The 5 Best Alternatives to Photoshop for Android

Want a new app but aren't sure which one to try? This is your list

Adobe has several Photoshop apps for Android that let you touch-up, combine, create, and more. However, the official Photoshop Android apps aren’t the only ones in the app store that let you “photoshop” your pictures.

Of the many image editing apps for Android, some are better than others, and more importantly, a few are apps like Photoshop that include some of the same tools.

In other words, a Photoshop app for Android shouldn’t be your typical image editor that just supports cropping and color adjustments, but instead an advanced photo editor that includes Photoshop-specific features like layering and tools like a clone stamp, background remover, and more.

All of these apps work on Android devices, but most are equally compatible with iOS, too. See these free Photoshop alternatives if you need one for your computer.

PicsArt

What We Like

• Huge variety of tools.

• Self-explanatory but also includes help.

What We Don't Like

• Shows ads.

• Encourages you to pay for more features.

• Lack of a cursor makes up-close editing difficult.

• Lots of "buy now" pop-ups if you're using the free version.

PicsArt is an Android app like Photoshop that includes a huge number of tools. Some of them aren't free but most of them are, so you'll find yourself coming back again and again to do this or that to your photos.

Along the bottom of this photo editor is a menu full of everything you can do. These are some of the more Photoshop specific tasks: clone stamp, warp and stretch tool, resize by pixels, curve tool, hue/saturation changer, and artistic and paper effects.

Something worth noting about PicsArt is its automation power. With the portrait cutout tool, for example, it can identify and select just the person from the image so that you can immediately remove the background behind him or her. Even if it isn't exactly right, you can make minor edits fairly easily.

There's also an automatic beauty tool. Instead of using each specific tool to smooth the skin, fix blemishes, whiten the teeth, adjust the skin color, etc., you can use the auto option to instantly fix everything in just a second. However, even if you do open a particular tool to edit just the hair, for example, the app will identify the hair for you so that changing the color only takes a few seconds.

This Photoshop alternative also supports frames, text callouts, lens flare, drawing tools, borders, photo blending, stickers, and more. It's a true powerhouse of an image editor.

The upgraded version of this app, PicsArt Gold, is free for a short time (usually a month) before the monthly cost kicks in. With it, you get no ads, premium filters, many dozens of premium fonts, overlays, frames, collage layouts, and stickers, as well as high-res exports and no watermarks.

PhotoDirector

What We Like

• Lots of Photoshop-like tools.

• Intuitive and easy to use.

• Includes a store to buy premium items.

• Offers built-in tutorials.

What We Don't Like

• Some items cost money.

• Can't export to ultra-high resolutions for free.

• Limited use of some tools unless you pay.

• Displays several ads.

PhotoDirector is another photoshopping app for Android that includes all the basics so that you can crop, rotate, transform, adjust, mirror, blur, draw, add frames, etc.

However, what makes this Photoshop Android app unlike others is its specialized tools: instantly remove objects, create color splashes, cut out an object by removing its background, blend photos together via modes like multiply and overlay, and instantly put your picture into a pre-built scene like a newspaper or billboard.

The PhotoDirector app is also a collage maker and includes live effects if you use the Camera option.

You can buy the full version to remove ads, download all premium content, have unlimited use of the dehaze and clone tool, remove the watermark, and export to higher resolutions. The subscription is free for a few days when you order a yearly subscription.

PhotoLayers

What We Like

• Precise editing tools.

• Simple user interface.

• Unique features.

What We Don't Like

• Several ads.

• Few other editing options.

PhotoLayers is one of the best Photoshop apps for removing backgrounds. When you delete the background of a photo on your phone, you make it transparent so that it can be overlayed on another picture like you see above.

The PhotoLayers app is one of the easiest apps on the Play Store for making transparent backgrounds. You can zoom as far as you need to, adjust the brush size, and easily undo any mistakes.

This app also has a Magic option so that all you need to do is tap a color to instantly have it removed. If the removal process bled into an area you want to keep, just switch over to Repair to fill in those areas with the regular image.

Unlike some apps that let you remove the background of a photo, this one has a Cursor Offset option so that you can set how far away from your finger or stylus the cursor should be, making it a lot easier to make edits.

PhotoLayers is completely free but it does include ads.

Photo Editor

What We Like

• Straightforward and easy to use.

• Batch image editing.

• Customize several unique settings.

What We Don't Like

• Shows ads that can only be removed if you pay.

One feature that makes Photo Editor an app like Photoshop is that it has a really handy clone tool to quickly copy pixels to any other area of the image. The clone brush size, hardness, and opacity can be changed just like in the desktop version of Photoshop.

Overall, this image editing app is easy to use because the toolbox is a scrollable list below the image. Each item you tap will open a separate set of tools in that category, and saving or undoing/redoing is just a tap away. You can even arrange the toolbar however you like to put your favorite tools exactly where you need them.

There are other common editing tools in Photo Editor, too, so you can adjust the exposure, curves, brightness, and gamma levels, as well as instantly apply a variety of effects, remove red eye, manipulate the perspective, whiten teeth, draw on the image, straighten a crooked picture, and start from scratch with a blank canvas.

Several unique settings can be customized like to reduce the maximum resolution, perform lossless undos, and set a custom “save as” filename. There are also some extra tools unique to Photo Editor such as the option to compress images to a ZIP file, build an animated GIF, convert PDF to JPG, and save web pages to an image file.

When you’re finishing editing in this Photoshop alternative, you can export the picture to a variety of formats like JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and PDF.

AirBrush

What We Like

• Several automatic tools.

• Free for many of the features.

• Self-explanatory and easy to use.

What We Don't Like

• Many tools are usable but aren't free when you're ready to save.

• Includes advertisements.

• No one-time payment option.

Another way to photoshop on Android is to use AirBrush. This beast of an editing app is like Photoshop in several ways since it includes tools for blurring and smoothing, plus a blemish remover and teeth whitener.

You'll also find a small handful of filters and "magic" tools to do things to the entire image in just a seconds, like smooth skin, remove acne, brighten the image, whiten teeth, apply concealer, and slim down the face.

A compare button can be pressed at any time to see how your edits look compared to the original photo, which is an awesome feature to show just how useful AirBrush has been.

AirBrush is completely free unless you want other features like no ads and unlimited use of the premium features like other filters, more makeup options, the face sculptor, etc.

You can get AirBrush's premium features for under $2 /month if you prepay for a whole year, slightly more if you opt for the three-month or month-to-month option. There's usually a 7-day free trial you can grab.