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In the past few months, the amount of innovation in photo editing apps triggered by advances in AI has been staggering. Yet unfortunately, many Android users have been left behind, as the best features usually come to iOS first – and in many cases don’t end up making the leap to Android at all.
Lightricks was one of the few major players to bring AI-powered text-to-image tools to Android late last year, but initially, some of the more advanced features were reserved for Apple users only. This disparity has now been addressed as the company recently announced the addition of many AI capabilities to the Android version of its popular Photoleap app.
Although Lightricks originally focused only on iOS, in recent years they have made a remarkable impact in the Android world. Across its portfolio of apps on the Google Play marketplace, Lightricks has seen over 50 million downloads, boasting an average rating of 4.3 stars across over 500,000 reviews. You may be familiar with some of their other apps, such as Videoleap and Facetune.
Lightricks operates in a highly competitive space, and the company no doubt developed versions of its most advanced features across to Android quickly to grow their market share and gain first mover advantage. Last summer, they released the first consumer mobile editing tool that combined visual editing capabilities with text-to-image generative AI. Visual content enthusiasts are the key winners in the current innovation arms race.
Importance of AI in image editing
Photoleap on Android already had a powerful generative AI engine on Android, but it’s worth revisiting the feature because of how big an impact it has had.
Users can type a simple prompt into the app, and Photoleap will produce a high-definition image. While other generators are charging users for this functionality, Lightricks have included their text-to-image functionality in the free version of the app. Every image created is 100% unique.
It’s clear AI is key to the future for Photoleap from comments from Brett Welch, VP of Photo at Lightricks. In a press release, Brett said, “The exciting introduction of AI generative art last year, followed by widespread adoption of AI Avatars, reminds us that self-portraiture has been an important aspect of visual art for most of human history.”
He continued, “Photoleap’s new features show how AI-powered creativity tools can work together in a single app to bring new levels of expressivity in photo and image-making tools.”
The latest AI features
Photoleap has long had a reputation for being a premier photo editing tool on iOS, and its imperious rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars via over 70,000 reviews backs this up.
In recognition of how tightly integrated the AI features have become for the app, it’s currently listed as “Photoleap: AI Art Photo Editor” on the Apple store. Recent major releases include text-to-image capability in November 2022, AI Avatars in January 2023 and AI Scenes in March 2023.
Until now, many of these features were conspicuously absent from the Android version of the app. While it also has a strong rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 out of over 55,000 reviews, this is somewhat less impressive than the iOS version. That gap may be about to close following the latest updates, as Android users can now access many of the same advanced AI-powered image editing features.
Here’s what is now included in the Google Play store version of the app:
AI Transform
This feature gives Android users complete control over their images. They can select any element in the photo, then add something or alter it to their liking. It could be as simple as the user giving themselves sunglasses and or as complex as morphing themselves into a character from their favorite movie.
AI Enhance
Even in the world of powerful smartphone cameras, many photos are taken in less-than-ideal conditions. Poor quality can ruin a visual, but Photoleap is able to use AI to enhance an image seamlessly, to mirror what the reality would have looked like under better conditions.
AI Scenes
While many apps emphasize using AI features on human faces, Photoleap has also added functionality for photos of scenery. Users can upload an image of a backdrop and see a series of creative transformations around themes such as fantasy, underwater, candy and cartoon.
Change Background
This is a smart feature that changes the background of a portrait to optimally bring out the subject of the photo.
Remove Object
A feature many users need regularly, whereby unwanted objects/photobombers can be removed easily.
Conclusion
The advances of generative AI make it an exciting time to be an Android user. The speed at which Lightricks has brought its more advanced features across to our operating system is encouraging, as it indicates we might expect regular innovation in the future.
AI may be forcing large app creators to reduce their product lag between platforms, and we will all benefit because of it.
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