8 Best Photo Restoration Apps of 2026

Photomyne ranks first because it handles the whole job most people face: getting old prints off paper and then fixing them. Its Photo Scan app captures several printed photos in one shot, finds the edges, crops and rotates them, and also scans slides and negatives. The restore tools sharpen blurry faces, colorize black-and-white photos and auto restore faded colors, while the original scan is kept untouched. Heavier repairs such as removing scratches, tears and glare use optional AI credits, sold separately from $3.99 on the US App Store. The free plan covers scanning, saving and core enhancements with ads. A membership removes ads and adds cloud backup and access on the web, at $19.99 a month, $59.99 a year after a 3-day trial, or $119.99 for three years. The app holds a 4.7 rating from 97K US ratings. We compared documented features and published prices.

Remini is the best-known enhancer on this list and the quickest way to rescue a blurry face. Bending Spoons describes it as turning grainy, pixelated, damaged and low-resolution photos into clear HD in one tap, and lists face enhancement and repair of old, blurry and scratched photos as its core uses. It says over 100 million photos have been revitalized, and the iPhone app holds a 4.6 rating from 359K US ratings. There is also a Remini Web enhancer. Pricing is subscription only for unlimited premium access: the US App Store lists a 1 Month plan at $9.99 and weekly Remini Lite and Remini Pro plans from $4.99 to $9.99. Weekly plans add up quickly, so pick the monthly plan for a single album. Remini focuses on faces and sharpness; for colorizing and heavy scratch work, YouCam Enhance, VanceAI or Photomyne document more specific tools. We compared documented features and published prices.

YouCam Enhance from Perfect Corp. documents the most specific set of restoration tools among the phone apps here. Its AI Photo Repair erases deep scratches and damage and restores blurry old photos, with an Essential mode for quick fixes and an Advanced mode that reconstructs facial details. AI Colorize has the same two modes, and Scenario Mode takes a batch of photos and picks the best enhancement, color correction and upscaling for each. AI Lighting fixes dark or overexposed shots, and the app also enhances video. On the US App Store, Premium Version (Monthly) costs $9.99 and the cheapest yearly option listed is the Standard Plan at $39.99, though the long list of plan names makes it hard to know which tier unlocks which mode. It is iPhone only and needs iOS 16.0 or later. The app holds a 4.6 rating from 7K US ratings. We compared documented features and published prices.

VanceAI is the strongest browser option for photos with real physical damage. Its Photo Restorer page says it detects and repairs scratches, tears, creases, stains, dust, fading and yellowing, then sharpens eyes, hair and skin texture, all in one automatic pass. A separate colorizer and upscaler let you make a color copy or a larger print. For whole albums, VanceAI for PC batch-restores photos on Windows. Pricing is credit based: the AI Photo Restorer uses 4 credits at 1K or 2K and 10 credits at 4K, and the Starter plan costs $15 a month billed annually ($180) for 260 credits a month, which covers about 65 standard restorations. You can start with free credits and preview a result without a watermark. Paid uploads are limited to 34 megapixels, 10MB and 8000 pixels, and images are deleted within 24 hours. VanceAI advises checking faces against the original. We compared documented features and published prices.

MyHeritage is a genealogy service first, but its photo tools are among the most complete for old family pictures. The app lists Photo Repair for scratched or damaged photos, a colorizer for black-and-white images and the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer for blurry faces, plus Deep Nostalgia, which animates faces in historical photos, and Photo Storyteller for recording the story behind a picture. MyHeritage says its enhancer uses technology licensed from the makers of Remini, and that it works especially well on historical photos with small, soft faces. You can scan photos straight from the app and attach them to a family tree backed by more than 40 billion historical records. The trade-off is price clarity: the US App Store lists yearly bundles such as Complete and PremiumPlus from $74.99, but does not state which plan unlocks unlimited photo tools, so we marked pricing as pending. The web enhancer needs a free account. We compared documented features and published prices.

Fotor is a general AI photo editor that also restores old photos, which makes it a good fit if you want to keep editing after the repair. Its App Store listing says it restores and colorizes old family photos into vibrant, high-definition images, and the Fotor website lists separate Photo Restoration, Colorize Photo, Unblur Image, Image Upscaler (4x) and Photo Color Correction tools. Around those sit standard adjustments, retouching, object removal and AI Expand for reframing. On the US App Store, the Fotor Pro Monthly Plan costs $8.99 and the Annual Plan $47.99, the lowest monthly price among the subscription apps here. The downside is depth: Fotor does not publish specific damage repair features such as scratch or tear removal, so badly damaged prints are better served by VanceAI, YouCam Enhance or Photomyne. The iOS app is iPhone only and holds a 4.7 rating from 42K US ratings. We compared documented features and published prices.

Pixelup is a focused iPhone enhancer from Codeway for people who want to fix and share old family photos quickly. The App Store listing describes HD enhancement of old, blurry, pixelated and damaged photos, restoration of compressed or yellowed prints, and a scratch removal feature for scratches, tear marks and stains. It also colorizes black-and-white photos in one tap and can animate a restored portrait into a short video. You can photograph a print with the camera and enhance it directly in the app. Pixelup sells weekly and annual subscriptions plus a Premium Lifetime purchase, but the App Store list shows several Pixelup Pro prices without plan lengths, so we marked pricing as pending rather than guess. The app is English only, needs iOS 12.0 or later, and has a 4.4 rating from 39K US ratings, the lowest on this list. We compared documented features and published prices.

Hotpot is a browser-based AI toolkit from Panabee, and its Photo Restorer is built for a single batch of old photos rather than an ongoing subscription. You upload one or more scans, pick a restoration style such as Natural, Vintage, Classic color or Classic black and white, add optional instructions, and download each result or a ZIP of all of them. Hotpot says the tool reduces scratches, sharpens faded details and enhances faces, and works on both black-and-white and color photos. It is unusually candid about limits: AI can reinterpret or invent details where the source is damaged, and the tool may not work well with more than two people in a photo. Credits are needed for every result, including the first, so there is no free use. The cheapest purchase is 1,000 credits for $12 as a one-time payment, with monthly and yearly options that save 17% and 25%. We compared documented features and published prices.