TOP PICKS | 18 TOOLS

Best Photography and Photo-Editing Apps for Students

These photography apps, games, and websites cover kids' photo-taking and photo-editing needs -- from basic cleanup and cropping to more specialized filters and effects that offer an extra punch. Photography can be a catalyst for expressing originality and can inspire kids to learn about the world around them through the process of capturing images.

Top Picks

Print list

ChatterPix Kids - by Duck Duck Moose

Photo app lets students share learning by making anything talk

Bottom line: With its playful premise and ease of use, ChatterPix can be a go-to creative app for elementary school classrooms.

Grades: K–7 Price: Free

Coach's Eye - Video Analysis

Robust video analysis for sports, science, fine arts performances

Bottom line: Cool video-analysis tool is great for the sports field and beyond, but prepare for an onslaught of hidden costs to access all features.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Paid The app is $4.99 each when purchasing one to 19 and $2.49 each for 20 or more.

Photo Grid - Collage Maker

A few navigation flaws, but a fun way for kids to get creative

Bottom line: Flexible tool with some frustrating but harmless navigation issues.

Grades: 3–8 Price: Free

Adobe Capture CC

Magical design tool extracts colors, patterns, and more from images

Bottom line: The rare combo of "wow" factor and utility, this tool help students recognize and use the designed world around them.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free A free Adobe Creative Cloud account is required to access all features.

Pixlr - Photo Collages, Effects, Overlays, Filters

Easy photo-editing tool sparks creativity, teaches basic art techniques

Bottom line: Experimenting with the tool's open-ended features involves kids in the creative process.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

Canva - Photo Editor & Design

Create snazzy designs in seconds with flexible, cloud-based tool

Bottom line: A flexible, accessible way to get kids -- especially design novices -- creating digitally in your classroom if you have stable internet and time to get students set up to be successful.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free

Photo Editor by Aviary

Cool creative tools for shutterbug teens

Bottom line: It's a good tool for teens interested in creating digital images and developing apps.

Grades: 6–10 Price: Free You can buy sticker and effect packs via in-app purchase (up to $1.99 each). Also, you have the option to print to Walgreens in some versions of the app.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Top-notch photo editor helps perfect pics for creative projects

Bottom line: This is a powerful, free creation tool from the industry leader in photo editing.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

Adobe Photoshop Mix - Cut out, combine, create

Impressive photo-editing app focuses on compositing, blending imagery

Bottom line: While it's tackling a slightly niche design need (blending, layering, compositing photos), Photoshop Mix is an incredible tool that makes these processes shockingly simple on mobile devices.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

Fotobabble

Talking photo-maker a powerful storytelling tool; not so private

Bottom line: Powerful media-creation tool makes "talking photos" that can creatively support teens' learning goals.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

iPhoto

Easily and elegantly edit, organize, and share photos on mobile devices

Bottom line: A great way to edit, organize, and publish photos in the iOS ecosystem.

Grades: 6–12 Price: $4.99

Sumopaint

Impressive, easy-to-use tool for creating and editing images

Bottom line: Sumopaint can spark students’ creativity, encourage them to be artistic, and provide them with new, image-related tech skills.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid The basic online image editor is available for free. A Pro account removes ads and includes over 35 pro filters and tools for a lifetime fee of $9. A Pro Plus license for $19 includes the desktop app for offline use.

Instagram

Stellar photo app promotes sharing, creativity but has risks

Bottom line: An absorbing, endless gallery of images that's fun to browse but tricky for classroom use due to privacy and content concerns.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free

Clips

Create and share videos with cool effects, tons of language options

Bottom line: This slick video creation app is fun, empowering, and accessible in lots of languages, but be careful with sharing.

Grades: 8–12 Price: Free

PicCollage - Photo Collage Maker & Picture Editor

Versatile, intuitive, engaging collage maker yields impressive designs

Bottom line: With some privacy setup, and possibly upgrading to the paid version, this can be an excellent design tool for creating custom collages, teaching graphic design, layout, and photo editing.

Grades: 8–12 Price: Free, Paid In-app purchases available from $0.99 to $2.99, including sticker packs and the ability to remove watermarks and ads.

PicMonkey Photo Editor

Reliable photo editor built for design and social sharing

Bottom line: A great, social media-friendly option for teaching teens design, layout, and photo editing, but the paid version is more competitive with other tools.

Grades: 8–12 Price: Free, Paid There's a free version that has basic functionality and ads. The ad-free and more functional Premium and Supremium versions are $3.99 and $8.33 per month, billed annually. Premium has storage for 50 images while Supremium has unlimited storage and more organizational options.