What’s the key to engaging content? How can I keep people coming back for more?
These are questions that I hear all of the time, so when I had the opportunity to go to Facebook Community Boost and speak directly Facebook’s creative team, I jumped at the opportunity to ask the questions that you want answers to!
I asked about everything from increasing sales with social media to the latest ad trends and best practices. I totally geeked out! I walked away with so many nuggets of wisdom, but one theme that kept coming up over and over again, was the importance creative visuals.
Everything starts and ends with eye-catching, visually appealing, and interesting content.
We’re living in a world where we have less than 2 seconds to catch someone’s attention and most of the time, the visual is the only thing that stands out. The problem is, making those visuals takes time.
Luckily, Facebook recommended 10 best photo & video apps to make better content, quicker and easier!
Before you get frustrated or spend hours trying to make a good photo or video, make sure you check out these apps to see if they can save you some time (or money).
After all, you have better things you can be doing than editing a photo for the 1,000th time!
Best Photo Enhancing Apps
It’s Photoshop on your phone and at your fingertips!
This is a very powerful app, especially, if you take a lot of photos on your phone. The app boasts being a fast, easy, and fun way to touch your way to better looking pictures, and best of all it’s FREE!
It is jam-packed with features and is a great way to edit on the go. It’s the perfect for those who aren’t as well-versed in the full Adobe Photoshop program and don’t have time to learn an entire new program.
Features Include:
- Over 60 Unique Looks (like filters)
- Image Corrections
- Dehazing (removing fog and haze from the atmosphere)
- Luminance Noise Reduction (brighten and sharpen dark, grainy photos)
- Text Styles (to make memes)
- Perspective Correction (straighten crooked images)
- Apply Blur
- Connection to Creative Cloud (save and continue edits in other connected Adobe Photoshop apps)
- Collages
It is available on the App Store, Google Play, and the Windows Store.
A quick and easy way to make eye-catching graphics and images, all in the palm of your hand!
It’s from Adobe, so you know it has to be good. This app promises to create stunning graphics, in seconds. It is full of time saving features and is the perfect for those who aren’t the best with design and don’t have time to create templates from scratch.
Features Include:
- Professionally Designed Templates
- Themes for a Consistent Look
- Magic Text (applies typography automatically as you resize text to make it pop)
- Automatic Resize (instantly adjust size for each social platform)
- Text Effects (apply shadows, outlines, and cut-out effects)
- Animated Video Posts (one tap animations)
- Hand-Picked Designer Fonts & Shapes
- Auto Recolor (change color palette with one tap)
- Text Cut-Outs (reveal background image through text)
- Free Premium Stock Photos
- Connection to Creative Cloud (save and continue edits in other connected Adobe apps)
It comes in both a free and premium version, and is available on the App Store and Google Play.
3. PicLab
This is another one to make eye-catching visuals, quickly and easily.
This app aims to make editing photos fun and effortless. It’s stocked with easy-to-use features that can take your images to new heights.
If I’m being honest, this isn’t my favorite app out of the bunch, but it still gets the job done. It doesn’t have as many features as some of the other apps and it prompts a lot of in-app purchases, which I am never a fan of with free apps.
Features Include:
- Image Overlays and Masks (shapes, borders, textures, light-leaks, & more)
- Stickers and Artwork
- More Than 20 Photo Filters
- Designer Fonts & Typography
- Text Effects (adjust opacity, drop-shadows, and layers)
- Photo Effects (adjust brightness, saturation, contrast, blur, and exposure)
- Drawing Tool (scribble right on your photos)
- Collage Tool
- Cropping Tool (preset and custom cropping ratios)
It is available on the App Store, Google Play, and the Windows Store.
4. Plotaverse
Facebook recommends this as a simple way to animate still photos or turn videos into GIFS.
Plotaverse claims to be the #1 Motion Art App that allows you to easily animate images and add video overlays in minutes. It is a premium app, that requires a membership ($4.99 monthly or $35.99 annually).
Full disclosure: I do not use this app, therefore, I do not recommend it. My promise to you is that I will not recommend something that I, myself, don’t use or test out first.
Part of the reason that I don’t use or recommend this app is because of the ongoing membership cost. I’ve looked into this app quite a bit, and I just don’t think it packs enough value for the ongoing cost.
I’ve also looked at a lot of content made on Plotaverse (it’s website is a giant gallery), and the animations just look a little too fake to me. For the cost of this app, I would expect a high quality final product and this just falls a bit short.
Facebook must see something in this app though since it recommends it!
Features Include:
- FX Overlays (video overlays)
- Animation and Selection Tool
- Instant Playback
- Image Adjustments (brightness, contrast, hue, saturation)
- Magnifier and Pinch Zoom
- Crop Presets
- Social Sharing Presets
- Save to Camera Roll
- GIF, MP4, and Animated PNG Exports
- Apple Pencil Pressure Sensitivity
- Real-Time Animation Speed Control
It is available on the App Store and Google Play.
5. Ripl
This is a great app that can give you professional looking content in a matter of minutes!
You can quickly and conveniently layer animations on top of photos to make eye-catching videos and slideshows–no editing or design experience required.
It is full of templates, connects to social media so you can schedule content out, and it offers analytics to see which video is working the best. It has both a free and premium version, so you can test it out thoroughly before spending any money on it.
This is a great app that’s very easy to use. If you have the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can make the same type of content without buying another app, but if you don’t want to learn another program, Ripl is a great option.
Features Include:
- 250+ Customizable Design Templates (collages, banners, slideshows, etc)
- Animated Post Recommendations Customized For You
- Hundreds of Font and Music Choices
- Desktop and Mobile Compatibility
- Email and Social Media Integration (one-tap sharing and scheduling)
- Export Saving (save files outside of the app to use elsewhere)
- Real-Time Analytics
It is available on the App Store, Google Play, and Desktop.
Best Video Enhancing Apps
6. Videoshop
A simple and easy way to take your videos to the next level!
This app boasts being a simple video editor, with fast editing tools so that anyone can have customized videos. It not only lets you combine photos and videos, but it also lets you resize videos and experiment with stop motion.
This is another paid app with membership fees ($3.99 monthly, $23.99 annually). I’ve tested it out and it is a good option, especially for beginners, but I no longer use it.
If you have the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can accomplish everything that this app does, without having to pay another membership fee.
Features Include:
- Trim (cut unwanted footage, split into multiple clips)
- Music and sound Effects
- Slow and Fast Motion
- Adjust Display (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.)
- Merger (combine clips into one)
- Text Overlay
- Voice Over (record your voice over video)
- Animated Titles
- Filters and Transitions
- Stop Motion
- Resize
- Reverse (play videos in reverse)
- Copy and Undo
- Tilt Shift and Rotate
- Social Compatibility (one-tap sharing)
It is available on the App Store, Google Play, and the Windows Store.
8. Quik
This is probably the best video editing app in the whole bunch!
It’s simple to use, and it’s made by GoPro (to edit GoPro footage), so you know it’s going to be good. The app claims that video editing has never been so fast or fun. It takes just a few taps to create a powerful, professional looking video.
The best part is, it’s free and you don’t have to have a GoPro to use it. It is compatible with videos shot on GoPro models, phones, and other devices.
Features Include:
- Video Analysis to Select Best Footage (detects faces + colors to frame perfectly)
- HiLights (tag the best footage)
- Upload Your Own Photos and Video Clips
- Works with Motion Photos
- 23 Themes Designed for Any Occasion (includes transitions and graphics)
- Customize Themes to Fit Your Style (font, filters, and graphics)
- Slow and Fast Motion
- Smart Cuts (Quik will magically cut footage for you)
- Text Overlays, Title Slides, and Stickers
- Smart Audio (automatically turns on audio when voices are detected)
- Custom Formatting (cinema, square, or portrait formats for easy social sharing)
- More than 100 free songs (or upload your own)
- Sound Sync (automatically sync transitions to beat of the music)
- Save Videos in HD (1080p or 720p)
- Easy Social Sharing
- Save Drafts for 7 Days (get more time to work on projects by saving as drafts)
It is available on the App Store, Google Play, and Desktop.
8. Instagram Stories
This one isn’t actually a stand alone app, it’s part of the Instagram app.
Facebook owns Instagram, and it is really pushing stories on both platforms as “the next best thing”, so it makes sense that they would recommend using Instagram Stories to create awesome content.
Stories are a fun way to elevate your content with text, drawings, stickers, and more. It can be a little less polished because Stories only live for 24 hours, unless you add them into your highlights.
Features Include:
- Stories Archive (so you never have to save it to your phone)
- Stories Highlights (save stories to your profile, even after it’s disappeared)
- Stickers (location, hashtag, mentions)
- Engagement (polls and questions)
- Text Overlays
- Drawing Tool (scribble on your photos/videos)
Instagram is available on the App Store and Google Play.
9. Boomerang
This is another fun one from Instagram. Even though you can make a Boomerang within the Instagram app, it actually has its own stand alone app too!
Boomerang lets you easily create mini videos that loop back and forth. All you need is your phone and something that is moving. The app does the rest!
Because you can make this same type of content right on the Instagram app, I don’t think you necessarily need to download the Boomerang app, unless you want to use your Boomerangs elsewhere.
Features Include:
- Uses Front and Back Facing Camera
- No Sign Up or Account Required (start using immediately)
- Create Video with Only One Button
- Easy Social Sharing (share directly to Facebook or Instagram with one tap)
It is available on the App Store and Google Play.
10. Legend
Combine typography and video with this simple app.
Legend animates text to create stunning videos and GIFs . All of the text animations were handcrafted by professional motion designers and combine hundreds of typography, animations, backgrounds, and colors.
I love how easy to use this app is, but I don’t like that it only works on iOS.
I’m always a bit weary of apps that are exclusive to one operating system. It makes me question whether or not the developers are skilled enough to build a functioning app for both iOS and Android, or if they just didn’t care enough to put in the extra work to get it on both operating systems.
Whatever the case, I wonder if the app will be updated regularly and if bugs will be worked out in a timely fashion.
Features Include:
- Add, Crop, and Trim Photo/Video Backgrounds
- Background Images by Flickr
- Save Videos and GIFs to Photo Library
- Easy Social Sharing
- Send Autoplaying Messages
- Custom Animation Triggers (time, distance, percentage, etc)
- Highlights Hashtags and Usernames
- Animates Numbers and Displays Emojis
It is available on the App Store.
Standing out on social media is hard. Not only is it time consuming, but it can also be expensive and frustrating if you struggle with design. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be!
The key is to create interesting and eye-catching content. By using any of the 10 best photo and video apps that Facebook recommends, you can create professional looking content in a matter of minutes.
The best part is, you don’t even have to be good with design because most of the apps have professionally made templates that you can customize!
The more time (and money) you can save making awesome content, the more time you will have to do things that you want!
Next time you need to make some social media content, give these photo and video apps a try and let me know how it goes.
Believe me, your Instagram will thank you!
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