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Best Instagram Alternatives For Android – iOS 2024

By admin January 3, 2024

Instagram Alternatives, Social media platforms are growing in terms of popularity and with every new platform, the security and offerings list increases. Keeping that in mind the users have started to look for Instagram alternatives apps. If you are one of them then this article is going to help you in finding the best alternative to Instagram. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, especially among the younger generation.

People nowadays are shifting from Facebook to Instagram as the interface is more user-friendly. Apart from that most of the influencers find their target audience on Instagram which makes it a better platform than others. The only thing which users are concerned about while using Instagram is privacy policies, Facebook and Instagram have made some changes in the privacy policy which has become a major concern and the reason to look for a better and secure platform.

Below we have shared the best 9 alternatives and their offerings that might help you in switching from Instagram. All the platforms/ apps that we have included in the list have better privacy policies and offerings. Keep reading to know in detail.

9 Best Instagram Alternatives for Android & iOS in 2024

Here are some of the best alternatives to Instagram that you can use in 2024.

1. Snapchat

Snapchat is among the most popular social media platforms which have always been on the list of alternatives to Instagram, Facebook, and others. The platform is famous for its unique face filters which can turn you into a new person. The list of face filters is growing as the app has offered freedom to the users for creating their own filter which can be used by other users too.

Apart from its face filter, the application has disappearing messages and stories which once seen will disappear. Though you can change the setting according to your requirements, the default settings are set for disappearing ones.

Talking about the similarity which you will observe in Snapchat, you can check stories posted by your friends. It has a similar discovery section where you can check stories of other public accounts. The application has offered better and innovative features which makes it the ideal alternative to Instagram.

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2. TikTok

Tik Tok is one of the most popular video creation sites where you get loads of tools to create short videos. It has been a great competition to Instagram and looking at which Instagram recently launched the reels section. TikTok has more than 289 million monthly active users which in comparison to one billion of Instagram is less, but it has been giving great competition.

Though the platform is banned in India due to some privacy issues. This can also be the reason for the lesser number of active users. This alternative to Instagram offers many unique features which you might like. Some of the features are a duet, AR filters, and in-library music. The platform has recently added the DM feature which makes it more convenient for the users in communicating with other creators.

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3. Pinterest

Pinterest is not the best Instagram alternative on iPad or Android devices but it offers some unique features which make it ideal for this list. The application is great for all users who always look for new and innovative ideas. Here you can easily explore and look at all other user’s work and creativity for inspiration and then create your own work/ project.

For every niche, there is a separate section and under that section, you can find thousands of images and videos to help you. You can find DIY concepts, fashion styles, lifestyle tips, and many other such things on Pinterest.

If you are one of the creators then also you can use this platform to share your work with others and help them. You can simply sign in at Pinterest and post all your work just as you do on other social media platforms.

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4. Tumblr

Tumblr is another great Instagram alternative or you can say one of the oldest social media platforms. Though the app or the platform has been in the market for a long time now, it has not grown much as other competitors Instagram or Facebook have grown. People consider Tumblr as a microblogging platform, but it is more than that. Using Tumblr you can post images, videos, GIFs, and other multimedia content.

Similar to other social media platforms you can use hashtags for better reach of the post and can even use them to search for posts from a separate niche. Other than this you can even create a community where you can connect with other users and can have a private chat.

Back in 2018, the app banned adult content, and if any users caught posting can be banned too from Tumblr. All in all, it is a niche-centered platform that can be useful only when you are focusing on a particular audience and have the right settings.

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5. 500px

Up next we have a platform that is ideal for all photographers and photography lovers. Here at 500px, you can find many other photographers and their work as it has users from more than 195 countries. Though you might not find many features which other social media platforms offer like stories and reels, it has posts and explores feeds where you can check the posts of fellow photographers.

Using this Instagram alternative for Android and iOS you can create Quests that work similar to the Instagram Guides. Apart from this, the application has a dedicated website too where you can easily check the post on the big screen.

The app has a limitation of 20 posts per week. If you wish to have a limited free plan then you would have to pay $25 annually where you can post unlimited photos. This is a great platform to get exposure as a photographer, we would definitely recommend this alternative to Instagram for all the photographers.

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6. Imgur

Imgur is a great application for photo sharing that is also considered as one of the best Instagram alternative apps. It was created as a public platform but if you wish to keep it private you can do that too. You can hide your photos and videos which by default are accessible by other users.

Being an alternative to Instagram it also offers features using which you can upload images, videos, and GIFs. Other than posting you can even share them with your community using tags. The app is a hub of meme-creators, so you would have a great time surfing through the feed that is assured.

Similar to Instagram, it has an explore tab where you can see all the posts according to your search history. Imgur recently has added the messaging feature that you can use to connect with other users just like Instagram.

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7. VSCO

VSCO is a photo editor application for Android and iOS devices, but it has many communities where users can connect with other artists and discover new content. Other than this you can even take up the weekly challenges which are created by other users. Similar to other social media platforms this Instagram alternative has an explore page where you can find all sorts of new and viral content.

You can easily filter out the content which you wish to look at on the basis of tags, location, and others. Other than this the application has a video edition too which is not common among social media platforms. Summing up this alternative of Instagram is best for all those who edit images and videos as you would not have to use another application.

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8. Triller

Triller is another short video application like TikTok and Instagram reels. This application can be a great Instagram alternative for the reels section as here also you can create short videos with your creativity. The interface of the app is very simple, you can easily create videos and share them with your followers in seconds.

Using the application you can participate in various challenges, apply emojis, add drawings, and use filters in the video. You can even collaborate with friends and other content creators. Many celebrities use this platform, which means you can easily find the latest content from them on Triller. Overall you will get enough exposure and content which makes it one of the best alternatives to Instagram.

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9. MX TakaTak

MX TakaTak is another short video application that entered the market after the Indian government banned TikTok. The application is developed in India and has all the features which you observe in Instagram reels or TikTok.

You can easily create and post short videos/ reels for your followers. This application is one of the best Instagram alternative apps for Android and iOS devices that you can use.

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Final Words: Best Instagram Alternatives 2024

These Instagram alternatives can be a great pick as they offer similar features which will be found on Instagram. Using these social media platforms you can post and share unique content and gain followers. Some of the applications only have shot video features which can be a great competition for Instagram reels. So depending on your usage you can choose the application, each one of them has different offerings and features. That’s all for this article, we hope that we have helped you in finding the best alternative to Instagram. Tell us which application you choose, drop the name in the comment section below.

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Application

Best Funny Faces Apps 2024

By admin December 26, 2023

Best Funny Faces Apps 2024, With the world moving from physical to virtual platforms, social media has taken over the way we communicate. Almost everyone is active on social media accounts. You can add beautiful backgrounds, make funny faces, and other effects to make it visually appealing.

In this blog, we will focus on Best Funny Faces apps that offer an easy and creative way to make expression-filled faces. With these applications, you can easily create funny faces, post them, and share them directly on your Social media accounts.

These apps use advanced technology, and editing tools along with a lot of emotes and filters.

So without wasting any time let’s dive into the world of crazy and goofy faces with these best funny faces apps for iPhone and Android.

Best Funny Faces Apps For iPhone and Android in 2024

Pick a picture and make them funny with the below-mentioned crazy face apps.

1. Funny Face Effects

Our first pick on the list of funny faces apps is this superb application. The app is fully compatible with the Android platform and can make you look fat, ugly, and bald in a matter of seconds.

• Use it to add a huge smile to your face.

• You can also use it to stretch, warp, and distort the overall appearance of your face with the help of your fingers.

• It can also be used to import pictures from the photo gallery of your Android device.

• With this funny faces app, you can also post your edited faces directly on social media.

Download for Android

2. Face Swapper

Create high-res face swaps with AI right on your phone with Face Swapper by Icons8. Make a new version of yourself, troll your friends, or anonymize your photos. With this tool, you can create funny pics in just a few taps.

• Exchange faces with your pets, cartoon characters, and even historical figures.

• Preserves the size and quality of the original image.

• Swaps faces of up to 1024px in size. That’s the max size of a face, not of a photo. And that’s the largest resolution on the market.

• Try new hairstyles, body types, and professional looks.

Download for iPhone

Use Online (https://icons8.com/swapper)

3. HeyPhoto

Did you forget to smile for the camera? Are you hyper-cautious about protecting your identity online? With HeyPhoto, you can edit your face for free in literal seconds. Modify gaze, identity, age, smile, or gender by simply dragging a slider.

• Just drag a slider and get stunning results with the original quality preserved.

• HeyPhoto is free for everyone, no subscriptions are required.

• It doesn’t crop your pictures, resize them, or downgrade their quality. You reap precisely what you sow.

• HeyPhoto will not make your picture grainy, blurry, or weirdly zoomed in.

Use online (https://hey-photo.com/)

4. YouCam Fun

Another popular funny faces app for your iPhone is YouCam Fun. The app equally works well on Android devices and is highly popular for its class-apart functioning. The app comes in a handy design in a size of 109MB for iOS and 66MB for the android platform.

• Turning a normal face into funny and goofy ones is incredibly easy with YouCam Fun.

• You can use it to add filters to any pictures saved in your photo gallery or click one in real time.

• As soon as you launch the app, I will detect your face and start applying filters to it.

• The straightforward and simple interface adds to its easy working.

Download for Android and iOS

5. Face Changer Camera

Developed by Visionsapp, Face Changer Camera is another silly face app that you can pick to design and create awesome faces. The tool works well on both iOS and Android platforms.

• It has a massive collection of filters including live and artistic effects.

• It comes with straightforward working, all you need to do is, click or browse a photograph, open the app, add filters and it’s done.

• Face Mask, Face Wrap, Face Puppet, Face Sticker, and Chin Face are few of its well-known offerings.

• Apart from this, you can also blend two faces using its Face Blend feature using this top-rated funny faces app.

Download for Android

6. Banuba – Funny Faces App

Another best funny faces app that you can pick to make funny faces is Banuba. The tool has a humongous collection of filters and effects.

• The lightweight tool which comes in an 80MB size for Android devices and iPhones and is available in a small size of 165MB.

• Enjoy applying dozens and dozens of funny and goofy filters with Banuba.

• With this crazy faces app, you get class-apart selfies and video experience.

• Use your creativity and innovative ideas to create cheek-aching hilarious faces.

• Banuba is also available in a premium plan which offers advanced features and editing effects.

Download for Android and iOS

7. Faceswap

Face swap is another impressive funny face app that you can use to edit your facial expressions. The tool has several filters to add that can fit your face without any hiccups.

• Numerous facial effects include weird looks, animals, Halloween, and celebrities.

• Theme Photo, photo swap, live stickers, motion swap, classic collage, and photo retoucher are a few other functions of this good funny faces app.

• It is a free app and enjoys a rich user base.

Download for Android

8. Face App

Face APP is one of the most popular funny face apps that one can use to make funny faces. It comes with a lightweight design and enjoys more than 100 million downloads.

• It uses an AI feature that adds a realistic effect to your photographs.

• The most recent addition is its old-age selfie filter.

• Its basic version has around 21 filters. However, you can also go for its Pro version to enjoy 28 fun filters.

• It can also be used to swap gender, change age, alter hair color, add a smile, beard, or mustache, and even add makeup.

Enjoy an array of fun-filled and incredible tools to give your face a new design and take Hollywood-ready selfies and pictures.

Download for Android and iOS

9. Cupace

Superlative Funny faces apps for Android offer a variety of innovative and funny features. If you are looking for a straightforward and lightweight application then Cupace can be a good pick. It offers an incredible way to copy and paste different faces on each other.

• It comes with several exciting features and allows you to cut a face from any given image. You can, later on, choose to paste on a different image.

• For accurate results, it also has a magnifying tool.

• The cropped face is saved in the Face Gallery for further use.

• With Cupace you can also add text to your photo.

Download for Android

10. Snapchat

Next on our list of best funny faces apps for iPhone and Android smartphones is Snapchat, an incredible face swap app that enjoys worldwide popularity and fan following. It has a plethora of filters to offer along with various other useful and fun-filled features.

• With this versatile application, you can change the entire way you look.

• It gives you an easy option to express yourself with the help of filters, editing effects, lenses, and Bitmojis.

• Apart from this, you can video chat with 16 friends at a given point in time.

• The images that you click using Snapchat can be shared with your friends within seconds.

Download for Android and iOS

11. Face Warp – Funny Photo Editor

Face Warp – Funny Photo Editor as the name suggests this photo editor application allows you to warp the image of your face in any desired direction. Undoubtedly it is the best funny face filter app available to both Android and iPhone users. With more than 1,000,000 installs on the Google Play store, it is one of the top free funny face apps on the internet.

• Face Warp allows users to create an ample number of funny content from their selfies.

• The application converts a normal image into an animation to make it more cool and funny.

• With the help of the pinch-zoom feature inbuilt in the application, users can perfectly work on the minute details of the image.

• The app comes with an auto mode that randomly makes changes to the user’s image and provides the best results.

Download for Android and iOS

12. Facelab – Face Editor & Beauty

Facelab – Face Editor & Beauty is the app that makes funny faces out of the users’ selfies. The app allows users to perform things like makeup, reshape and retouch the image to make it more attractive, beautiful and funny. Facelab comes with the in-app purchase which unlocks the premium and advanced features.

• One can easily perform all types of modifications on an image to make it more funny and hilarious.

• The app allows users to work upon every single part of the face separately.

• Use various stickers and 3D filters available on the application free of cost.

• With the help of face masks offered by the software, users can change the selfies to look old or young in age.

Download for iOS

13. FaceOver Lite

The last on our list of best funny faces apps is FaceOver Lite. It is a brilliant app and has a bottomless ocean of Fun Face Photo effects. The application is powered with straightforward and clean working and can effortlessly replace any part of your image with another part.

Simply crop,cut, edit, copy and paste different image parts to add life to your boring images and selfies.

Download for iOS

14. Face Swap Live

The next one on our list of best funny faces Apps for iPhone is Face Swap Live. The application has some remarkable filters and stickers to make your pictures funnier. Also, it has the option to add these filters to your video call camera. To add motion to your pictures use Gifs, doodles, and text edits to create funny videos. The app enables users to add filters to pictures without any extra effort. Apart from general feature the 3D filters enable users to swap faces with images available online.

The following are the notable features of Face Swap Live:

• Add GIFs, doodles, texts, and other fun elements to your pictures.

• Edit your camera image of video chat with stickers and incredible filters.

• Mask mode can customize your images with hats, glasses, and other fun elements.

• 3D filters and swapping faces from images online

• Replace your boring messages with funny filter images.

Download for Android

15. Helium Funny Face Editor

Let us introduce you to the Helium Funny Face Editor. It is a popular choice for the best funny faces applications because of a plethora of live face filters, an inhaled helium face present in the face mask library, an interesting lip-sync, and the following remarkable features.

Availability of more than 30 sound effects

• Option to mix or add multiple filters

• Lets you add audio/visual effects to your current photos or videos

• Allows you to change the density of an effect during recording

• Robot, Bear, Chipmunk, Violin, and many other voice effects

• Video and voice speedup/slowdown tool

• Boasts a flash to help you record videos in the dark

• You can save the video to camera roll or share it on social networks

Download for iOS

The above-mentioned best funny faces apps are undeniably the most popular and feature-rich applications that one can currently find in the market. Pick one as per your requirement to create funny, goofy, and amazing faces, swap faces, apply stickers, and ass filters.

Check your creativity with these funny face apps for Android and iOS smartphones. If you think that we have missed out on a funny face, selfie and face maker app, then please drop in the comment section below.

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Featured

Best Online Games For PC 2024

By admin December 26, 2023

Feeling bored enough? Then, this post can help you a lot. The post explains the best online games (free and paid). Pick the ideal one and enjoy!

From a college student to an adult, online games are liked by everyone and offer perfect rescue from a stressful day.

More than the unparalleled graphics and stunning action scenes, what we love the most about these games is the game itself. These games are available in multiple genres and styles which are suitable for all ages. But with hundreds and thousands of choices, it can be a nerve cracking task to decide which game you want to pick for your PC.

Keeping in mind the multiple offerings, here we have compiled a properly researched list of some of the best online games for PC. Most of our picks are free of cost, but we have also included few paid games for those who don’t mind spending a few bugs on gaming.

Well, without any further delay, let’s take a look at the top free and paid online games for PC.

Best Online Games For PC That You Can Play For Free

1. Valorant

Price: Free

Platform: Microsoft Windows

Valorant by Riot Games is a next-gen 5v5 character-based shooting game. The availability of heroes across the distinct game modes including Spike Rush, Deathmatch, and Unranked makes it worth trying.

In the game, there are several agents and weapon skins which incentivize gamers to stick around, & experience intense competition from other players. You also have the option to buy some Valorant Points in order to skip the queue and access shiny skins and agents. The game is one of the best multiplayer video games that you can play.

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Best Online Games For PC 2024

2. World of Tanks

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Android, macOS, PS4, PC, Xbox One or Xbox 360

World of Tanks is one of the mighties games that the online gaming industry has ever seen. The game is based on complex game mechanics, battlefield, and exciting tank simulators.

The game features two teams playing against each other. It is all about beating your opponent with an unmatchable strategy and using the right tanks and machines. You get access to around 10 tiers, each containing hundreds of vehicles and containers ranging from hulking heavies to speedy scouts.

All-in-all World of Tanks has everything that can keep your excitement levels high. PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PS4 are the few platforms where you can play this incredible game. Moreover, World of Tanks is one of the best free online games.
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3. Fortnite

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Windows 7, 8, 10, and Mac OSX Sierra

Fortnite is one of the best online PC games that you can play. The game offers very interesting gameplay supporting amazing graphics that might interest you. Just like PUBG or Call of Duty you enter a battlefield where you need to survive on an island. Apart from that, you get new things in the game which you won’t find in any other battle royale game.

While paying you can easily harvest resources and build a structure that can help you in surviving the game. The game does not just require killing others but you need to use strategy for building new resources and using them. You have to gather resources while playing the game which makes it unique and interesting.

Overall the game is super exciting and has new addons which make it more interesting to play. You should definitely try this game as it doesn’t disappoint. You can even find many Fortnite alternatives, so if you are bored of looking at the same graphics then you can play other similar games.

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4. Neverwinter

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Xbox One, PC, PS4

If you are a fan of Dungeons and Dragons, then NeverWinter is the right choice for you. The masses love this free to play online PC game because of two main reasons.

First: It comes from the highly popular series of online games: The incredible Neverwinter Series.

Second: It is based on challenging Dungeons and dangerous dragons, a modified and advanced version of its D&D 4th edition.

Packed with amazing locations, action-focused combat, and a potent battleground, Neverwinter is a perfect pick for D&D lovers. It has an enjoyable MMORPG and can seamlessly run on PS4, PC, and Xbox One platforms. It is one of the best online games for PC that you can play absolutely free.

The most beautiful thing about this game is that you get to access all features without shelling out a single penny.
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5. World of Warships

Price:- Free

Platforms:- macOS, Windows, PS4

If you liked playing World of Tanks, then choose World of Warships to experience a wet battlefield. The game is based on fighting navies and offers interesting tactics with welcoming and straightforward controls.

In comparison to other games, it is more engaging than the Total Wars, more profound than the Pirate games, and far more approachable than Silent hunter. World of Warships is one of the amazing free online games for computer.
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6. Star Trek Online

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Windows, MacOS, Xbox One, PlayStation 4

Battle with dangerous aliens, control the starships, train pangalactic professionals and explore the hidden tassels of the galaxy with this best online game for PC. This MMO game gives you a chance to show the world that you are no less than Picard.

Each play is like a full episode of a show and is packed with the best pieces of thrilling experience. If you are a true Trekkie, then Star Trek Online is the game for you.

Download

7. Dragalia Lost

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Android, iOS

Dragalia Lost is based on the tale of a fallen kingdom, which is fighting to save and restore it. The game comes with all the basic free-to-play features, including a stamina meter, random pulls for heroes, etc.

It comes with sleek boss battles, delving RPG dungeon, and adequate controls that help you manage potent abilities on your fingertip, and smoothly execute end-minute dodges. It belongs to the Action RPG genre and can be enjoyed on iOS and Android devices.

Download

8. Among Us

Price:- Free

Platforms:- PC, Mobile, Playstation 5/4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch

Among Us is a great game which you can play with your whole group. The game can be played with four to fifteen players. Out of all the players, three will be randomly chosen as imposters in every round. Apart from this, the map will be chosen randomly out of the four maps.

At the beginning of the game, crewmates will be given a task to complete on a particular map. The task can include fixing wires, maintenance, and downloading data like works. On the other hand, the imposter is given fake tasks to help them blend with their crewmates. Though the imposter cannot perform the task they can help other crewmates in the task. The end goal of the imposter is to kill crewmates. After each player is dead they become a ghost.

All in all, this is a great game that requires team effort and presence of mind. You can’t find the imposter if you fail to catch them lying or not performing. With the increasing popularity of the game, many other developers have also created Among Us alternatives.

Download

9. Rift

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Windows

This subscription-based fantasy MMO has gained a lot of popularity post its updation. The improved and updated game offers new raids, new world events, new zones, and a furious pace. You don’t have to spend a penny to enjoy this stunning gameplay and explore its beautiful and colorful world. With the massive list of exciting features and unmatchable gameplay, it’s not a bad deal at all.

Download

10. SMITE

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Xbox One, Windows, macOS

Similar to Dota 2 and League of Legends, SMITE also features a team of players who are trying to battle and get into their opponent’s base. Each unit consists of 5 players. It uses a third-person perspective to portray the gameplay rather than showing the battleground view. Also, it does not use any fantasy characters but features different players playing the role of mighty Smite Gods.

If you are fond of playing online games on your PC, then SMITE can be a good pick for you.

Download

11. Pinball FX3

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Microsoft Windows

Who doesn’t know about Pinball? Everybody loves it and has played it at some or the other time. It is developed by Zen Studios and offers several simulated pinball tables to its players. It uses a primary scoreboard for informal competitions. With its three-dimensional graphics, multiple themes, and a higher level of challenges, it creates a new unforgettable gaming experience.

No matter what you are, this game has enough to offer to all age groups and can run on Switch, PS4, PC, and Xbox One platform. Pinball FX 3 undoubtedly deserves a spot on our list of best online games for pc.

Download

12. Runescape

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Windows, iOS, macOS, Android, Java, Linux

Ever wondered why this oldie is still so popular? It continually improving MMORPG is the reason behind it. It offers a number of challenges to its user, which are enough to keep the excitement levels high. It’s a multiplayer role-playing fantasy game and is developed by Jagex.

Competing, fighting, quests, and mini-games are few of its prominent offerings. It is fully compatible with PC’s and is entirely free of cost.

Download

13. Guild Wars 2

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Microsoft Windows, macOS

If you are looking for the best MMO, then this free game is the best pick for you. As a player, you get a lot to do; you can either help a burning village, take part in zone events where you need to get involved with other players to form a team, and defeat the boss.

With this base game, you have a lot to do.

Download

14. Pokemon Masters

Price:- Free

Platforms:- iOS, Android, Windows

Who doesn’t like Pokemon, from TV cartoons to online PS games, it’s everywhere. The game is based on an island The island of Pasio, where players are seen battling for improving the powers of their pokemon. The game is built specially built for mobile phones but can easily be customized to run on computer systems as well.

Download

15. Clash of Clans

Price:- Free

Platforms:- Android, iOS, Windows

Unlock the power to win over nasty clan leaders and goblins. The game allows you to raise an army, guide your tribe, plan your defensive actions, and much more. It offers an ultimate mix of quick and rigorous battle with slow and strategic planning. You can either choose to join an existing clan or form your group to fight against your enemies.

Enjoy a limitless combination of troops, heroes, and spell with this impressive online PC game.

Download

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Computer

The best gaming PCs for 2023

By admin December 25, 2023

The best gaming PCs for 2023, Dell, Origin, Lenovo, and more ,If you’re looking for one of the best gaming PCs, you’re spoiled with options. We review dozens of gaming desktops each year from brands like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Alienware, and we’ve rounded up the only gaming PCs you should consider this year.

Our top pick is still the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i due to its balance of price, features, and performance, but we have several other options. Here are the best gaming desktops we’ve reviewed so far.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i

The best gaming PC you can buy

Why you should buy this: It’s a reasonably priced gaming PC with flagship hardware, and it’s fully open for upgrades.

Who it’s for: PC gamers who want a high-end experience in 2023 and the possibility to upgrade in the future.

What we thought of the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i:

The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i is proof that buying a prebuilt gaming desktop doesn’t have to mean sacrificing quality. It packs in Nvidia’s RTX 4080 along with an Intel Core i7-13700KF processor, offering some of the fastest hardware you can buy today, and it performs as well as its spec sheet would suggest.

In our review, we found that the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i was a hair faster than a custom PC with the same components, so you’re not leaving any performance on the table by going prebuilt. You’re free to swap out components, too. Unlike desktops from Alienware and some other vendors, the Tower 7i uses standard-sized parts so you can swap out whatever you want.

That’s all great, but the real reason we’re recommending the Tower 7i is its price. The configuration we reviewed, which comes with an RTX 4080 and Intel Core i7-13700KF, runs $2,900. That’s expensive, but it’s only a few hundred dollars more than if you bought all the parts yourself and pieced them together on your own. And for that upcharge, you’re getting a year of Lenovo’s Legion Ultimate support, which includes next-business-day repair, as well as a 24/7 support contact.

Since our review, Lenovo has released some cheaper models as well. You can now get the machine for around $2,050 with an Intel Core i7-13700KF and RTX 4070 Ti GPU.

The best gaming PCs for 2023

It’s easy to recommend the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i in 2023, but it still has one problem. Lenovo advertised 5,200 megatransfer per second (MT/s) memory, but it’s only set up to run at 4,400 MT/s out of the box. That can lead to lower performance in some select applications, but thankfully, you can crank up the memory speed in a couple of clicks.

.Image used with permission by copyright holder

Origin Neuron

The best custom gaming PC

Why you should buy this: The Origin Neuron comes with excellent build quality and highly customizable components.

Who’s it for: Gamers looking to customize their own PC without getting into building.

What we thought of the Origin Neuron:

There’s no shortage of PC builders that use components you can buy and put together yourself, but Origin still manages to stand out. You can buy and build an exact replica of the Origin Neuron, but Origin’s careful attention to detail, deep customization options, and excellent support make an argument not to.

Corsair owns Origin, so the Neuron comes fitted with Corsair components across the board. That’s a good thing in this case, as Corsair makes some of the best PC fans, power supplies, and RAM modules you can buy. All of these first-party components give the Neuron a cohesive feel, free of software conflicts that could mess up your RGB lighting.

You can build the machine exactly how you want, too. Origin offers the latest CPUs from AMD and Intel, as well as the latest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD. Beyond that, you can tweak everything else — power supply rating, memory speed, you name it.

The Neuron is more expensive than a mainstream PC like the Omen 45L. That extra money buys you better build quality, more flexibility, and some modern furnishings. Out of all of the custom PC builds you can buy, the Origin Neuron is our favorite.

.Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Alienware Aurora R16

The best Alienware gaming PC

Pros

• Much smaller than previous versions

• Cool and quiet during operation

• Several configuration options

• Competitively priced

Cons

• Alienware Command Center is a bit annoying

• CPU lacks integrated graphics and overclocking support

Why you should buy this: It’s an Alienware gaming PC built for the everyday gamer

Who’s it for: PC gamers who want a lot of flexibility in their build and don’t need to service their PC.

What we thought of the Alienware Aurora R16:

Alienware has a reputation problem, but the new Aurora R16 attempts to fix that. It’s the first time Alienware has abandoned the angular Aurora design we’ve seen for the past several generations, instead relying on a smaller mid-tower chassis that’s just as powerful, but takes up a lot less space.

It comes in cheaper, as well. Part of the reason Alienware desktops have a bit of a bad name is their price, but the Aurora R16 starts at just $1,300 for an Intel Core i7-13700F, RTX 4060 graphics card, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a 1TB SSD. You can scale that up with the same processor, memory, and storage, but with an RTX 4070 Ti, for $1,950.

Alienware upgraded the internals a lot, but it’s the exterior of this machine that stands out. It’s around half the size of the previous version, all without compromising power or thermals. By the end of the year, Alienware says it will be its fastest desktop ever, packing up to an RTX 4090.

.Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Acer Predator Orion 7000

The best high-end gaming PC

Why you should buy this: It’s a fantastic and upgradeable high-end desktop that will hold up for years.

Who’s it for: Enthusiasts that want a great starting point to upgrade their gaming PC in the future.

What we thought of the Acer Predator Orion 7000:

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is a gaming PC in every sense of the phrase. Its design screams that with bright RGB fans and an aggressive design that makes it clear this is a machine built for gaming. Thankfully, it has the performance and thermals to back up its clear design influence.

It packs last-gen components, but they’re still powerful. You can score up to an Intel Core i9-12900K and RTX 3090 graphics card, and we expect a next-gen upgrade soon. Acer just recently updated its Predator laptops, so a desktop makeover should come soon.

Even this model holds up well in 2023, though. The components are still very powerful, and the design of the case makes quick work of all the heat these high-end components can spit out.

.Image used with permission by copyright holder

Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast

The best mini gaming PC

Why you should buy this: It’s smaller than a book and comes with enough power to run the latest games at 1080p.

Who’s it for: Gamers who need a tiny PC that packs a lot of punch.

What we thought of the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast:

Intel’s NUC PCs have always been focused on performance in the smallest size possible, but the NUC 12 Enthusiast reaches even further. Powered by mobile Intel Arc Alchemist graphics, the machine can run the latest games at 1080p, and it’s smaller than the size of a book.

It’s not a stretch to say that the NUC 12 Enthusiast makes you forget you’re using a mini PC. It puts up desktop-like performance in a package smaller than some laptops, and it comes with all the trimmings you’d expect out of a full-size rig. That includes expansive connections, including USB-C, Thunderbolt, and plenty of USB 3 ports.

The included stand is great, too. You can sit the NUC 12 Enthusiast upright on your desktop, but you can also pop it off the stand and lay it down on its side. And if you’re looking to maximize space, you can even mount the stand to a wall and hide the PC behind your monitor.

.Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Falcon Northwest Tiki

The best gaming PC for the living room

Why you should buy this: It’s smaller than a gaming console and packs high-end PC hardware.

Who’s it for: Living room gamers looking for a high-end gaming PC that doesn’t take up a lot of space.

What we thought of the Falcon Northwest Tiki:

The Falcon Northwest Tiki is the perfect small-form-factor gaming PC. Just like the Talon, the Tiki stands out with exceptional build quality, clear attention to detail, and support that puts major PC manufacturers to shame. It’s expensive, but Falcon Northwest makes every penny feel worth it.

For size, the Tiki is the smallest gaming PC you can buy fully configured. But Falcon Northwest doesn’t sacrifice performance in the process. You can cram in up to a 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X as well as a full, fat RTX 3090. You can also add up to 8TB of NVMe storage, which is insane considering the Tiki’s size.

Usually, a smaller size comes at the cost of thermals and noise, but not with the Tiki. It manages to stay cooler and quieter than many mid-sized desktops (read our Asus ProArt PD5 review for an example of bad thermals on a desktop).

Falcon Northwest is one of the few boutique PC builders left, and the Tiki is a perfect showcase for what that model can achieve. It’s an exception PC overall, and it’s even more impressive considering it’s smaller than a PlayStation 5.

.Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Dell XPS Desktop (8960)

The gaming PC for remote workers

Why you should buy this: The Dell XPS Desktop 8650 doesn’t look like a gaming PC, but it comes with the right hardware to run the latest titles.

Who’s it for: Remote workers who need a professional PC during the day and a gaming PC at night.

What we thought of the Dell XPS Desktop 8960:

If you want to pick up a gaming desktop, but you’re not interested in learning about upgrading or tricking it out with RGB, the Dell XPS 8960 Desktop is a great option. It’s a stealth gaming PC that looks like an office desktop on the outside, but hides some of the most powerful components you can buy inside.

You can’t upgrade major components in the Dell XPS Desktop, which is almost always a downside. But you can at least trick out this PC with up to an Intel Core i9-13900 and Nvidia RTX 4080. You can even configure it with liquid cooling.

Configurations start as low as $750, with the first configuration with a discrete graphics card coming in at around $1,100. You’re giving up all of the trimmings that make a gaming PC look like one, but if you’re content to recycle your PC and upgrade a few years down the line, that’s not a big deal.

Although the XPS Desktop can fit into any office setting, we’re recommending it specifically for remote workers. You might not want to ask your boss to bill an RGB-ridden gaming behemoth; the XPS Desktop is much more reasonable, and it still has enough muscle for gaming after hours.

.Image used with permission by copyright holder

NZXT Streaming Plus BLD Kit

The best DIY gaming desktop

Pros

• Powerful

• Inexpensive

• Includes all the tools you need to build your own PC

Cons

• PC building isn’t for everyone

• Limited customization options

Why we chose this: The NZXT BLD Kit allows you to dip your toes into building a custom gaming PC and save some money in the process.

Who’s it for: Hobbyists who want to get into building PCs but don’t know where to start.

What we thought of the NZXT BLD Kit:

NZXT has a different approach to gaming desktops. Instead of shipping you a prebuilt machine, you get all of the components, tools, and an instruction manual to build the PC yourself. And don’t worry – you get all of that at a discount compared to getting a machine already built for you.

The BLD kits offer great value, and NZXT has several available. We’re recommending the Streaming Plus kit, which comes fitted with an eight-core Ryzen 7 5700X processor, an Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM. Overall, the kit is about $200 than shopping for the cheapest parts yourself, rather than the anywhere from $500 to $1,000 that brands usually charge as a building fee.

If you can’t be bothered, NZXT also offers its custom BLD program. Unlike most system builders, NZXT charges a flat $110 building fee. Otherwise, you’re paying the exact same price for the components that you would if you bought them individually.

PC building isn’t for everyone, but NZXT’s BLD program offers a cost-effective and simple way to get into the hobby.

NZXT Streaming Plus BLD Kit

The best DIY gaming desktop

.Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

MSI Aegis RS 12

The best gaming PC for beginners

Why we chose this: It’s a no-fuss, powerful gaming PC that won’t break the bank.

Who’s it for: PC gamers who want a powerful PC and don’t need to mess around with upgrades.

What we thought of the MSI Aegis RS 12:

The MSI Aegis RS 12 is a perfect gaming PC if you don’t need to mess with upgrades. You can upgrade it, but its poor cable management and lack of a case don’t lend themselves well to DIY tweaks. Thankfully, you don’t need to make them. There’s a lot of power under the hood of the Aegis, and at a reasonable price.

The last time we looked at the machine, it was sporting Intel’s 12th-gen processors, but MSI has recently updated it with Intel 13th-gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40-series GPUs. You can pack in up to an Intel Core i7-13700KF and Nvidia RTX 4080, along with 32GB of RAM.

What’s surprising is the price. That configuration could easily run $4,000 or more with other brands, but MSI charges around $3,000 – near the same price as building your own. If you jump down to an RTX 4070 Ti, you can save almost $1,000, too.

On top of that, MSI includes a sold gaming keyboard and mouse in the box. They aren’t top-tier peripherals, but they’re more than enough to get beginners started with PC gaming.

.Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

CLX Hathor

The best dual gaming PC

Pros

• Beautiful design and build quality

• Two PCs in the size of one case

• Flagship hardware support

Cons

• Very expensive

• Dual PCs aren’t required for most people

Why we chose this: It’s a monster gaming PC that pulls double duty.

Who’s it for: Streamers who need a dual PC setup but don’t have the space for two PCs.

What we thought of the CLX Hathor:

What’s better than one monster gaming PC? Two, obviously. The CLX Hathor is insane, packing two full PCs into a single case. One if a high-end gaming rig fit with one of the latest CPUs from AMD or Intel, along with one of the latest graphics cards from AMD or Nvidia. The second is an Intel NUC that pull lightweight duty so you don’t have to bog down one machine.

CLX allows you to customize just about every aspect of the PC, as well. There are the core components like your GPU, CPU, and RAM, but you can even tweak your cooler, multiple storage options, and even customize the Lian Li case the PC ships in.

It’s an excellent PC, assuming you need all of the power it offers. The Hathor starts at $4,100, and it only goes up from there. This is a high-end PC for high-end streamers, who need a secondary PC holding the work of streaming so your main PC can focus on gaming.

CLX Hathor

The best dual gaming PC

Frequently Asked Questions

PC vs. laptop for gaming

While you can play on the go with a gaming laptop outfitted with a discrete graphics card, a gaming desktop will deliver more flexibility, power, and performance for serious gamers. With more space inside a desktop tower, thermal management is generally better, which leads to stronger graphics and processing performance without the fear of throttling.

Another benefit of going with a desktop is that there is more space to perform upgrades in the future, so you can add more memory or storage, swap out your graphics card, and upgrade your motherboard and processor down the road. When shopping for a gaming desktop, you should look for key features like upgradability, expandability, and support for the latest protocols, like Thunderbolt 3, which could help extend the life of your investment.

What’s the best gaming PC for beginners?

The best gaming PC for beginners is the HP Omen 30L or 45L. These two machines live in the same family, and the 30L is slightly smaller than the 45L. We recommend them for beginners because they come with the latest, most powerful components, they’re readily available, and they’re easy to upgrade.

For configurations, you want to pay attention to the GPU and CPU. For beginners, we recommend the Nvidia RTX 3060 for 1080p gameplay, paired with either an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or Intel Core i5-12600K.

Gamers will also want to have enough RAM — we suggest at least 16GB of memory — and fast storage. Moreover, taking the dual-drive route means you don’t need to invest in an expensive solid-state drive with large storage. This allows you to pair a more modest-capacity SSD with a larger hard drive to store all the large media libraries for your game.

Can gaming PCs be used for work?

Most definitely. Manufacturers like HP recognize that gamers don’t just play games — office workers want to stay entertained during their downtime, too. All that’s needed to play games is a capable processor, a strong enough discrete graphics card, and enough memory to keep the entire system running smoothly.

If you’re looking to save money by using one desktop for gaming and for your productivity tasks, you’ll want to choose a PC or one of the best laptops with more understated aesthetics that will blend in better with your office decor. Once you have the right PC selected, just pick out a few games and have fun.

Is PC gaming dying?

Absolutely not. With sales of general-purpose desktops stagnating in recent years, manufacturers like HP and Lenovo are investing more resources into their gaming brands to fuel growth.

With new hardware features supported on gaming PCs — from VR and augmented reality to real-time ray tracing — developers will have plenty of new technologies to leverage in order to tell visually engaging stories through their games.

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Featured

The full history of Samsung Galaxy Smartphones

By admin December 24, 2023

The full history of Samsung Galaxy Smartphones, The Galaxy S is the handset that kick-started Samsung’s journey along the path to world smartphone domination. Announced in March 2010 and released in June, it packed in some of the most impressive specs available at the time. Its 1GHz ARM Hummingbird processor coupled with 512MB RAM and the most powerful graphics processing of any smartphone made it a spec-fiend’s number one choice.

At 9.9mm thin (positively obese by today’s standards), it was also the thinnest smartphone in the world, with a 5MP camera and 0.3MP selfie cam to boot. While its 4in 800 x 400 display sounds archaic by today’s standards, it was still a Super AMOLED affair, making the Apple iPhone 4’s screen look positively washed out in comparison. Oh, and let’s all take a moment to appreciate how horrible TouchWiz 3.0 looks skinned over Android Eclair. Shudder.

Samsung Galaxy SII – 2011

This is it folks. This is the handset that really put Samsung on the map. The 8.49mm-thin Galaxy SII received rave reviews, with many critics labelling it the best smartphone in the world, evs.

The Galaxy SII helped push Samsung ahead of Apple in smartphone sales, and it deserved the praise. Its superb Super AMOLED Plus screen was miles ahead of the competition, as Samsung ditched the Pentile matrix for a regular RGB matrix display. In English, that means that it was even sharper than the Original Galaxy S’s screen, while maintaing its true blacks and rich colours.

It was also the most powerful phone in the world at the time, beating out the likes of the Motorola Atrix with its dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and 1GB of RAM, along with up to 32GB of internal storage and expandable memory support – all of which helped to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

An 8MP rear camera (with 1080p video recording) and a 2MP front-facing snapper rounded off the rest off the impressive spec sheet, while NFC – a real rarity back then – and MHL support for multimedia playback finished off the mighty feature list.

The full history of Samsung Galaxy Smartphones

Samsung Galaxy S III – 2012

The Galaxy SIII is where it all went horribly wrong for Samsung. Wait, did we say “horribly wrong”? We meant to say “incredibly well”. Like, really, massively, unbelievably well. The quad-core beast was once again the most powerful handset in the world at the time of its release, and its 1080p screen was a joy to behold. Samsung packed more bells and whistles into TouchWiz than a hoarder at a… bell and whistle factory.

The usefulness of some of these features, such as screen-on eye-tracking and picture in picture (PIP), were debatable, but the very fact it could do so much without stuttering was testament to the incredible hardware beneath its glossy plastic shell.

No, the SIII wasn’t as pretty as its iPhone 4s rival, but that didn’t stop it from outselling Apple’s poster child. Throw in an impressive 8MP camera and 8.5 hours of non-stop video playback, and it’s clear to see why the Galaxy SIII jumped straight to the top of Stuff’s Top 10 smartphone list.

Samsung Galaxy S4 – 2013

Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 4G Black – smartphones (Single SIM, Android, MicroSIM, EDGE, GPRS, HSPA+, Bar)

£80.00

Launching with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the 7.9mm Galaxy S4 was Samsung’s fastest-selling handset ever, with a whopping 20 million units sold in the first two months. The phone landed with plenty of power beneath its plastic shell, in the form of Qualcomm’s mighty Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB of RAM. The full HD AMOLED display made its return, and the rear camera received a healthy bump up to 13 megapixels.

But despite being a solid handset and receiving plenty of praise, Samsung also received criticism for bloating up Android with not only the cartoonish UI of TouchWiz, but a pile of (debatably useless) features that increased the size of the OS and reduced the amount of available internal storage.

Samsung Galaxy S5 – 2014

The Galaxy S5’s launch was the first occasion in which people’s love affair with Samsung began to falter slightly. Unveiled at MWC in Barcelona, the handset’s band aid-like plastic rear was met with criticism, especially as the premium metal HTC One M7 had already demonstrated that Android handsets could match Apple for build quality.

Predictably the insides were faster and the camera was as impressive as ever, but Samsung was once again criticised for filling up the Android OS – in this case 4.2 KitKat – with more bloat. In a time that Sony’s Xperia handsets were reaping praise for their minimal interference with Google‘s OS, Samsung’s TouchWiz, with all of its clunky features, had begun to look far too podgy and ugly in comparison. The S5’s slightly flakey fingerprint sensor (which required an annoying swiping action) and gimmicky heart rate scanner didn’t help matters either.

Still, it was a solid flagship nonetheless, shipping 10 million units in just 25 days, making it Samsung’s fastest-ever-shipping smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge – 2015

Simply put, Samsung smashed it in 2015 when it released the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. The plastic had finally been banished, and was replaced with lovely premium metal and glass. The handset felt as good as the iPhone and HTC One M9 in the hands, and the S6 Edge, with its curved display, was a thing of beauty. The camera was superb, and until its successor came out, it was the best smartphone camera we had ever tested.

The once niggly fingerprint scanner had become lightning fast and worked just like Apple’s Touch ID home button, with no pesky swiping gesture required. Even TouchWiz was toned down considerably, with a large amount of bloat removed, and an all-new, flatter design introduced.

The power of Samsung’s own octa-core processor blew the competition out of the water, and its 2K Super AMOLED display was the best we’ve ever seen on a smartphone. It’s still fantastic today. The only major gripe – and a deal breaker for hardcore Android fans and media hoarders – was the axing of the removable battery and, even worse, microSD card slot. But overall, the Galaxy S6 was an absolute stunner of a handset.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge – 2016

Samsung Galaxy S7 SM-G930F 32GB 4G Gold – smartphones (Single SIM, Android, NanoSIM, GSM, HSPA+, LTE)

£199.00

Unveiled at MWC in February 2016, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge were (naturally) Samsung’s sleekest, sexiest, most powerful handsets to date. While their designs appear almost identical to the existing S6 and S6 Edge, their backs have been rounded off to make for a more comfortable, grippy shape, and the protruding camera lens is now almost flush. The premium metal and glass build remains, this time with the addition of IP68 water resistance, along with the return of the microSD slot (hooray!)

Both handsets retain Samsung’s excellent 2K Super AMOLED display, though the Edge’s screen has increased from 5.1 inches to 5.5 inches, which has resulted in larger, more useful Edge Apps. Samsung also improved the camera by increasing the sensor size and aperture, as well as implementing dual-pixel autofocus – all of which resulted in more light being absorbed – hence better shots in low light conditions – and sharper shots when snapping moving subjects.

With Qualcomm’s powerful Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM and larger batteries in both, they were Samsung’s best handsets yet. Well, until 2017 rolled around.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus – 2017

Unlike Apple’s iPhone 6/6s/7, Samsung didn’t revisit the same basic design for a third time: the Galaxy S8 went for something bold and new, and Samsung’s gamble paid off. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus offer striking silhouettes, with a taller-than-usual 18.5:9 curved Infinity Display that covers nearly the entire face of the phone, with minimal bezel on the top and bottom and almost nothing on the sides. And no, there’s no more flat-screened edition.

It’s a fabulous display again, of course: a 2960×1440 Super AMOLED screen in 5.8in and 6.2in sizes, depending on the model. The fingerprint sensor’s new placement on the back is clunky, unfortunately, but it’s the rare knock against an otherwise fabulous handset.

Inside, of course, the Galaxy S8 has plenty of power, packing an Exynos 8895 processor (or Snapdragon 835 in some parts of the world) with 4GB RAM to play with, while the TouchWiz skin over Android 7.0 Nougat is even more usable and less annoying than ever.

Again, Samsung has a brilliant camera here: it’s only a 12-megapixel sensor, but advanced image processing abilities take a lot of the blur and noise out of shots. It actually snaps three photos when you tap the button, and then creates one oft-brilliant final product.

Gear VR support returns, of course, along with the new DeX Station, which lets you use the Galaxy S8 as the brain for a desktop computer-like experience using an external monitor.

It’s heavy on style, heavy on perks, and certainly staggering in price – but if you want the best of the best in the smartphone world right now, it’s the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus – 2018

Samsung stuck to its guns with the Galaxy S9 series, on the design front at least. Practically identical to their S8 predecessors, the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus retained their smooth, organic, pebble-like curves and minimalistic side bezels, making for a premium, comfortable experience.

Standout features (at least, at the time), included 3D avatars in the form of AR emoji, which, if you’re being honest, probably saw next to no use. The S9 did, at least, have a far more useful feature in the form of a dual aperture main camera, which let users switch between f/1.5 and f/2.4 on the fly. How’s that for flexibility?

Samsung Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, and S10e – 2019

The S10 range landed with five models in total — the regular Galaxy S10, the larger S10 Plus, the more affordable S10e, and a model with 5G support thrown in for good measure.

The design was, once again, pretty familiar, marking the last time Samsung could have probably gotten away with the same rounded look without fearing criticism for playing it too safe.

Tantalising specs in the S10 range included a groundbreaking in-display UltraSonic fingerprint sensor (rear scanners be damned), along with a triple-camera setup, and a punch-out selfie cam for a sleeker front appearance.

Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus – 2020

Samsung decided to spare us all the unsymmetrical eyesore of S13-19 monikers back in 2019 when it skipped straight from S10 to S20. After years of teasing near-bezelless screens, the S20 range was the first time that we saw Samsung almost eliminate them for good — thanks to that clever punch-out selfie cam.

The predictably vibrant OLED display also saw a notable bump up to a 120HZ refresh rate, while the rear triple-camera setup serves up more photographic flexibility. The slightly larger Galaxy S20 Plus offers similar specs, albeit with a little more screen real estate and a slightly larger battery.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – 2020

The Galaxy S20 Ultra ushered in a new no-compromise flagship category for Samsung which made headlines with a large 120Hz 6.9in display, a huge 108MP camera, and a whopping 10x optical zoom.

The latter is a genuinely useful feature for getting more detailed shots of distant subjects, though the 100x Space Zoom turned out to be more of a pixellated mess. You can’t defeat the laws of physics, after all.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE – 2020

Despite being marketed as a more budget entry point into the S20 range, the Galaxy S20 FE won plenty of praise for blending core Samsung features and slick design, in a package that spared your bank account.

With a crisp, flat display, formidable camera performance, and the power of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 processor, it made for a very tempting alternative indeed. And let’s not forget the eye-catching plastic rear, which landed in a plethora of pleasing pastel hues.

Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus – 2021

At first glance, the Galaxy S21 and larger S21 Plus appeared to be downgrades. After all, they landed with plastic rears, and not the absolute best battery life around.

Dig a little deeper though, and you’ll see that their launch prices were a little less than those of their predecessors. Camera performance delivered too, but it’s the unmatched style and head-turning colours that made the S21 and S21 Plus stand out from the crowd.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra – 2021

The Galaxy S21 Ultra still houses one of the best overall smartphone cameras you’re likely to use today, with superb shots in all lighting conditions, with detailed zoom on offer as well.

Galaxy Note fans can also use a (non-bundled) S Pen for doodling and note taking, while the ultra-adaptive screen blends a maximum 120Hz refresh rate with battery-sipping cleverness, letting it ramp the refresh rate up or down accordingly.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE– 2022

Launching later than expected, the S21 FE landed in January 2022. Resembling its S21 siblings (minus a rear camera housing that matches that of the main body), it remains a handsome handset that cuts features down in a few areas to help make the price tag more palatable.

With a 120Hz display though and plenty of Samsung tricks going for it, it remains a strong budget-minded option.

Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus – 2022

The S22 and S22 Plus resemble their predecessors, although their Gorilla Glass Victus Plus construction makes for a hardier improvement.

Super-fast OLED screens and more than capable cameras are, as expected, also present, although the cream of the imaging prowess is reserved for the higher-end Galaxy S22 Ultra, as (which should come as no surprise by now).

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra – 2022

The Galaxy S22 Ultra landed as the first true Note successor, thanks to the inclusion of the S Pen, which (mercifully) can be stored inside the handset itself, rather than being lost down the side of the couch.

Super-fast internals, a large 6.8in screen, and a headline-grabbing 108MP camera made the S22 Ultra the handset to beat. That is, at least, until its Galaxy S23 successor came along.

Samsung Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus – 2023

Samsung Galaxy S23 5G Dual SIM Android Mobile Phone, 256GB, SIM Free Smartphone, Black

Powered by the mighty Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and 8GB of RAM, these are, unsurprisingly, two of the most powerful phones Samsung has ever made. The larger S23 Plus features 45W fast charging (versus the slower 25W charging of its sibling), but both have the same 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP telephoto (complete with 3x optical zoom), for snapping quality pics.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – 2023

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G Dual SIM Android Mobile Phone, 256GB, SIM Free Smartphone, Green 3Y Extended Manufacturer Warranty

As predicted, Samsung’s latest and greatest flagship is the most powerful and feature-packed one yet. With a largely unchanged design (although the rear camera housing has slimmed down), it’s the combination of tech that makes it shine.

From a beautiful, bright screen, to a camera setup that’s capable in almost any situation (thanks to a 10x optical zoom lens and a huge 200MP main sensor), the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is shaping up to be a contender for one of the best phones of 2023.

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Mobile

The History of iOS, from Version 1.0 to 17.0

By admin December 24, 2023

The History of iOS, from Version 1.0 to 17.0, A complete view of the operating system that launched the smartphone revolution

iOS is the name of the operating system that runs the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s the core software that comes loaded on all devices to allow them to run and support other apps. iOS is to the iPhone what Windows is to PCs or macOS is to Macs.

Below you’ll find a history of each version of iOS when it was released, and what it added to the platform. Click the name of the iOS version, or the More link at the end of each blurb, for more in-depth information about that version.

See our article What is iOS? for a lot more on this innovative mobile operating system and how it works.

iOS 17

Apple announced iOS 17 at the June 2023 WWDC, with a public rollout to take place in Fall 2023.

One of the most notable updates to iOS 17 is the change from, “Hey Siri!” to, “Siri,” as well as the ability to give Siri back-to-back commands,

iOS 17 includes upgrades to Phone, FaceTime, and Messages, which also features an all-new Stickers experience. AirDrop has been upgraded to include NameDrop to allow for easy contact sharing. Journal is an entirely new app that provides an intuitive journalling experience based on your photos, locations, contacts, music, podcasts, and more.

In addition, iOS 17 offers a fullscreen experience called StandBy, which is similar to Nightstand Mode on Apple Watch. While you’re charging the phone, you can put it into landscape mode to display the time and other information on a minimalist, easy-to-read display.

iOS 16

iOS 16 was announced at 2022’s WWDC in June. It rolled out to consumers in Fall 2022.

Updates include new Messages features, SharePlay availability in FaceTime and Messages, and upgrades for Apple Wallet including Apple Pay Later and Apple Order Tracking.

iOS 16 also featured an Apple Maps redesign and new features, such as cycling, lookaround, and multi-stop routing. The iOS upgrade also offers improvements to Spatial Audio that allow for the personalization of audio on AirPods.

The History of iOS, from Version 1.0 to 17.0

iOS 15

Apple Inc.

Support ended: n./a
Current version: 15.5, released May 16, 2022
Initial version: 15.0, released Sept. 24, 2021

Much like iOS 14, iOS 15 is more of a collection of improvements to the iPhone platform than it is a themed release. Generally speaking, iOS 15 moves forward a number of important things Apple has been working on for a number of releases: Increases security and privacy, blocks more ad tracking, improves Siri and the camera app, and much more.

Some of the biggest steps forward are influenced by the recent remote-work trend. Features in that area include improvements to FaceTime audio, support for FaceTime conferencing on the web and Android, improvements to the Messages app, and more.

Key New Features:

• FaceTime received numerous improvements aimed at improving the experience of using the app and expanding the audience for it, including:

1.SharePlay allows people on a FaceTime video call to watch video or listen to audio together, and share screens

2.Spatial Audio brings Apple’s more-natural, 3D audio experience to improve the naturalness of FaceTime sound

3.Enhanced Mic Modes allow you to isolate your voice from background noise to improve audio quality

4.Portrait Mode brings this terrific still-photos feature to video to blur your background

5.Cross-Platform support allows you to invite anyone to a FaceTime call with a link and for them to join from a web browser or Android devices.

• Focus adds a set of smart notification and communication s settings based on what you’re doing at that moment.

• The Photos app gains major improvements such as:

1.Live Text lets the app detect text inside your photos and convert it to text that can be copied and pasted, or phone numbers that can be tapped to call

2.Visual search lets you search within the Photos app for text embedded your photos.

• In keeping with Apple’s ongoing commitment to user privacy, iOS 15 adds:

1.App Privacy Report lets you know what permissions each of your apps has, how often it accesses your data, and what third-party domains the app has contacted.

2.Mail Privacy Protection blocks tracking pixels, hides your IP address from marketers, and blocks the connection of your data from email with other data sources.

3.On-device Siri means that Siri recordings are no longer sent to or stored in the cloud. Siri works completely on your iPhone, and now works offline.

• Support for the iCloud+ service that adds new Homekit and VPN-style features.

• Notifications scheduling and summary.

• Improved driving directions in Maps.

• A redesigned experience and features for managing tabs and groups of tabs in Safari.

• Better ways to find content shared with you and to share medical data from the Health app with your family.

Dropped Support For:

• iPhone 6 series. All iPhone models from the 6S series and up are supported.

• 6th Gen. iPod touch. Only the 7th Gen. iPod touch is supported.

iOS 14

Apple

Support ended: n/a
Current version: 14.6, released May 24, 2021
Initial version: 14.0, released Sept. 17, 2020

There’s no single major change or theme to the changes introduced with iOS 14. Instead, iOS 14 is a collection of numerous small and medium-sized changes to the user interface, features, and overall ease of use that add up to making the experience of using an iPhone even better.

Maybe the most notable changes are around customization, thanks to the addition of Homescreen Widgets, the ability to choose default apps in some cases, and improved privacy controls.

How to Change the Color of Apps on iOS 14

Key New Features:

• Homescreen Widgets for customized home screens and shortcuts.

• Smart Stacks that deliver different Homescreen Widgets at different times of the day based on your habits.

• Set third-party apps as default for email and web browser apps.

• App Library, a new way of organizing apps and keeping your home scree neat

• App Clips

• Picture in picture mode

• Improved privacy features to block tracking online.

• Built-in language translation for 11 languages.

• Spatial audio for AirPods delivers surround sound, along with other AirPods improvements.

• Design changes allow phone calls and FaceTime calls to take up less space on the screen and allow you to do other things at the same time.

• Numerous improvements for group texts in iMessage, including threaded replies and mentions.

Dropped Support For:

• None. iOS 14 supports the same set of devices as iOS 13

iOS 13

Apple Inc.

Support ended: n/a
Current version: 13.7, release Sept. 1, 2020.
Initial version: 13.0, released Sept. 19, 2019

Perhaps the biggest change introduced with iOS 13 is that the OS no longer runs on the iPad. That’s due to the release of iPadOS (which begins with version 13). That’s a new OS dedicated to the making the iPad a more useful productivity device and a potential laptop replacement. It’s based on iOS 13 and has many of the same features, but also adds iPad-specific items.

Beyond that, iOS 13 shores up some core features, including launching apps faster, unlocking devices with Face ID faster, and overhauling pre-installed apps like Reminders, Notes, Safari, and Mail. Maybe the most obvious new feature is the Dark Mode, but the changes range much wider than that and further bolster the already-strong OS.

Key New Features:

• System-wide Dark Mode

• Sign In With Apple user account system

• New privacy and security options

• New Portrait Lighting options

• Look Around, a Google Street View-style feature for Apple Maps

• New, improved Siri voice

• Overhauled stock apps like Reminders and Notes

Dropped Support For:

• iPad (due to the release of iPadOS)

• 6th Gen. iPod touch

• iPhone 6 series

• iPhone 5S

iOS 12

Apple Inc.

Support ended: n/a
Current version: 12.4.8. It was released July 15, 2020
Initial version: It was released on September 17, 2018

The new features and improvements added in iOS 12 aren’t as extensive or revolutionary as in some previous updates to the OS. Instead, iOS 12 focused more on making refinements to commonly used features and on adding wrinkles that improve how people use their devices.

Some of the key features of iOS 12 included improvements to Siri like Siri Shortcuts, enhanced Augmented Reality with ARKit 2, and giving users and parents ways to monitor and control their device use with Screen Time.

Key New Features:

• Grouped Notifications

• Screen Time

• ARKit 2

• Siri improvements, including Siri Shortcuts and multi-step actions

• Memoji, a personalized kind of Animoji

Dropped Support For:

• N/A

iOS 11

Apple Inc.

Support ended: n/a
Current version: 11.4.1. It was released on July 9, 2018
Initial version: It was released on September 19, 2017

iOS was originally developed to run on the iPhone. Since then, it’s been expanded to support the iPod touch and iPad (and versions of it even power the Apple Watch and Apple TV). In iOS 11, the emphasis shifted from the iPhone to the iPad.

Sure, iOS 11 contains lots of improvements for the iPhone, but its major focus is turning the iPad Pro series models into legitimate laptop replacements for some users.

This is done through a series of changes designed to make iOS running on iPad a lot more like a desktop operating system. These changes include all new drag and drop support, split screen apps and multiple workspaces, a file browser app, and support for notation and handwriting with the Apple Pencil.

Key New Features:

Dropped Support For:

• iPhone 5C

• iPhone 5

• iPad 4

• iPad 3

iOS 10

Apple Inc.

Support ended: 2019
Current version: 10.3.4. It was released on July 22, 2019
Initial version: It was released on Sept. 13, 2016

The ecosystem Apple built around iOS has long been referred to as a “walled garden” because it’s a very pleasant place to be on the inside, but it’s hard to gain access. This was reflected in the many ways Apple locked down the interface of iOS and the options it gave to apps.

Cracks began to show in the walled garden in iOS 10, and Apple put them there.

The major themes of iOS 10 were interoperability and customization. Apps could now communicate directly with each other on a device, allowing one app to use some features from another without opening the second app. Siri became available to third-party apps in new ways. There were even apps built into iMessage now.

Beyond that, users now had new ways to customize their experiences, from (finally!) being able to delete built-in apps to new animations and effects to punctuate their text messages.

Key New Features:

Dropped Support For:

• iPhone 4S

• 5th gen. iPod touch

• iPad 2

• 1st gen. iPad mini

iOS 9

Apple, Inc.

Support ended: 2018
Final version: 9.3.9. It was released on July 22, 2019
Initial version: It was released on Sept. 16, 2015

After a few years of major changes to both the interface and technical foundation of iOS, many observers began to charge that iOS was no longer the stable, dependable, solid performer it had once been. They suggested that Apple should focus on shoring up the foundation of the OS before adding new features.

That’s just what the company did with iOS 9. While it did add some new features, this release was generally aimed at solidifying the foundation of the OS for the future.

Major improvements were delivered in speed and responsiveness, stability, and performance on older devices. iOS 9 proved to be an important refocusing that laid the groundwork for the bigger improvements delivered in iOS 10 and 11.

Key New Features:

• Night Shift

• Low Power Mode

• Public beta program

Dropped Support For:

• N/A

iOS 8

Apple, Inc.

Support ended: 2016
Final version: 8.4.1. It was released on Aug. 13, 2015
Initial version: It was released on Sept. 17, 2014

More consistent and stable operation returned to iOS in version 8.0. With the radical changes of the last two versions now in the past, Apple once again focused on delivering major new features.

Among these features was its secure, contactless payment system Apple Pay and, with the iOS 8.4 update, the Apple Music subscription service.

There were continued improvements to the iCloud platform, too, with the addition of the Dropbox-like iClould Drive, iCloud Photo Library, and iCloud Music Library.

Key New Features:

Dropped Support For:

• iPhone 4

iOS 7

Corbis News / Getty Images

Support ended: 2016
Final version: 7.1.2. It was released on June 30, 2014.
Initial version: It was released on Sept. 18, 2013

Like iOS 6, iOS 7 was met with substantial resistance upon its release. Unlike iOS 6, though, the cause of unhappiness among iOS 7 users wasn’t that things didn’t work. Rather, it was because things had changed.

After the firing of Scott Forstall, iOS development was overseen by Jony Ive, Apple’s head of design, who had previously only worked on hardware. In this version of iOS, Ive ushered in a major overhaul of the user interface, designed to make it more modern.

While the design was indeed more modern, its small, thin fonts were hard to read for some users and frequent animations caused motion sickness for others. The design of the current iOS is derived from the changes made in iOS 7. After Apple made improvements, and users became accustomed to the changes, complaints subsided.

Key New Features:

Dropped Support For:

• iPhone 3GS

• iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, 3rd gen. iPad, and iPad 2 couldn’t use all features of iOS 7

iOS 6

marco_1186 / Flickr

Support ended: 2015
Final version: 6.1.6. It was released on Feb. 21, 2014
Initial version: It was released on Sept. 19, 2012

Controversy was one of the dominant themes of iOS 6. While this version introduced the world to Siri — which, despite being later surpassed by competitors, was a truly revolutionary technology — problems with it also led to major changes.

The driver of these problems was Apple’s increasing competition with Google, whose Android smartphone platform was posing a threat to the iPhone. Google had supplied the Maps and YouTube apps pre-installed with the iPhone since 1.0. In iOS 6, that changed.

Apple introduced its own Maps app, which was badly received due to bugs, bad directions, and problems with certain features. As part of the company’s efforts to solve the problems, Apple CEO Tim Cook asked the head of iOS development, Scott Forstall, to make a public apology. When he refused, Cook fired him. Forstall had been involved with the iPhone since before the first model, so this was a profound change.

Key New Features:

• Apple Maps

• Do Not Disturb

• Passbook (now Wallet)

Dropped Support For:

• None, but iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPad 2 couldn’t use all features of iOS 6

iOS 5

Francis Dean / Getty Images

Support ended: 2014
Final version: 5.1.1. It was released on May 7, 2012
Initial version: It was released on Oct. 12, 2011

Apple responded to the growing trend of wirelessness, and cloud computing, in iOS 5, by introducing essential new features and platforms. Among those was iCloud, the ability to activate an iPhone wirelessly (previously it had required a connection to a computer), and syncing with iTunes via Wi-Fi.

More features that are now central to the iOS experience debuted here, including iMessage and Notification Center.

With iOS 5, Apple dropped support for the iPhone 3G, 1st gen. iPad, and 2nd and 3rd gen. iPod touch.

Key New Features:

• iCloud

• iMessage

• Notification Center

• Wireless syncing and activation

Dropped Support For:

• iPhone 3G

• 1st gen. iPad

• 2nd gen. iPod touch

• 3rd gen. iPod touch

iOS 4

Ramin Talaie / Getty Images

Support ended: 2013
Final version: 4.3.5. It was released on July 25, 2011
Initial version: It was released on June 22, 2010

Many aspects of the modern iOS began to take shape in iOS 4. Features that are now widely used debuted in various updates to this version, including FaceTime, multitasking, iBooks, organizing apps into folders, Personal Hotspot, AirPlay, and AirPrint.

Another important change introduced with iOS 4 was the name “iOS” itself. As noted earlier, the iOS name was unveiled for this version, replacing the previously used “iPhone OS” name.

This was also the first version of iOS to drop support for any iOS devices. It was not compatible with the original iPhone or the 1st generation iPod touch. Some older models that were technically compatible were not able to use all features of this version.

Key New Features:

Dropped Support For:

• Original iPhone

• 1st Gen. iPod touch

iOS 3

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images News

Support ended: 2012
Final version: 3.2.2. It was released on Aug. 11, 2010
Initial version: It was released on June 17, 2009

The release of this version of iOS accompanied the debut of the iPhone 3GS. It added features including copy and paste, Spotlight search, MMS support in the Messages app, and the ability to record videos using the Camera app.

Also notable about this version of iOS is that it was the first to support the iPad. The 1st generation iPad was released in 2010, and version 3.2 of the software came with it.

Key New Features:

• Copy and paste

• Spotlight search

• Recording videos

iOS 2

Jason Kempin / Getty Images

Support ended: 2011
Final version: 2.2.1. It was released on January 27, 2009
Initial version: It was released on July 11, 2008

One year after the iPhone became a bigger hit than almost anyone projected, Apple released iOS 2.0 (then called iPhone OS 2.0) to coincide with the release of the iPhone 3G.

The most profound change introduced in this version was the App Store and its support for real third-party apps (rather than web apps). Around 500 apps were available in the App Store at launch. Hundreds of other crucial improvements were also added.

Other important changes introduced in the 5 updates iPhone OS 2.0 included podcast support and public transit and walking directions in Maps (both in version 2.2).

Key New Features:

• App Store

• Improved Maps app

iOS 1

Apple Inc.

Support ended: 2010
Final version: 1.1.5. It was released on July 15, 2008
Initial version: It was released on June 29, 2007

The one that started it all, which shipped pre-installed on the original iPhone.

This version of the operating system wasn’t called iOS at the time it launched. From versions 1-3, Apple referred to it as the iPhone OS. The name shifted to iOS with version 4.

It’s hard to convey to modern readers who have lived with the iPhone for years how profound a breakthrough this version of the operating system was. Support for features like the multitouch screen, Visual Voicemail, and iTunes integration were significant advances.

While this initial release was a major breakthrough at the time, it lacked many of the features that would come to be closely associated with the iPhone in the future, including support for real third-party apps. Pre-installed apps included Calendar, Photos, Camera, Notes, Safari, Mail, Phone, and iPod (which was later split into the Music and Videos apps).

Version 1.1, which was released in Sept. 2007 was the first version of the software compatible with the iPod touch.

Key New Features:

• Visual Voicemail

• Multitouch interface

• Safari browser

• Music app

FAQ

• How can I see the version update history of an iOS app?

Go to the App store, select an app, and tap Version History. There, you will see all updates for the app, plus the date of each update.

• How can I get notifications about new versions of iOS apps?

To receive notifications about new versions of iOS apps, you must turn off automatic updates on your iOS device. Go to Settings > App Store > turn off App Updates. When you turn off automatic updates, the App Store is forced to notify you that an update is available for your iOS app.

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Featured

The best smart speakers for 2023

By admin December 20, 2023

The best smart speakers for 2023, Smart speakers are an integral part of any smart home, often serving as the brains of the entire operation. Beyond pumping out impressive audio or giving you updates on the morning news, smart speakers can listen to voice commands before passing out instructions to the rest of your gadgets. Functionality varies widely by product, making it important to find the best smart speaker for your setup.

Thankfully, it’s hard to pick a dud in today’s loaded marketplace. Whether you’re an Apple loyalist, a Google enthusiast, or an avid user of Amazon Alexa, just about every big tech company is churning out incredible smart speakers. But if you need some help narrowing down all your options, here’s a look at the best smart speakers of 2023.

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Sonos Era 100

The best smart speaker

As the successor to the Sonos One (our previous best smart speaker), it should come as no surprise that the Era 100 is just as easy to recommend. Everything that made the Sonos One popular has been improved with the Era 100 – including sound quality, usability, and the addition of native Bluetooth support.

The Sonos Era 100 produces booming sound thanks to its twin angled tweeters, a woofer that’s 25% larger than the Sonos One, and custom waveguides that help send noise to all corners of your room. It also features a faster processor, which results in better performance when giving it commands.

Interacting with the device is more streamlined than it was on the Sonos One, which used gestures and touch controls on the top of the device. For the Era 100, you’ll get simple buttons for everything from volume controls to track selection.

It’s still expensive (typically retailing for $249), but there’s no doubt it’s a premium smart speaker that should appeal to even the most discerning audiophile.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sonos One (Gen 2)

The best smart speaker (Runner-up)

The second-generation version of the Sonos One is even more user-friendly, with an updated design that adds touch controls and incorporates Bluetooth 5.0 for a variety of connection options. Its core features still remain, however, including the ability to choose between Alexa or Google Assistant and to link with other Sonos speakers through Wi-Fi to fill the room with even more sound.

The speaker’s far-field microphone array effortlessly hears voice commands from across a room, even when music is playing. If you have qualms about privacy, Sonos claims that muting the microphones is done via hardware, ensuring that when the mic indicator light is off, the speaker is definitely not listening. With AirPlay 2, you can stream any audio from an Apple device directly to the speaker or to any other Sonos speaker in your home.

But our favorite aspect of this model is simply the fact that it’s a Sonos speaker. The Sonos wireless whole-home music system remains the very best we’ve ever tested. It has support for almost every major music streaming service, and it’s all controlled from an app on your phone, tablet, or PC. Not only is the app full of great features like Apple Music playlist compatibility and the ability to group multiple speakers, but these features are also remarkably easy to use.

Thanks to Sonos’ partnership with Ikea, there’s also a growing ecosystem of cool third-party devices that can be used to control the Sonos One and any other Sonos speakers in your home. The Sonos One (Gen 2) is a fantastic speaker and a great way to smarten up your home.

The best smart speakers for 2023

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen) with Clock

The best budget smart speaker

The 4th-gen Amazon Echo Dot already upgraded the design to an orb that matched the larger flagship Echo and greatly improved the sound of the speaker — but Amazon outdid itself with the 5th-gen model and the host of smart features it contains.

Alexa is fully supported, of course, and those little speakers do an incredible job of filling a small space with sound. The clock version (not necessary but nice) is especially well-suited for an office desk or a bedside table — and onboard controls include privacy switches among other benefits. Plus, as is tradition, there are kid versions of the speaker, this time with owl and dragon skins.

Amazon also added even more useful technology to the 5th-gen model, including a higher-resolution display, and new accelerometer and temperature sensors to provide more information about your surroundings. There’s a new chip also for tap-based controls (all the better for an alarm clock), and it now has Eero tech built in, allowing it to connect with an Eero router to help extend it

The most appealing part about the Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen) with Clock is its price. At $60, it’s easy on just about any budget — meaning you can buy multiple units without forking over a huge sum of money! And who doesn’t like that?

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The best smart speaker for Amazon Alexa

The larger, spherical design of the 4th-gen Echo doesn’t just look cool and modern. It also packs a set of speakers specializing in 360-degree sound designed for larger areas, filling spaces with tunes or other audio while listening for voice commands from across the room.

Of course, it’s a wonderful centerpiece in the living room if you’re planning to entertain guests, like a speaker in the kitchen for music, and so on. Other features like a 3.5mm auxiliary jack, Bluetooth, and stereo pairing round out its audio features. When it comes to controlling the smart home, the Amazon Echo (4th Gen) can be used to turn off lights, check up on calendar appointments, and order pizza.

Meanwhile, it can also monitor your home while you’re away by sending you notifications if it hears the sounds of smoke alarms with Alexa Guard. You’re getting a rich smart speaker in terms of performance, and features with the Amazon Echo (4th Gen).

John Velasco / Digital Trends

Google Nest Audio

The best smart speaker for Google Assistant

Google Nest Audio plays to a wide range of people because it brings that perfect mixture of intelligence and raw power.

What’s apparent is that it’s a substantially beefier speaker than the Google Home — aided by its 19mm tweeter and 75mm mid-woofer. The result is a Google Assistant-powered smart speaker that roars with incredible power. There’s no denying that it’s far more equipped at playing music than its successor, just because it’s 76% louder and has a 50% boost in bass.

You can also pair it with another Google Nest Audio for stereo sound, plus you can group multiple speakers in other rooms to play your tunes everywhere — while being harmoniously in sync. The best part of Nest Audio is that you’re not paying a fortune for premium audio with its $100 sticker price. It’s affordable, packs all the intelligence of Google Assistant, and even delivers impressive sound.

John Velasco / Digital Trends

Apple HomePod Mini

The best affordable smart speaker for HomeKit

Apple certainly learned how tough it can be to complete in the smart speaker space. While its HomePod faced stiff competition when it launched, its sibling in the HomePod Mini fared much better. Part of that reasoning is that the HomePod Mini was cheaper, while still offering excellent audio performance.

Apple users will appreciate the HomePod Mini in the home because Siri can be leveraged on the speaker to accomplish a number of things, such as turning on the lights, unlocking the door, and much more. When it comes to audio, there’s still a lot of power behind its compact design — but what’s impressive is its ability to adapt to whatever it’s playing. For example, if you’re watching a movie on your television and using the HomePod Mini as your audio source, it’ll tune the audio accordingly so that dialogue won’t be drowned out by the sound effects in the background.

Speaking of home theater experiences, you can achieve that by pairing two HomePod Mini speakers together. In fact, you’d be surprised by how well it sounds compared to a traditional soundbar.

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

The best smart speaker for TV

Even the best TVs typically have lousy sound quality due to their tiny built-in speakers, which makes soundbars an attractive option for many. However, there are a lot of soundbars and not all of them are as smart as the modern home theater needs. That’s where this excellent iteration of the Sonos Beam steps up.

A compact and well-styled bar, it can easily fit under the smallest of TVs on either a console or on the wall using the optional bracket. Like every Sonos product, it has impressive sound quality for its size and can become part of a much larger multiroom audio system. The Gen 2 model is further improved with the addition of Dolby Atmos, an important part of home entertainment audio these days. The Sonos app lets you stream from virtually every music service on the planet and it does an excellent job managing your private music collection, too.

But the reason we’ve chosen the Beam for this roundup is its smart speaker chops. With the ability to run either Google Assistant or Alexa as its voice assistant, it can serve as the hub for a host of home automation commands. It can translate spoken commands for Google Assistant or Alexa into signals that control your TV. “Alexa, turn on Bedroom TV,” will do just that. Other commands, like “Alexa, turn the volume up on Bedroom TV,” work well too, as will similar commands for Google Assistant. You can also control the speaker with an app, or use it with Apple AirPlay 2.

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Bose Portable Home Speaker

The best portable smart speaker

You already know that we love the Sonos One for its ability to let you choose your preferred voice assistant. The Bose Portable Home Speaker gives you that choice too, plus a built-in rechargeable battery, carry-handle, and Bluetooth so you can take it with you anywhere you go.

Though considerably more expensive than the Sonos One, the Bose is the ideal choice for people who demand absolute flexibility. When at home and connected to your Wi-Fi network, the Portable Home Speaker is a full-fledged smart speaker that lets you talk to Alexa or Google Assistant. Using your voice to control music playback via Spotify works like a charm, but the Bose app gives you additional options like multiple speaker groupings. The app isn’t as good as the one Sonos provides, but as long as you don’t intend to build a whole-home music system using Bose speakers, we doubt you’ll mind.

While you shouldn’t let it fall in the pool, the speaker is protected from small amounts of water thanks to its IPX4 rating, so you need not fear the occasional unexpected rain shower.

Apple users will love the AirPlay 2 integration which lets you stream any audio — be it music from your favorite streaming service, or the soundtrack from a Netflix movie — directly to the speaker when connected to Wi-Fi. When on the road (or if you’re an Android user) the Bose Portable Home Speaker’s Bluetooth connection lets you keep the tunes going. With 12 hours of battery life between charges, those tunes can go on for most of a day.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Amazon Echo Studio

The best smart speaker for 3D sound

Though it bears a resemblance to the Apple HomePod with its cylindrical shape, the Echo Studio is, in fact, an entirely new breed of smart speaker. It’s still an Amazon Echo, which means that you get all of the benefits of being able to issue voice commands to Alexa to control everything from your music to your thermostat. But when it comes to audio, the Echo Studio is in a class of its own.

With the launch of the Amazon Music HD streaming service, Amazon is now a leading source of top-quality music. The service offers CD-quality audio and hi-res audio, as well as immersive 3D music tracks via Dolby Atmos Music, and Sony 360 Reality Audio. And for now, the Echo Studio is the only speaker on the planet that works with all of them.

CD-quality and hi-res audio are fairly easy to understand: They’re the best versions of stereo audio you can get. Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio are different. These two new formats expand your music into something far wider, deeper, and immersive — which is why we refer to them as 3D. The Echo Studio not only projects these formats around a room the way they were meant to be heard, but it also reinforces the sound with a clean and powerful bass response we simply didn’t expect from a speaker at this price.

The Amazon Echo Studio may not please all audiophiles — it tends to muffle some midrange sounds for stereo sound — but it is nonetheless a superb value and (at the moment) a unique smart speaker that leads a growing movement. Also, note that Amazon announced an update for Echo Studio firmware in 2022 to give it Amazon’s own spatial audio processing, designed to improve clarity compared to standard audio. You’ll need Amazon Music Unlimited to use it, but it’s a notable upgrade to the Studio’s sound options.

Zeke Jones / Digital Trends

HomePod 2023

The best smart speaker for HomeKit

If you love HomeKit but need something with a bit more power than the HomePod mini, consider opting for the new Apple HomePod. It offers all the same functionality as its smaller sibling, but thanks to its larger footprint, the HomePod is capable of producing loud, room-filling sounds. Inside the device, you’ll find a high-excursion woofer and an array of beamforming tweeters, which is just a fancy way of saying the HomePod sounds fantastic.

Another perk of the HomePod is its ability to optimize its sound for any room. Using Room Sensing technology and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, you can rest assured your smart speaker is pumping out the best possible sound at all times. And if you want to fill your entire home with great sound, HomePod supports multiroom audio through AirPlay. It’s not cheap at $300, but no doubt you’re getting your money’s worth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I buy an Alexa smart speaker or Google smart speaker?

That depends on which ecosystem you like and use most. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, and both work with the most popular streaming services. Alexa tends to work with more smart devices, but this is becoming less of a factor with time. If you’re undecided, pick a smart speaker that gives you a choice like the Sonos One.

Do smart speakers help the visually impaired?

Yes, they have a lot of functionality that doesn’t require buttons, making smart speakers great for visually impaired people. They are particularly useful when paired with smart devices around the home that can be controlled via voice. Even without smart devices, these speakers can help make schedules, read the news, look up information, plan events, provide recipes to cook meals, and lots more — really putting the “assistant” in voice assistant.

Do smart speakers have an AUX input?

Some smart speakers, like the Marshall Stanmore II Voice, have 3.5mm inputs. If you need an AUX input, we recommend making sure the speaker has one before purchasing.

Can I use smart speakers to listen to FM radio?

No, most smart speakers do not have an FM tuner. If you want to listen to the radio, your best bet is to play an internet radio station on these speakers. Some services do turn FM channels into internet stations you can listen to on smart devices, like myTuner Radio.

Do smart speakers usually have a battery?

It’s not common. Batteries are more common on simpler Bluetooth speakers designed more for portability. If you want to take your smart speaker with you on the go, we recommend making sure it has a built-in or add-on battery (like the Bose Portable Home Speaker).

Do smart speakers need Wi-Fi?

Yes, smart speakers generally need Wi-Fi to set up and use. You can access some features with Bluetooth, but a Wi-Fi connection is still needed for the smart speaker to operate.

Are smart speakers always listening to me?

Yes and no. After some initial hiccups, smart speakers typically work like this: The mics are always listening for their wake word, like, “Hey, Alexa.” But they don’t recognize or record anything else. Once they do hear the wake word, they listen to the speech after it to interpret the request. That command is typically recorded, but settings in apps like Alexa allow you to stop the speaker from storing the command in the cloud, or make sure it’s deleted soon afterward. Smart speakers also come with physical mute buttons that will shut down the mics entirely if you don’t want them on.

Can children use smart speakers?

Today’s smart speakers have voice profiles so each person in the family can create their own profile with their own preferences. You can also use apps to set controls, such as disabling any music with profanity, etc. That being said, there have been cases of kids using smart speakers to order things online (100 gallons of ice cream, etc.) or otherwise getting into trouble, so it’s a good idea to limit what they can do.

Can all my devices work with a smart speaker?

Compatibility has long been a problematic part of smart platforms that power smart speakers and other devices. In past years, it’s been a tug of war between brands to get third-party smart devices to support their own voice assistants and apps, so you may have a device that works on Alexa but not with Google Home, and so on. Alexa has generally done the best with third-party support, followed by Google, then Apple’s HomeKit and Home app.

That’s starting to change and change quickly. The big three smart brands, along with a wide variety of other tech companies, banded together and created a new smart home protocol to work on all their platforms, called Matter. These days, you can look for the Matter logo or check to see if your devices are backward compatible with Matter and rest easy. Older devices, however, may still have limited compatibility, so you may have to do some extra research.

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Best AI art generators in 2024

By admin December 19, 2023

The top AI art generators in 2024

Every AI art generator you should consider using.

Best AI art generators in 2024, In just over a year, text-to-image AI art generators have gone from closed betas to being literally everywhere. What started with DALL·E 2 has grown into a huge cultural movement. AI-powered art generators that have been around for years are having a surge in popularity, and new apps with interesting takes are launching every week. It feels like pretty much everyone is generating amazing, hilarious, and downright weird images, just by typing in a prompt.

If you want to get in on the text-to-image action but aren’t sure where to start, this list will help you out. It’s a broader list than my picks for the best AI image generators in order to show off all the different angles that folks are taking with AI art generators.

Still, this isn’t an exhaustive list of every app that can make AI art. Instead, it shows off the text-to-image AI art generators that worked when I tested them, are accessible through a web app, and seem not to be scams.

The category is changing so fast that by the time you read this, there might be even more great apps available. But for now, it’s a pretty good overview of the biggest AI art apps available at the moment.

The top AI art generators

.	.	.
DALL·E 2	Prodia	StarryAI
Bing Image Creator	Leap AI	Fotor
DALL·E 3 (ChatGPT)	Craiyon	Vance AI Art Generator
DreamStudio	getimg.ai	Runway
Midjourney	Shutterstock	WOMBO Dream
Canva	Generative AI by Getty	Picsart
NightCafe	Deep Dream Generator	CF Spark Art
OpenArt	Artbreeder	Pixray
Adobe Firefly	Stablecog	Let’s Enhance
Jasper Art	DeepAI	.

How does AI art work?

The first time you enter a prompt into an AI art generator and it actually creates something that perfectly matches what you want, it feels like magic. But it turns out AI art generators don’t work using magic. They use computers, machine learning, powerful graphics cards, and a whole lot of data to do their thing.

Let’s break it down.

AI art generators take a text prompt and, as best they can, turn it into a matching image. Since your prompt can be anything, the first thing all these apps have to do is attempt to understand what you’re asking. To do this, the AI algorithms are trained on hundreds of thousands, millions, or even billions of image-text pairs. This allows them to learn the difference between dogs and cats, Vermeers and Picassos, and everything else. Different art generators have different levels of understanding of complex text, depending on the size of their training database, and some models are trained for specific purposes or only using licensed content, which affects the kinds of things they can generate.

The next step for the AI is to actually render the resulting image. There are two leading kinds of models:

• Diffusion models, like Stable Diffusion, DALL·E 2, Midjourney, and CLIP-Guided Diffusion, which work by starting with a random field of noise, and then editing it in a series of steps to match its understanding of the prompt.

• Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), like VQGAN-CLIP, BigGAN, and StyleGAN, which have been around for a few years longer.

Both kinds of models can produce great, realistic results, though diffusion models are generally better at producing weird or wild images.

Prompt: A parrot detective wearing a deerstalker hat and smoking a pipe.

While some apps are very open about which models they use, others obscure it. VQGAN-CLIP and Stable Diffusion, for example, are both open source, so there are a large number of apps that use them openly—and lots of others that don’t say anything. There are also other apps that use their own data to custom-train various open source models to give better results.

This means that many AI art generators are essentially just different user interface skins for the same art-generating algorithms. From a business point of view, this is somewhat understandable. Still, it’s annoying when you’re trying to choose which app to use (or write about them). Where possible, I’ve listed what models each app uses. When it isn’t declared, I’ve speculated, based on my experience with all these different generative AIs.

How to use AI image generation at work

Interested in AI, but not quite sure how you’d use it at work? Here are a few of the ways people are turning to AI image generation in their roles:

• Generating hero images for blog posts

• Creating social media posts

• Generating slide decks and storyboards

• Creating personalized images for customers

Learn more about how to use AI image generation at work.

29 AI art generators you can use right now

DALL·E 2

I made this with DALL·E 2 using the prompt “an impressionist oil painting of a Canadian man riding a moose through a forest of maple trees”

AI art models: DALL·E 2

Platform: Web

Pricing: $15 for 115 credits (1 credit = 1 prompt with 4 options)

DALL·E 2 is the AI art generator that kicked off this whole craze. While it no longer has a free trial, it’s still one of the most impressive apps out there. It’s simple to use and can produce great results. That’s why its API is used by so many of the other apps on this list.

That API also allows you to use DALL·E as part of your business workflows, by connecting it to thousands of other apps using Zapier. For example, you can create images based on Slack messages and send them back to Slack (or do the same in Discord) or create images for new Airtable records.

Bing Image Creator

AI art models: DALL·E 3

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free

Bing Image Creator is a result of Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI. It uses the latest DALL·E model, DALL·E 3, and it’s free (at least for now). The default styles are a little different, so it’s well worth a look, even if you’ve used DALL·E in the past.

DALL·E 3 (ChatGPT)

AI art models: DALL·E 3

Platform: Web (via ChatGPT)

Pricing: $20/month as part of ChatGPT Plus

DALL·E 3 is a serious upgrade over DALL·E 2, at least if you have a ChatGPT Plus account. Not only are the results significantly better, but controlling and instructing it through ChatGPT gives you a lot of control.

Instead of entering one prompt and having to accept the results you get, you can ask ChatGPT to make changes, add bits in, or otherwise mix things up. It makes it much simpler to get great images, even if ChatGPT doesn’t always perfectly understand your requests.

And when you connect ChatGPT to Zapier, you can add automation to your AI workflows. Learn more about how to automate ChatGPT, or get started with one of these templates.

Best AI art generators in 2024

DreamStudio (Stable Diffusion)

AI art models: Stable Diffusion

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 25 credits; $10 for 1,000 credits (enough for ~1,200 images with the default settings)

DreamStudio is the official Stable Diffusion web app. It’s pretty powerful, so you can set how many steps the AI takes, what random seed it uses, and loads of other customizations. It’s also got a free trial, which is nice.

(You can also check out Stable Diffusion through ClipDrop, which is free but watermarks your images.)

Midjourney

AI art models: Midjourney

Platform: Discord

Pricing: From $10 for 3.3 hours of GPU time per month (enough for ~200 prompts with 4 image options)

While Midjourney has one of the weirdest user interfaces—you access it through the chat app Discord—it reliably produces some of the best-looking, most realistic results. It’s my personal favorite AI art generator. Read the showdown with DALL·E: Midjourney vs. DALL·E.

Canva

AI art models: Stable Diffusion

Platform: Web, iOS, Android

Pricing: Free; from $12.99/month for Pro with more AI features

Canva recently added a text-to-image art generator. It integrates perfectly with the rest of the template-based design app, so you can add AI-generated art to anything from social media posts to birthday cards.

NightCafe

AI art models: Stable Diffusion, DALL·E 2, CLIP-Guided Diffusion, VQGAN-CLIP

Platform: Web

Pricing: From $6/month for 100 credits (enough for ~1,240 images per month)

NightCafe adds extra features like styles to DALL·E 2 and Stable Diffusion, as well as allowing you to use older generative art models. More importantly, NightCafe is a community for AI art enthusiasts that includes challenges, a Discord server, and a gallery.

OpenArt

AI art models: Stable Diffusion, DALL·E 2, and other open source models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 50 trial credits; from $10/month for 5,000 credits

Like NightCafe, OpenArt adds extra features to Stable Diffusion and DALL·E 2, as well as letting you use additional open source models and have more control over the specifics of the images you generate. OpenArt also has additional options like sketch-to-image and stock art transformer (which modifies stock images to better suit your needs).

It’s nice to use and its free credit allotment is generous, so it’s well worth a look.

Adobe Firefly

AI art models: Firefly

Platform: Web, Adobe Express, Adobe Photoshop, and other Adobe tools

Pricing: Free for 25 credits per month; from $5/month for 100 credits per month (and included with various Adobe subscriptions)

Adobe has been an AI company for over a decade, and it shows with its custom AI art generator called Firefly. While you can use it online, it’s now being integrated directly into Adobe products like Express and Photoshop.

Perhaps Firefly’s best feature is that you can use it to create custom text effects using a written prompt. AI art generators often struggle with text, and Firefly is really the only one that can do this right now.

Jasper Art

AI art models: Doesn’t say, but appears to be based on Stable Diffusion

Platform: Web

Pricing: From $39/month for unlimited images

Jasper is better known for being one of the best AI writing generators, but it also has a decent art generator as well. It’s more expensive than a lot of the other apps on this list, but if you already use Jasper, it’s worth a look.

Other AI writing tools, like Writesonic and Rytr, also offer AI-generated art, but Jasper’s is different in that it’s more of a standalone tool.

Prodia

AI art models: Stable Diffusion and other open source models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for unlimited images one at a time; from $4.99 for faster images two at a time

Another Stable Diffusion-based art generator, Prodia stands out by letting you try all its models without having to sign up for an account. Prodia also connects with Zapier, so you can automatically create an image on Prodia based on triggers in your other apps.

Leap AI

AI art models: Stable Diffusion and other open source models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 100 images and 1 model; then from $9/month for 250 images and 1 model

Leap AI is a great option if you want to train your own AI art models. While a lot of its features are aimed at developers, it’s easy enough to use that anyone can train their own AI. Plus, Leap AI integrates with Zapier, so you can do things like generate images based on new Discord messages or Google Sheets rows.

Craiyon

AI art models: Based on original DALL·E model (Not DALL·E 2)

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free; from $6/month for faster images and no watermark

Craiyon (previously DALL·E Mini) is based on the original DALL·E model. It’s significantly more basic than the latest art generators, but it’s free and fun to play around with.

getimg.ai

AI art models: Stable Diffusion and other open source models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 100 images per month; from $12/month for the Basic plan, with 3,000 images/month and the ability to train your own models

getting.ai is an AI art generator app with 20 open source models, including Stable Diffusion and models built from it, like OpenJourney. The biggest feature, though, is that with a paid plan, you can train your own models.

Shutterstock AI Image Generator

AI art models: DALL·E 2

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free to generate images; from $19/image to download

Stock image company Shutterstock obviously recognizes the existential threat that generative AI poses to its business—so instead of fighting, it’s partnered with OpenAI. The Shutterstock AI Image Generator is powered by DALL·E 2, and while it’s free to generate images, downloading them uses Shutterstock credits. If you have a Shutterstock plan, you should give it a try. Otherwise, it’s a very expensive way to use an AI art generator.

Generative AI by Getty Images

AI art models: Custom model developed with NVIDIA

Platform: Web

Pricing: Custom

Like Shutterstock, Getty Images has developed an AI art generator. Generative AI by Getty Images is trained on Getty’s collection of stock images. This makes it good for generating weirdly specific stock photos, but not as competent or creative at other things.

Best of all, though, Getty claims that its model is free from intellectual property issues, so you’re indemnified against any legal claims resulting from using the images you make with its tool. If your company has a legal department, it might be that AI art generator you need.

Deep Dream Generator

AI art models: Custom-trained models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 20 images with default settings; from $19/month for the Advanced plan, which allows for hundreds of images per month

Deep Dream Generator is one of the oldest AI art generators online. It was originally designed to use Google’s DeepDream algorithm but has added text-to-image algorithms that appear to be based on Stable Diffusion.

Artbreeder

AI art models: BigGAN and StyleGAN

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 3 credits per month and most features; from $8.99/month for 100 credits per month, which allow you to use more powerful features more often

Artbreeder (formerly Ganbreeder) launched in 2018 as a platform for experimenting with generative AIs. It’s still loose, experimental, and super art-focused. Its three main tools—Mixer, Collager, and Splicer—allow you to combine aspects of multiple images to create something unique.

Stablecog

AI art models: Stable Diffusion and other open source models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 100 images; from $10/month for the Starter plan with 1,750 images per month

Stablecog is another AI art generator based on Stable Diffusion and other similar models. It’s got a nice, easy-to-use web app and, perhaps best of all, a nice, easy-to-understand pricing structure.

DeepAI

AI art models: Custom models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free; from $5/month for 500 images

DeepAI is mostly an AI API for developers, but it has a free text-to-image art generator on its website to showcase what it does. You can also sign up for a paid plan, which gives you access to more styles and allows you to use the API.

StarryAI

AI art models: VQGAN-CLIP and CLIP-Guided Diffusion

Platform: Web, iOS, Android

Pricing: Free for 5 credits/day; from $11.99/month for 50 credits/month

StarryAI is another art generator that uses the older VQGAN-CLIP and CLIP-Guided Diffusion models. It’s free for five prompts and twenty images per day, so it’s one of the best free ways to try out generative models. There are also mobile apps, which is nice.

Fotor

AI art models: Doesn’t say, but probably based on Stable Diffusion

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 3 images; from $20 for 200 credits

Fotor is a popular online image editing app, and it’s recently added a text-to-image art generator that integrates with its editor.

Vance AI Art Generator

AI art models: Doesn’t say, but probably based on Stable Diffusion

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 3 images/month; from $5 for 100 credits

Vance AI offers a collection of AI tools, and it’s recently added a text-to-image art generator. It’s relatively limited, but its tools all use the same credit system. So, if you also want an image enhancer, upscaler, and background remover, it’s worth checking out.

Runway

AI art models: Appears to be Stable Diffusion, but you can train your own

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free trial; from $15/editor/month for the Standard plan, with 625 credits per month

Runway is a suite of art-generating tools for businesses. In addition to features like multiple seats and shared assets, you can train your own custom models.

WOMBO Dream

AI art models: Doesn’t say, but probably VQGAN-CLIP-based

Platform: Web, iOS, Android, Discord

Pricing: Free; from $9.99/month for premium features like making multiple outputs from one prompt

Dream by WOMBO is a freemium art generator with a large number of styles. Although it doesn’t say explicitly, it likely uses the older VQGAN-CLIP-based models to generate its images.

Picsart

AI art models: Doesn’t say, but probably Stable Diffusion-based

Platform: Web, iOS

Pricing: Free; from $13/month for no watermarks and premium features.

Picsart is another online image editing app. The AI art generator integrates with the rest of the editor, so you can combine AI-generated elements with text, stickers, and other images. Although it’s free to use, you have to pay to download images without a watermark.

CF Spark Art

AI art models: Doesn’t say, but probably VQGAN-CLIP-based

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free; from $9/month for faster generating and private downloads

Creative Fabrica is a digital assets marketplace that’s recently added an art generator. It’s free to use, but its best feature is that you’re able to browse hundreds of other AI creations.

Pixray

AI art models: VQGAN-CLIP-based models

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free

Pixray is an open source art generator that uses VQGAN-CLIP-based models. While there’s an API and Python implementation, there’s also a free demo on the website. The best thing is that you can play around with all the hidden settings that go into an AI art generator if you want to learn more and see how they work.

Let’s Enhance

AI art models: Doesn’t say, but appears to be Stable Diffusion-based

Platform: Web

Pricing: Free for 10 credits/month and watermarked images; from $12/month for 100 credits/month

Let’s Enhance is an AI-powered image upscaling app that recently added an art generator. It’s still in beta, so generating images doesn’t cost anything (though saving them costs one credit).

Other categories of AI art generators

This list is focused on text-to-image art generators, but there are entire other categories of AI art makers out there. Some examples:

• Lensa’s Magic Avatars and MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine both take a series of selfies and return AI-generated portraits.

• Many text-generating apps, like Writesonic and Rytr, also include AI art generators, so you can create images to go along with your copy.

• I was only looking at web apps in this list, but there are mobile-only art generators like ArtOut, if you just want something on your smartphone.

• And then there are others, like Palette, that can colorize photos.

And these are just the AI art generators that are available now. Other companies are certainly testing their own art generators, and you could always train your own using one of the apps I mentioned that allows for that.

Which AI art generator should you use?

With so many AI art generators to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start. So let me break it down:

• Midjourney is my favorite, though the free trial is temporarily paused, and using it through Discord is weird.

• DALL·E 2 is great, but it’s cheaper to access it through Bing Image Creator.

• Stable Diffusion is used in lots of different apps. The simplest way to access it is through its own app, DreamStudio.

• Firefly’s text effects are awesome, as is its integration with other Adobe tools.

• NightCafe and OpenArt are the best apps if you want to play around with different models, including some of the older GAN models.

• Deep Dream Generator is a great way to see how far art generators have come.

• Artbreeder is perhaps the weirdest art generator among a very weird series of art generators—and totally worth a look.

Otherwise, just scroll through the list and try whichever ones strike your fancy. You can’t go too far wrong.

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The best AI photo editors in 2023

By admin December 19, 2023

The best AI photo editors in 2023, While AI image generators are attracting all the headlines, AI photo editors—apps that take your image and automatically edit or improve it in some way—have been quietly developing in the background.

And really, AI editors are the more useful tool. Most of the time, you aren’t looking for an image of a Canadian man riding a moose through a maple forest in the style of some long-dead impressionist artist. Instead, you want the photos you’ve shot to look their best—whether they’re selfies or product photos for an ad campaign. These are the AI photo editors that can help you do it.

As a photographer, I’ve been shooting and editing images for nearly 15 years, and a huge amount of my writing career has actually been about photography. I’ve been testing and using AI photo editors (and AI features in standard photo editors) since they’ve been available.

For this article, I spent more time testing all the options out there, and based on that experience, these are the best AI photo editors.

The best AI photo editors

•Adobe Photoshop for a full-featured photo editing and design app

•Luminar Neo for an AI-powered photo editor

•Canva for an AI-powered design app

•Pixlr for an easy-to-use online AI editor

•Lensa for a mobile AI photo editor

What does an AI photo editor do?

AI photo editing has been around for a long time. Take Photoshop: Content Aware Fill was added in 2010, the first AI-powered “Neural Filters” were launched in 2020, and many of its most powerful features rely on some level of machine learning. Unlike AI art generators, which rely on some major recent advances, most AI image editing features are based on iterative updates to older technologies.

So what kind of things can they do? Here are some of the major AI photo editing software features you’ll see in these apps.

• Upscaling and sharpening low-resolution or blurry images.

• Detecting whether you took a portrait, a landscape, or some other kind of photo and suggesting appropriate edits or tools.

• Cutting your subject out from the background with a single click.

• Replacing the sky with a different one, and matching the lighting in the rest of the image.

• Automatically making simple adjustments to light levels, colors, and contrast.

• “Improving” faces by smoothing skin, brightening eyes, and making other tweaks.

• Repairing or colorizing old black-and-white photos.

• Selecting or masking your subject, so you can make hands-on edits.

And that’s just the big ones.

Some of these features rely heavily on AI. For example, Photoshop’s new Generative Fill works the exact same way as DALL·E 2 or Stable Diffusion. Others, like Lensa’s ability to detect whether you shot a portrait or a landscape, rely on far simpler image recognition algorithms.

Either way, at the core, these photo editors are relying on AI techniques like machine learning to create an intelligent and automated image editing experience. However you slice it, that sounds like AI image editing to me.

How I tested each AI photo editor

How we evaluate and test apps

All of our best apps roundups are written by humans who’ve spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. We spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it’s intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We’re never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the blog.

I’ve been writing about image editors for more than a decade, so I was already familiar with most of the 30 apps I had to test. But since this is a list of AI photo editors, I focused on evaluating the general usability and (artificially) intelligent aspects of every app. That means I didn’t have to re-try every single Photoshop feature—just the AI-focused ones.

For most of the apps on the list, this meant editing a few sample photos to see what automatic adjustments they made, how they handled low-quality images, and how good they were at cutting out tricky subjects and removing objects. The majority of apps that didn’t make the final list failed to perform here.

For the apps that did well, I spent even more time playing around and editing images. I also considered the overall usability and pricing—some fairly average apps charge Photoshop pricing, and they got dinged for that.

What makes the best AI photo editor?

It’s pretty easy to call any kind of automated image editing feature “AI” now. And it’s not entirely wrong to do so. Still, there’s a big difference between a few one-click options that brighten and add contrast to a photo, and tools that genuinely help you work better and faster by making intelligent suggestions and adjustments.

So while there are many apps that claim to be AI image editors, I was looking for the best of the best. Here’s what I kept my eye out for as I tested each app:

• Advanced AI editing features, like built-in generative AIs, automatic subject detection and selection, intelligent upscaling, and a general focus on powerful, effective tools.

• Full apps with a start-to-finish image workflow. There are lots of great plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom, as well as powerful AI image generators like DALL·E 2 and DreamStudio, but they aren’t really full image editors. I only included tools that could handle a full workflow.

• Fast, effective, and intuitive experience. In other words, the apps had to be powerful, with a learning curve that matched their feature set. Photoshop isn’t exactly simple to use, but its layout and options are intuitive once you put a small amount of time into understanding what it does.

• Good results. Quite a few AI picture editors I tested were too heavy-handed with contrast or color adjustments, unable to correctly select the test subjects, or otherwise just didn’t do a very good job. With the number of great AI photo editors around, there just really wasn’t a call to include any that do a less-than-stellar job in most situations.

• Customization and control. I’m not really a fan of one-click edits—they seldom deliver great results. Instead, the best AI photo editors give you control over how strong certain edits are and what areas of your image are affected. They also give you manual editing tools, so you can make any final tweaks yourself.

Based on all my testing, here are my picks for the five best AI image editors.

Best full-featured AI photo editor and design app

Adobe Photoshop (Windows, macOS, iPad)

Adobe Photoshop pros:

• Some of the best AI-powered tools you can find in any app

• It’s still Photoshop, with all the power and control that gives you

Adobe Photoshop cons:

• No one has ever said learning how to use Photoshop is easy

Adobe Photoshop has been the industry standard image editing app for more than three decades now, but instead of showing its age like a lot of other 30-something-year-old software, it still feels fresh and cutting edge.

I was going to make the joke that it’s easier to list the photo editing tasks that Photoshop can’t do than the ones it can—until I realized I legitimately could not come up with a list of things it can’t do. In short, Photoshop is the best full-featured image editor around.

And that extends to AI features. Take the Remove Tool that got introduced recently. While Photoshop has always made it possible to remove unwanted objects, people, and artifacts from your images—and features like the Patch Tool and Spot Removal Tool have done their best to blend in with your image—the Remove Tool takes it to another level. Of all the apps I tested, this one was by far the best at removing something from an image and replacing it with generated content that blended in. There’s also a text-to-image generator called Generative Fill in the beta.

You can see both of these things in action in the screenshot above. The original image is in the center. I was able to replace Gunther with grass that matches the rest of the image—including the depth of field blur—just by painting over him once. I was also able to replace the background with a castle—again, matching the depth of field—just by selecting it and typing “medieval castle.” I even got three variations to choose from.

Photoshop has plenty of other AI-powered tools, too. There are Neural Filters that can do things like intelligently adjust your subject’s facial expression, transfer the color palette from one image to another, and remove compression artifacts. The automatic subject and background selection is excellent, and the automatic tone, color, and contrast adjustment all work as you’d expect.

Best of all, Photoshop is still the fully-featured app it’s always been. For most AI features, you get plenty of control, and you can always manually edit them and integrate them into your image. If the AI messes up, you have all the tools you need to fix it—even if it takes you a bit longer.

Adobe Photoshop pricing: From $19.99/month as part of the Photography Plan including Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. (Lightroom is another great image editor in its own right, but it just doesn’t have the same deep AI feature set as Photoshop. Still definitely worth checking out if you just want to edit photos.)

Best AI photo editor for being truly AI-powered

Luminar Neo (Windows, macOS)

Luminar Neo pros:

• AI is legitimately integral to the whole app

• Designed for photographers, so you get a lot of control over how strongly any effects are applied

Luminar Neo cons:

• Very expensive for a standalone photo-focused app

Luminar Neo was one of the first photo-editing apps to go all in on AI. And of all the apps on this list, it has the deepest AI integration across the whole app. Of course there are the headline features, like the AI-powered enhance (which automatically adjusts tone, contrast, and color) and the AI sky replacement (which really works, especially with blown-out or boring gray skies).

But then there are all the smaller touches. Luminar Neo automatically detects the subject of your image and suggests appropriate presets as a starting point. The AI crop generally does a good job of cutting out extraneous elements without going too close to your subject. And features like the AI face and skin adjustments focus in on the relevant areas of the image, and quickly allow you to do things like brighten your subject’s eyes to draw more attention to them or tone down shiny skin.

Luminar Neo is almost exclusively an app for photographers, or people who really, really care about taking high-quality selfies. As a result, you get a huge amount of control over how the various effects are applied. There isn’t really any one-click magic here: for every tool, you get a slider, so you can control how strongly any edits are made to be sure your photos look how you want. It makes for a great, balanced workflow: the AI lets you work quickly, without pushing things too far.

Strangely, Luminar Neo is the only app on this list that couldn’t exist without its AI features. They’re so integral to the whole experience. While you can make simple edits, and often will to make final tweaks, it’s almost impossible to edit a photo without heavily relying on the AI at some point.

Luminar Neo pricing: From $9.95/month for the Explore plan; from $14.95/month for the Pro plan that includes additional AI-powered features like noise removal and upscaling.

Photo AI from Topaz Labs is a good alternative to Luminar Neo. It’s a similar product for photographers, but it’s just too niche for most people. It’s worth checking out if you only want to sharpen, remove noise from, or upscale your images using AI.

Best design app with an AI photo editor

Canva (Web, iOS, Android)

Canva pros:

• Super powerful template-based design with nice AI extras

• By far the easiest tool to use to create real-world designs like social media posts, CVs, and invitations

Canva cons:

• Image editing tools aren’t as good as dedicated apps

Over the past year, Canva has introduced a heap of new AI-powered features, making what was already an excellent template-based design app even better. It’s always been perfect for quickly creating everything from invitations to Instagram posts, and the AI features make things even easier.

Here’s a full rundown of Canva’s major AI features, but I’ll give you a few of the highlights from my testing:

• Text to Image is a generative AI that you can use to add whatever you want (like the party panda above) to your designs.

• Magic Eraser instantly removes unwanted objects from your images. It’s not quite as reliable as Photoshop’s implementation, but it’s good enough for simple clean-up jobs.

• Magic Edit uses a similar generative AI as Text to Image to allow you to replace elements of any image. Want to change a regular cake to a way better chocolate cake? Be my guest.

• Magic Design flips the creation process. You start with your design element, select a color profile, mood, and a few other options, and Canva automatically creates a few template options. It’s how I designed the invitation above.

Surprisingly, Canva’s AI features never feel shoehorned in—and it’s still an incredible design app whether you use them or not. But if you want to experiment with AI-powered layout options and generating party pandas with written prompts, you can do that too.

Canva pricing: Free with limited access to AI tools; from $12.99/month for Pro with more AI tools and higher usage limits.

Best easy-to-use online AI photo editor

Pixlr (Web, iOS, Android)

Pixlr pros:

• Affordable and available through any browser without even signing up

• Separates AI apps out so it’s easy to use the parts you want

Pixlr cons:

• A bit rougher than some of the other apps on this list

There are a handful of freemium photo editing and design web apps out there that all have broadly similar features. Based on my testing, Pixlr has the best AI offerings. And even without them, it’s a handy, easy-to-use, and reliable image editor worth checking out.

One of my favorite things about Pixlr is that, rather than cramming every feature into one app, it separates them out into Pixlr E, Pixlr X, Photomash, Remove Bg, and Batch Editor—even if the AI features are pretty similar in each one.

• Pixlr X is a Canva-like template-based design tool with a usable AI image generator.

• Pixlr E is a Photoshop-style image editor. It’s decent, and the AI features (like automatic subject selection and object removal) work relatively well.

• Photomash similarly uses the AI subject selection to create “one-click magic”—it’s the app you can see in the screenshot above.

• Remove Bg uses the same technology to cut subjects out and gives you the options to tweak things, which is pretty handy.

• Batch Editor allows you to make the same edits to a series of images. It’s another handy tool, though it lacks much in the way of AI.

Really, Photomash and Remove Bg are the standout AI photo editing parts of Pixlr, since both are really easy to use, and in my testing, did a pretty good job of cutting both easy and awkward subjects out.

The other thing Pixlr has going for it is the price. It’s one of the cheapest AI photo editor apps out there, and you can use a limited version of most AI features on the free plan.

Pixlr pricing: Free for limited AI use; from $7.99/month for Premium with all features.

Pixlr is just one of a number of very similar apps. I preferred its AI features and price, but Fotor, PhotoRoom, and BeFunky are all equally competent and often had a nicer UI, so they could be solid Pixlr alternatives.

Best mobile AI photo editor

Lensa (iOS, Android)

Lensa pros:

• Handles portraits and selfies incredibly well

• Free to save one photo a day

Lensa cons:

• Editing images on a small screen is rarely as effective as using a laptop or other large screen

Lensa is probably best known for its Magic Avatar feature, which trains a Stable Diffusion model using a series of selfies to generate a collection of wacky AI portraits. That part of it works exactly as described, though I’m not sure it strictly counts as photo editing. Still, the rest of Lensa’s AI features are more than enough to get it on this list as the best mobile photo editor.

It has a Magic Retouch tool that can automatically identify and tune up portraits with either a Morning, Day Look, Go Out look, or full-on Glam look. It works, and the results are far better than they sound, especially if you’re wearing makeup. It’s also got slightly less AI-driven skin, face, and makeup retouching tools that can help you fine-tune things.

As for other features: the AI-powered Suggest a Filter was a nice way to navigate the few dozen options. The AI Eraser was better than most other apps I tested, though still far short of Photoshop. The Backdrop Cutout and Sky Replacement tools both did really good jobs even with challenging images, and I actually really like the options you could drop in instead.

On top of all that, the regular image editing tools, art styles, effects, and everything else are as good as any I’ve used on a mobile app. It makes Lensa a pretty complete package with an interesting pricing model. On the free plan, you get every feature for free—but can only save one image per day. After that, you have to sign up for a paid subscription. If you only use the app occasionally, it’s incredibly generous—otherwise, it’s a fairly expensive mobile subscription.

Lensa pricing: Free to save one image per day; from $2.99/week or $4.99/month; Magic Avatars are a separate purchase from $3.99.

What about AI art generators?

The tools above are all purpose-built for image and photo editing. But some of the biggest names in AI image generation are able to use AI to do photo editing, too. Here are some examples:

• With DALL·E 2, you can do inpainting (where you erase part of an image and use AI to fill in the gap) and outpainting (where you expand an existing image).

• With Midjourney, you can zoom out (automatically creating more image content), zoom out while adding an additional prompt, or pan (expand your image in a certain direction).

• With Stable Diffusion (through the DreamStudio app), you can also do inpainting and outpainting—but honestly, you’re better off using DALL·E 2, which feels a bit more cohesive in its editing options.

So if you’re just playing around with AI photo editing to get a feel for how it works, an AI art generator will absolutely do the trick. But if you’re serious about your photo editing, you’ll want to choose a dedicated AI photo editor from the list above.

Expect AI photo editors to change fast

We’re at the very start of a huge number of generative AI features getting integrated into photo editing apps. Things like Photoshop’s Generative Fill and Remove Tool are more impressive than a regular text-to-image generator because of how well they integrate with real images. It’s not about creating something from your imagination; it’s about having the power to change huge elements of a photo with a few keystrokes.

Expect some of these features and apps to get a lot more powerful over the next few years—and expect a lot more AI photo editors to come on the scene.

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The 9 best free photo editors in 2024

By admin December 19, 2023

The 9 best free photo editors in 2024, Tired of everything being a subscription? Need to edit a photo or make a social media graphic right now?

I get it—the cost and the impatience. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for a reason, but there are plenty of free Photoshop alternatives out there. As a certified Creative Person, I’ve used Photoshop for over 20 years in both my corporate marketing and freelance careers and for personal projects ranging from web graphics to sarcastic t-shirt designs.

From that experience, and based on hours and hours of sifting through and testing dozens of options, I can confirm these are the best free AI photo editing apps.

The 9 best free Photoshop alternatives

• Adobe Express for easy AI features

• Canva for maintaining brand consistency across remote teams

• Pixlr E and X for an authentic Photoshop experience

• Photopea for using custom Photoshop brushes

• Sumopaint for the full Adobe apps experience on a budget

• LunaPic for powerful one-click editing tools

• PhotoRoom for product photos and eCommerce

• Krita for artists and illustrators

• Inkscape for graphic design

What makes the best free photo editor?

How we evaluate and test apps

Based on my experience, here’s what the best free photo editing software offers:

• AI tools and advanced features. All apps let you adjust brightness, contrast, and crop or add a filter. To be truly in Photoshop’s class, an app needs graphic design features and the latest AI advancements to speed up your workflow.

• Ease of use. The basic layout and design of Photoshop haven’t changed much in 30 years. Why? It’s intuitive, and it works. The best free photo editor will make it equally as easy.

• Non-destructive editing. An “undo” button is great, but the true gold standard is layers.

• The ability to add text and design elements. Beyond photo edits, today’s tools also need to include graphics, trending fonts, and templates to make creating social media content easier and faster.

• 100% free. We’re trying to not pay for Photoshop here, right? There are several high-end, paid Photoshop alternatives out there, but this roundup will focus on free options, so you can edit like a pro on a student budget.

This year, I tested 40 apps before choosing the nine best to feature here. When evaluating each of them, I tested everything I usually use Photoshop for, including color-grading, toning, cropping, retouching, masking, blending modes, creating social media graphics, and adding text. I also tested the unique special effects or features of each app.

Find the best free Photoshop alternative for your needs below, based on over 35 hours of hands-on research.

The 9 best free photo editors in 2024

Best free Photoshop alternative for easy AI features

Adobe Express (Web, iOS, Android)

Adobe Express pros:

• Easy-to-use AI tools to speed up content creation

• All-in-one editor for graphics, photos, videos, animation, documents, and more

Adobe Express cons:

• Other apps offer more useful video-specific editing features

• Access to AI tools is limited in free version

If you’re already an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, you have access to Photoshop, so why would you use Adobe Express? Because you can take the power of Photoshop anywhere with Express’s web or mobile apps.

Plus, Adobe recently updated Express with a ton of useful AI-powered features like generative AI to create images from text prompts, one-click text effects, and smart object removal and replacement. While testing, I found Express’s AI tools to be among the best and easiest to use—a difficult combo to achieve.

Especially useful for generative AI are the dropdown options, so you don’t have to phrase your prompt just right to get the result you want, like with Midjourney and other competitors. Even so, Express translates prompts quite well. For example, writing “isolate on white background” reliably gives you a clean cutline around an object, and bam, you’ve got a transparent PNG you can use anywhere you need it.

Express has a lot to offer for those familiar with Photoshop, too. It’s got the most popular blending modes from Photoshop, with real layer-y layers, and lets you complete common tasks way easier, like removing an object or background in one click. You don’t have to painstakingly select anything—it just works.

Express has also expanded its video editing capabilities with animation options. Even I, a total animation noob, found it easy to select a layer and apply animation effects with just a few clicks in the side menu. Set it to loop, export it as a GIF, and you’ve got a great asset for social media posts or to use within longer video content.

It’s not surprising that the makers of the real Photoshop have created such a convincing Photoshop alternative.

Express enables both power users and graphics newbies alike to create everything they need in one place, including editing GIFs, videos, and PDFs. And let’s address the elephant in the room: Express’s impressive lineup of free customizable templates makes it a notable Canva alternative. For those with premium access, you also get Adobe Stock photos, Adobe Fonts, and a built-in social media post scheduler.

Because Adobe Express uses Creative Cloud libraries and storage, you can use the Creative Cloud Zapier integration to connect Express to thousands of other apps. There are tons of possibilities, like sending automatic notifications via Slack or emails to your team when you export a new Adobe Express design.

Adobe Express pricing: Free; the Premium plan is $9.99/month (automatically included for existing Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers)

Best free photo editor for maintaining brand consistency across remote teams

Canva (Web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows)

Canva pros:

• Most cohesive, useful, and easy-to-use AI photo editing tools in one place

• Best-in-class generative AI video and social media video tools for beginners

Canva cons:

• Most advanced features are for premium subscribers only

• File organization could be improved

Canva is targeted more to beginner or amateur designers, but it still does a good job of including the majority of photo edits a pro would make. Canva has always been a popular “all-rounder” photo and graphic editing app, but it’s really stepped up the game even more by launching the AI-powered Magic Studio in September 2023.

Magic Studio is, in my opinion, the best-in-class suite of AI photo editing tools available right now. It’s more advanced than Adobe Express’s (though Adobe is no slouch), and allows you to make professional-quality video, graphics, animation, presentations, documents, and more. Beyond editing, Magic Studio also includes generative AI features like text-to-image prompts and even text-to-video. Yep, write what you want to see and Canva gives you a completely AI-generated video—no camera required. When used correctly, this is a game-changer for social media content.

Magic Grab is a unique tool that works similarly to iPadOS 17’s new update, where you can tap and hold an element in a photo (person, object, etc.) and drag it out as its own transparent PNG to use in another app. This works inside Canva to cut out people or objects to use between Canva projects or easily isolate elements to export and use in other apps.

Canva has also added generative AI copywriting into the mix here with a ChatGPT-style content generator. I may side-eye it as a writer, but I can’t deny it’s a useful feature for creators and small businesses on a budget, and makes the subscription price of Canva highly competitive in cost vs. value.

Canva also includes a one-page website builder and templates to create simple landing pages, an extensive pre-made templates library offering what I think are the best-looking social media, document, and other templates, and illustrations and stock photos too. Whew.

In terms of actual editing, layers are easy to use: you can click and drag elements around independently, or behind or in front of each other. Still, Canva’s true strength is teamwork. Creating a team allows others to use assets you’ve uploaded to Canva, leave feedback, and edit designs collaboratively. The Premium plan contains the “Brand Kit” function, where you can store logos and have brand color swatches and custom fonts readily available.

But you can still achieve brand consistency on the free plan: Just keep your logo files and an image with your brand colors (including hex codes) in Uploads or a shared Google Drive/Dropbox/etc. folder imported to Canva. Your entire team will always be using the correct logo, colors, and fonts across all marketing materials, no matter where they are in the world. It’s a perfect solution for small businesses and entrepreneurs starting to build a marketing team or hiring external contributors to help with graphics.

Canva pricing: Free; the Premium plan is $14.99/month for one user or $29.99/month for up to 5 team members

Best free Photoshop alternative for an authentic Photoshop experience

Pixlr E and X (Windows, Web)

Pixlr pros:

• Text-to-image generative AI interface is great for beginners

• Most authentic Photoshop user experience

Pixlr cons:

• Features confusingly divided between two apps: Pixlr X and Pixlr E

Pixlr reproduces an authentic Photoshop layout and interface, all in a tidy, web-based app (or grab the Windows app for desktop). Or, rather, two apps: Pixlr X and Pixlr E, which is kind of confusing at first. I think they could easily combine them into one app, but it seems like Pixlr E is meant to be the “more complex photo editor” and Pixlr X the “beginner-friendly” option.

Pixlr E looks like Photoshop. You’ve got all the familiar tools along the left side and menu options up top. The Layers panel will also look familiar to Photoshop users. Layers work exceptionally well in Pixlr, including all the same blending modes and opacity settings as PS—even Soft Light.

Pixlr X is where things get a little spicier with their latest generative AI update: you can now create artwork with text-to-image prompts. It’s great for those new to AI prompting, as you can use the easy button menu on the right to refine the style, size, and more of your generated image. On the free plan, you get five images per day.

Pixlr X also contains simpler editing workflows for things like object removal or animation. This edit of my dog (who fell asleep with his tongue hanging out) took me less than 30 seconds in Pixlr X with the heal brush and clone stamp tools—and zero technical knowledge.

It’s easy to switch between Pixlr X and E as they both save projects in a combined library, so you can pop a photo into Pixlr X for a quick retouch, then switch back to Pixlr E for more advanced editing again. (Be advised: It saves into your temporary cache folder only, so cleaning your browser cache will delete them. For anything you want to keep, download it as their PXZ format, and save to your hard drive.)

Pixlr E and X pricing: Both are free to use; the premium plan, which includes both apps, is $7.99/month for 1 person, or $12.99/month for teams of 5 or more

Best free Photoshop alternative for using custom brushes

Photopea (Web)

Photopea pros:

• 100% free

• Familiar Photoshop user experience and tools

Photopea cons:

• Doesn’t have some of the AI features of other apps, like auto object removal

“Wait, how did these ads get into my Photoshop?” is what you’ll find yourself saying, only to realize you’re in a web browser.

Photopea has a dang accurate Photoshop-inspired layout, with the functions to back it up: it can open PSD files, edit RAW files, and export anything you make to PSD. And something completely unique compared to all the other apps on this list: you can import ABR files to use custom brushes.

My personal favorite? You can right-click for additional option menus. Right-clicking in a web app—what is this sorcery? Plus, check out that Layer Style window: it’s nearly identical to Photoshop.

The attention to detail in Photopea is impressive. It doesn’t feel like a web app at all, and that’s the point. While you won’t find one-click filters or AI-powered features here, Photopea is the most functional Photoshop alternative on the web today. Upgrading to a premium account gets you more online file storage and ad removal, but honestly, you don’t need to. It’s refreshing to find an app that includes all its editing features in the free plan.

Photopea pricing: Free; the premium plan is $8/month

Best Photoshop alternative for the full Adobe apps experience on a budget

Sumopaint (Web, Mac, Windows)

Sumopaint pros:

• Free, although the entire Sumo app suite is only $4/month

• Text-to-image AI prompting

Sumopaint cons:

• No masking capabilities for photo editing

If you’re looking for an affordable alternative to the Adobe suite, check out the Sumo family of apps. Sumopaint is their free Photoshop alternative, which does a great job of having all the photo editing tools you need and a simple interface.

It’s actually a great Illustrator alternative, too. You can use a mouse to click and draw, and it works on mobile devices. I tested it with my iPad and Apple Pencil, and drawing felt as easy and responsive as working in Procreate. While you may not want to digitally paint the next Van Gogh in your browser, Sumopaint is perfect for creating quick digital illustrations or drawing on top of your photos, like for YouTube thumbnails.

Sumo has added a bunch of AI tools to all its apps, which in Sumopaint includes image quality upscaling and a surprisingly good AI text-to-image generator. You get three for free with more included in the premium plan. Overall, the prompt process is a little clunkier than Adobe Express’s or Canva’s, but it yields really good results, especially when using the “negative prompts” field to write in what you don’t want the image to have. The slider for “prompt strength” is a bit mysterious without any help text to guide you, so you have to play around with each option to fine-tune your image.

Sumopaint contains everything you need to edit a photo, including adjustment sliders for exposure, color, and everything else, plus the ability to add graphic elements on separate layers and combine all that with AI-generated images.

Sumopaint is free to use, although the $4/month premium subscription to all Sumo apps is an unbeatable value for everything you need to edit your creative work, including videos, music, podcasts, and even 3D modeling.

Sumopaint pricing: Free; the entire Sumo suite of apps is $4/month

Best free photo editing app for powerful, one-click editing tools

LunaPic (Web)

LunaPic pros:

• The easiest way to accomplish advanced edits for beginners, like object removal, background blur, and more

• 100% free and web-based

LunaPic cons:

• Doesn’t save your work if you accidentally close your browser

If you can look past LunaPic’s 1990s interface, you’ll find all the tools you need here and a ton of extras, including one-click background blur, animation effects, resolution upscaling, and easy object removal.

Be sure to read the text above your image as you edit. I found it easy to overlook it, but it actually links to a lot of important features, like the cropping and background removal tools, and it’s where you’ll click “undo” when needed.

A really unique feature is the Animation menu. These are well-done effects that are perfect to turn a photo into a GIF or short video (AVI, MP4, or MPG format) to use in TikToks or Reels. Best of all, they’re all automatic. Just one click, and LunaPic animates it. So easy.

Since we know the algorithms favor videos over photos right now, these effects can really boost your social marketing efforts. Personal favorites include “Snowfall” and “In Focus.” Another favorite feature: focus adjustment. You can sharpen slightly out-of-focus photos without getting that over-sharpened look with “Adjust Focus” and give any photo an iPhone portrait-mode makeover with “Auto Blur Background.” LunaPic does a great job of isolating your subject, but I suggest keeping the background blur under about 50% to keep the effect looking as natural as possible.

Subject masking and object removal work surprisingly well. Go to Edit > Smart Object Removal, loosely brush over the thing you want to remove, and click Remove at the top. This took me only a few seconds for results that would take me ages (and a lot more clicks) in Photoshop with the clone stamp tool.

At first, LunaPic’s UI made me cringe, but the longer I spent using it, the more it grew on me. It’s the perfect mix of advanced tools and one-click simplicity.

LunaPic pricing: Free

Best free photo editing app for product photos and eCommerce

PhotoRoom (iOS, Android, Web)

PhotoRoom pros:

• Batch mode saves a ton of time creating product photos

• High quality background removal and swaps to create professional-looking product scenes

PhotoRoom cons:

• Free version doesn’t include many background swap options

If you sell products online, you need PhotoRoom. While you can edit exposure, color, and more with PhotoRoom, its most powerful features are aimed at eCommerce sellers, including automatic background removal, background swaps, a full range of t-shirt and other mockups, and platform-specific size templates for Etsy, Poshmark, eBay, and other popular marketplaces.

Oddly, simple things like being able to resize an image, are premium features, although you could simply export your finished photo and resize or crop it for free in another app, or natively with your phone’s Photos app.

PhotoRoom has tons of social media-ready templates for retailers to promote Black Friday sales, new collections, or upcoming launches. My favorite feature is the instant background swap. When you upload a product photo, PhotoRoom automatically scans it and accurately removes your existing background in less than a second—and you can swap in any of their flatlay or scene backgrounds. The end result doesn’t automatically scream “fake background” and is high enough quality to use as product photos on your website and across social media.

But the key feature that makes PhotoRoom a must-have for sellers is Batch Mode. Yep, upload a bunch of product photos at once, and PhotoRoom will isolate them, swap out the background, and export them ready to use. Mega time savings.

For even more time savings, connect PhotoRoom with Zapier to automatically remove the background of every photo you put into a specific folder or record.

Remove backgrounds and update new images in Google Drive with PhotoRoom

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Google Drive, Filter by Zapier, PhotoRoom

Google Drive + Filter by Zapier + PhotoRoom

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Remove backgrounds with PhotoRoom from new Airtable records and update them

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Airtable, PhotoRoom

Airtable + PhotoRoom

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These automations work with any cloud storage provider that integrates with Zapier, including Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, and more.

PhotoRoom pricing: Free for up to 250 exports; $14.99/month for unlimited exports and additional features.

Best free photo editing app for artists and illustrators

Krita (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Krita pros:

• Advanced brush library for artists

• 100% free and open source

Krita cons:

• Clunkier process for photo editing adjustments than other photo-specific apps

The interface of Krita is similar to Photoshop, although I found the brush selection and customization panel much easier to use. This really struck me when I went back to using Photoshop after testing Krita for a bit. By default, brushes are nested right underneath the layers panel (though you can customize windows any way you like), and you can choose from many predefined brush styles, from sketching pencils to watercolor brushes and more.

In both Krita and Photoshop, you can customize each brush and add your own custom brushes or import downloaded ones, but this out-of-the-box brush panel is so well thought out, I can’t imagine needing to change them. Of course, many digital painters and illustrators would most likely want to customize these more than me.

When combined with a connected desktop drawing tablet, Krita is a powerful drawing app that can handle professional workflows. It also does a great job with photo editing, though adjusting things like exposure and colors isn’t as straightforward as photo-specific apps like Lightroom. However, Krita’s built-in noise reduction effect is better at cleaning up high ISO or background noise than some paid app options (I recommend keeping it under 25% for the most natural look).

Krita also has many advanced capabilities, like enabling you to code your own automated tasks in Python and animation features, and it can open and save PSD format files, so you can work in Photoshop at work and Krita at home.

Overall, Krita’s feature set makes it better for artists than photographers, but it can still take care of any graphics or photo editing task. The best part? It’s completely free and open source.

Krita pricing: Free

Best free photo editing app for graphic design

Inkscape (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Inkscape pros:

• Advanced path, stroke, drawing, and typography tools

• Automated pattern creation

• 100% free and open source

Inkscape cons:

• A bit intimidating to learn for newbies and non-designers

At first glance, Inkscape is quite different from Photoshop. It definitely has a stronger focus on graphics vs. photos, containing lots of tools for geometric pattern design, shape creation, and alignment.

While I’m not a pro designer, I did find Inkscape’s pen tool easier to use than Photoshop’s version. At first, I thought I must be sooo good at selecting all the points around my dog above to isolate him from the background. The lines seemed to follow his curves perfectly, and once I completed the path, Inkscape automatically selected him with perfect separation from the background. Turns out Inkscape is smart enough to see the little details I missed when creating the path around him, like little furs sticking out and the shape of his ears, to create a proper subject mask even from my quick and sloppy pen path. It made me feel like a pro.

With my subject mask created, Inkscape allows for finely detailed edits like exposure and color control on just my dog while leaving the background untouched, or the reverse—both pro photo editing features I deem necessary in any editing app.

Graphic designers will find even more to love about Inkscape, with advanced path, stroke, vector illustration, calligraphy, and typography tools to achieve any art or design project you can think of—absolutely free.

Inkscape pricing: Free

Which free Photoshop alternative should you use?

The right free Photoshop alternative for you depends on what you need most. Do you need generative AI to create graphics and photorealistic scenes out of thin air? Do you need pro-level noise control and coloring tools for your photography? Do you need done-for-you templates you can easily customize for social media or your website?

Since these are all free, you can try out the ones that seem like they might be a good fit for you until you find the shoe that fits.

There are so many more free Photoshop alternatives out there that didn’t make this list. A few I tested and recommend for specific types of users include:

• Hotpot for free AI image generation

• Capture One Express for Fujifilm photographers looking for the best Fuji RAW format editor

• Lensa for free AI-powered portrait art for social media

Or, if you’re willing to pay for your photo editing software, take a look at this list of the best AI photo editors.

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