AI Apps to Restore and Colorize Old Photos Right on Your Phone
Somewhere in your family there's a shoebox of photos: curled corners, faded colors, a grandparent's wedding in grainy black and white. Until recently, bringing those back to life meant paying a professional retoucher. Now your phone can do a surprisingly good first pass in seconds.
AI restoration apps can sharpen blurry faces, remove scratches and add color to black-and-white images. The results can be moving. They can also be a little strange if you don't know what the AI is actually doing.
This guide shows you how to scan prints properly (the step most people rush), which apps to use for restoring and colorizing, what realistic results look like, and how to protect your family's photos and privacy along the way.
Step one: scan your prints the right way
Every AI tool works better with a good starting image. A careful scan can make a bigger difference than which app you choose.
Use a scanning app, not just your camera
A regular photo of a glossy print usually picks up glare, tilt and shadows. Dedicated apps fix most of that:
- PhotoScan by Google Photos (iOS, Android): free, no in-app purchases. It asks you to move your phone over four dots and combines the shots to remove glare. It's no longer actively updated, and on some newer Android phones it may not appear in the Play Store, but it still works well where available.
- Photomyne (iOS, Android): built for scanning albums, it can detect several photos on one page and crop them automatically. Free with optional in-app purchases.
- Your built-in camera, carefully: if you use it, shoot straight down in soft daylight, fill the frame and turn off the flash.
Scanning checklist
- Clean the print gently with a soft, dry brush or microfiber cloth. Never use water or cleaning spray.
- Place it on a dark, flat surface in soft, even daylight near a window.
- Hold your phone parallel to the photo so edges don't skew.
- Turn off flash and avoid overhead lights that create hotspots.
- Keep the original scan untouched. Save AI versions as copies, never replacements.
If a print is stuck in an old magnetic album, don't force it out. Scan it through the plastic if the glare is manageable, and consult a photo conservator for anything truly precious.
The best apps for restoring old photos
Here's how the main options compare.
| App | Platforms | Best at | Colorize? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remini | iOS, Android | Sharpening blurry faces | Limited | Free with ads and optional subscription |
| MyHeritage | iOS, Android | Enhancing, repairing and colorizing family photos | Yes | Free to try, full use needs a subscription |
| Reimagine by MyHeritage | iOS, Android | Scanning and restoring in one app | Yes | Check the store listing |
| Google Photos | iOS, Android | Quick enhance and light cleanup | No dedicated tool | Free, some tools vary by device or plan |
| Apple Photos | iPhone | Removing small blemishes with Clean Up | No | Free on supported devices |
| Snapseed | iOS, Android | Manual fixes with the Healing tool | No | Free |
Remini
Remini is one of the most popular AI enhancers on mobile. Its strength is faces: it can turn a soft, blurry portrait into something that looks crisp. It's much less impressive on landscapes, buildings and group shots where faces are small.
Pros: fast, dramatic results on portraits. Cons: faces can look too smooth or subtly different from the real person, and many user reviews complain about ads and subscription billing. Read the terms before starting any trial.
MyHeritage
The MyHeritage app, from the genealogy company of the same name, includes tools to enhance faces, repair scratches and tears, and colorize black-and-white images. It's especially popular for family history projects, and it can also animate faces, a feature some people love and others find unsettling.
Pros: strong all-in-one toolkit for old family photos. Cons: free use is limited, and you'll need an account. MyHeritage also offers a separate app called Reimagine, focused on scanning and restoring.
Google Photos and Apple Photos
You may not need a new app for light repairs. In Google Photos, open a photo, tap Edit, and try Enhance. Depending on your device and plan, you may also see tools like Photo Unblur or Magic Eraser for removing small marks.
On iPhones that support Apple Intelligence, the Photos app has a Clean Up tool that can remove dust spots and small blemishes. Just be aware these tools are designed for modern photos, not century-old damage.
Snapseed
Google's free Snapseed editor isn't AI-heavy, but its Healing brush and Details tools give you manual control. It's great for finishing touches after an AI pass, like fixing a single scratch the AI missed.
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Colorizing black-and-white photos: what to expect
Colorization is the most magical-looking feature and the most misunderstood one. A black-and-white photo doesn't contain color information. The AI is making an informed guess based on patterns it learned from other images.
That means:
- Skin, sky and foliage usually look convincing.
- Clothing, cars and wallpaper are guesses. Grandma's dress might have been red, not blue.
- Uniforms and flags may come out historically wrong.
If you know the real colors, write them down in the photo's caption. Some tools and editors let you adjust hues manually afterward. And always label colorized images as colorized when you share them, so relatives don't mistake them for originals.
Realistic results: when AI helps and when it hurts
AI restoration is excellent at some things and misleading at others. Keep these realities in mind.
Where it shines
- Softly blurred faces in otherwise decent photos
- Faded contrast and color casts, like the orange tint of 1970s prints
- Small scratches, dust and creases
Where it struggles
- Badly damaged areas. When part of a face is missing, the AI invents one. It may look good, but it isn't your ancestor.
- Tiny faces in group shots. Results can look uncanny or pasted-on.
- Texture. Over-processing makes skin look plastic and removes the natural grain that gives old photos character.
A good rule: if the "restored" person no longer looks like the person your family remembers, dial back the effect or use the original.
Privacy: think before you upload family photos
Most AI enhancers process photos on company servers, not on your phone. That's worth thinking about, especially with pictures of living relatives or children.
- Read the privacy policy and look for how long uploads are kept and whether they're used to train AI models.
- Check the App Store privacy label or Google Play "Data safety" section before installing.
- Grant limited photo access, choosing only the images you want to restore instead of your whole library.
- Ask permission before uploading or sharing restored photos of living family members.
- Delete uploads and your account from inside the app when you're done, if the app allows it.
Remini's publisher states in its privacy policy that it doesn't use face data to train its algorithms or sell it. Policies change, though, so check the current version yourself.
A simple workflow for a family photo project
If you're digitizing a whole box, a system saves hours:
- Scan everything first with PhotoScan or Photomyne, before editing anything.
- Back up the originals to Google Photos, iCloud or another cloud service, plus an external drive.
- Name or caption each photo with who, where and roughly when, while relatives can still help.
- Restore only your favorites with AI, saving each result as a new copy.
- Share an album with family, clearly marking which images are restored or colorized.
FAQ
Are AI photo restoration apps free?
Most offer a free trial or a limited number of free edits, then require a subscription. Check the store listing and cancellation terms before you start.
Will the AI change what my relatives looked like?
It can. On damaged or very blurry faces, the AI fills in details it can't know. Compare with the original and keep both versions.
Can I restore photos without uploading them anywhere?
Partly. Manual editors like Snapseed work on your device. Some built-in phone tools also process locally, but many AI features use cloud processing, so check each app's details.
What resolution should I scan at?
With a phone, fill the frame and use your camera's full resolution. For large prints or archival projects, a flatbed scanner will capture more detail than any phone.