to learn. It’s regularly upgraded and you can get it for US$8 per month or US$48 per year.
3. Superimpose X
- Platform: iOS
- Developer: Pankaj Goswami
- App Store Rating: 4.7/5
- Price: US$4.99
As its name suggests, Superimpose X is an app to superimpose images on top of one another. Superimpose X is one of the best iPhone apps for photo manipulation with many of the features you know from Photoshop.
You can do anything from layering, to masking, to blending. Much like in Photoshop, you will find blending modes like Normal, Multiply, Overlay, Darken, and Lighten.
Related: TOP 6 Photoshop Blending Modes Explained (+ FREE Blend Modes Cheat Sheet)
With the Magic Brush tool, you can cut out the subject of an image. All you need to do is paint over the subject with your finger, that’s how you select it. You can adjust brush size and hardness to make sure you get all the edges and fine details.
There are also other selection tools like the Lasso and the Magic Wand. The Magic Wand makes it easy to select the subject by automatically detecting its edges.
In Superimpose X, you can add up to 8 layers on top of each other and blend them together. There are also a large number of blending modes and adjustment layers to choose from. For each layer, you can adjust the opacity and add a mask.
The great thing is that you can export your creations as PSD files (the typical Photoshop format), meaning you can continue working on them in another program or your desktop computer.
With all this functionality, Superimpose X takes some time getting used to. But with a little practice, you’ll be able to create stunning photo manipulations on your iOS device.
That being said, Superimpose X is the best iPhone app for photo manipulation that is highly versatile and doesn't burn a hole in your pocket!
4. Photoleap
- Platform: iOS only
- Developer: Lightricks Ltd.
- App Store Rating: 4.6/5
- Price: Free with limited features; premium packages US$40
Photoleap is another contender for best iPhone app for photo manipulation. Why? Because Photoleap is a powerful photo editor, allowing you to combine different photos into an entirely new creation.
You will be able to use everything that a digital artist needs, from layers and blending modes to filters, brushes, and tonal adjustments. You can replace the background, and add various effects like noise and smoke.
If you don’t have any creative idea right at the moment, you can let Photoleap suggest some cool image combinations.
All edits are super-easy to make. To adjust lighting, color, brightness, or exposure, all it takes is one swipe. Apart from that, you can apply effects like double exposure and a vignette. And there’s also a healing tool to remove blemishes and other small objects.
Photoleap is available for free. There is no premium version of Photoleap itself, but Lightricks offer a number of premium packages users can choose from according to their needs. As an Enlight user, you can get access to all Pro packages for US$40 for half a year.
More about Digital Art Software:
My name is Angie and I’m a self-taught digital artist. On this blog, I am sharing my knowledge and discussing the best software and hardware for different artistic needs. My desire is to offer options for all creative stages and budgets so that everyone can follow their dream and create art!
