
Photography is one of the most interesting hobbies in today’s time. With the high-end smartphones, it has become much easier to click, edit and share photographs with our friends and relatives.
Have you ever felt like sharing a photograph as it does not satisfy your creative self? If yes, then that’s not only you who feel like this. There are 1000s of users out there who want to do something creative with their photographs before sharing them.
For such creative end results, there are a lot of good & free collage apps which you can use.
Collage – Definition, history, and present scenario
Collage is a tradition form of art that includes trimming the photographs in different shapes and sizes and gluing them together to form one attractive piece of art. The history of collage making is fascinating and goes back to 100s of years. In medieval times artists used paintings with elegant fibers, gemstones, and artifacts to make them more attractive. Even famous artists like Hans Christian Anderson used the collage as an art form in his books in the 19th century.
Digital Photo Collage
When computers became multimedia compatible, the digital photo manipulation became very easy. Slowly a lot of computer applications surfaced that allowed the users to edit and create photo collages. Computers opened many new possibilities that included the blending of images to make a seamlessly realistic picture.
The Android and iOS based smartphones are much more powerful than ever before. The high-speed processors, GPU and RAM have made it possible for the users to create collages right on their smartphones.
There are 100s if not 1000s of apps out there that are compatible with either Android or iOS or both for photo manipulation and collage creation. All the creative tools that you need to satisfy the artist in you are now at your fingertips.
Collage apps for Android OS
Photo Collage Maker
It is one of the finest collage apps on the Play Store. It not only offers more than 100 layouts for collage absolutely free but also allows you to make your own layouts.
Once you are done with adding photographs in the frames, you can apply filters, border and effects on different photographs and change the size and shape of the image as well.
Lipix – Photo Collage and Editor
The app is also known as the InstaFrame. It is powerful, quick and very easy to use. It offers more than 90 templates for the collage along with 12 effects, 20+ fonts, 100+ stickers and 50+ borders to choose from.
You can also add emojis to the collage. The app saves the highest possible resolution of the collage and offers an option to share it on social media platforms.
PicGrid – Photo Collage Maker
If you are looking for a simple yet elegant way to create collages, then this app is perfect for you. It offers more than 100 different frames to choose from along with 14 filters for the images.
It also offers an option to change the border color of individual images which is not possible in most of the apps. Also, it allows you to apply two different filters in different parts of the single image which are rare of rarest option in collage apps.
The entire image gets saved on the phone which you can further share with friends or on social media.
Photo Collage – Layout Editor
Asus Computer Inc. owns the app. It is one of the very few collage apps that come with professionally designed photo editor, effects, stickers and much more. The app allows you to add stickers, bubbles, effects, filters etc. on the collage with easy-to-use tools.
The app also offers a number of magazine layouts which suit different occasions. There is also an option to make stickers out of the photographs.
Pixlr – Free Photo Editor
The app provides a professional photo editing platform for your smartphone. It has 100s of options to create professional looking collages with very powerful and easy to use filters, effects, and stickers. The app offers an option to resize as well as spin the image while making the collage. It also allows you to choose from four different predefined measurements.
The app comes with an option known as “Auto Fix” which is similar to Photoshop’s Auto Correct. It fixes colors, contrast, and lighting in the image with a single click. It also allows you to tag your favorite filters so that they show on the top of the list.
PicsArt Photo Studio
It is one of the most popular photo collage apps in the play store. It is basically a photo editing tool that allows you to create collages out of the edited photos. The tools included in the app are powerful and give a professional touch to the photographs. The collage making process is simple and instant with different frames and filters. The app offers 100s of options for image editing like filters, effects, and background before you create a collage.
piZap Photo editor and Collage
It is a fast, easy and creative tool to edit photos and create a collage. With over 1200+ layouts, 70 fonts, 37 themes and 1400+ stickers, this is the most elaborate apps available on the Play Store. The app also offers frames, backgrounds and pre-defined borders for the collage.
Once you are done with the collage, it saves the highest possible resolution and you can share the final output on social media platforms right from the app.
Collage apps for iOS
Awesome Collage Maker
It is a fully features collage app for iOS. The app offers two different styles for making collages. The first one is Freeform option in which it allows you to create a scrapbook-style collage. In the Freeform option, you can add any number of images.
The second one is the Template option in which the app offers more than 50 templates that let you choose and add photographs in limited numbers. Both the options allow you to use filters etc to enhance the image quality.
Photo Collage unlimited
Apart from basic tools for editing photographs and frames for collages, this app also offers funny stickers to spice up the final output. This cool app for picture collage comes with more than 65 adjustable photo collage frames and you can scale the frame as per your requirement.
When you select a photo, it gives you the option to make basic changes like contrast, brightness etc. before adding it to the collage.
It also features a complete photo editing suite that offers 100s of stickers like eyeglasses, stylish hair, beard and much more along with emoticons.
iCollages – Photo collage maker and editor
This app is considered one of the best free iOS apps for creating collages and editing photographs.
The app offers 50 amazing collage templates which you can customize as per your requirement. It also offers a very powerful professional like photo editing tool. You can adjust the size of the collage as well as the size and shape of the image to make it more attractive.
The photo retouching tools offer different filters and effects for the photographs. It also allows you to share the final output to the social media apps without leaving the app.
Photo Wonder
The app is considered one of the best photo collage maker apps for iOS platforms. It comes with different type of photo editing features and also offers live photo filters for the camera. It offers beautiful backgrounds, face beautification and makeup tools, photo effects and stylish photo frames.
The app allows you to edit and create collages in a few taps. The professional looking photo filters enhance the photographs and give them a superior look.
Framatic
It is one of the simplest collage making tools available for iOS that are free. It offers 100s of different features to edit the images before you create the collage. It includes photo frames, collage layouts, beautiful backgrounds, photo effects and much more in the options.
InstaCollage Pro
The app allows you to create and share the collages without any much effort. It is easy to use and have 100s of options included for photo editing and collages. It also offers individual photo frames for single photographs.
The adjustable layouts make it easy for you to readjust the size of the collage. You can change the color of the borders; add effects to the image and save it in the highest possible resolution. It also offers social media sharing feature within the app.
Collage apps for Android Phones and iOS
Moldiv – Collage Photo Editor (Android and iOS)
Mold is one of the finest collage makers available for Android phones. The app helps the user to find appropriate kind of media on the smartphone. It supports the maximum resolution as per the smartphone innards. The app provides around 80 free frames to choose from. In addition to the free frames, there is a total of 100 frames that are up for sale via in-app purchases.
Apart from the frames, the app also offers more than 50 photo effects, 200+ stamps, 40 color pickers, 80 backgrounds for the frames and speech bubbles as well. You can also choose the final size of the frame. There is also an option to make the collage look like a magazine cover or poster which looks amazing.
Photo Grid - Collage Maker (Android and iOS)
The multiple picture frame app is one of the easiest apps available in the market. It also offers the video slideshows with background music. You can easily edit, resize, trim, crop, and change the quality of the image with-in the app.
It allows you to add stickers, texts, doodles and filters on the collage. The filmstrip option in the app allows you to make a story type collage with images, texts, and stickers.
The app suggests the layout of the collage depending on the number of the images you choose. It allows a max of 15 images in the single collage.
You can use the highest possible resolution of the image and can share the final collage on the social network via the app itself.
Pic Collage (Android and iOS)
It is a simple to use but very powerful tool for making collage. Dubbed as one of the best photo collage apps, it offers 100s of options to mix and match styles with the help if stickers, filters, and effects.
Simple touch gestures in the app allow you to set contrast, brightness, and other image particulars.
The Aviary photo effects available in the app take the functionality to whole new level and give the collage a professional yet fun look.
Layout From Instagram (Android and iOS)
Instagram offers a simple and powerful collage tool for your images. You can add up to 9 photographs in a single collage. It comes with a very simple and easy-to-use user interface that allows you to quickly create collages. The app is available free of cost for both android and iOS users.
BeFunky (Android and iOS)
The app claims to be the best collage making tool available for both iOS and Android. It is certainly the simplest possible tool, though. With 100s of templates, amazing effects and seamless integration with the photo editor, the app has a very easy-to-use interface. There is also a paid version available which offers additional layouts and effects.
What should you look for in a Collage App?
For both android and iOS users, there are some features that are very important in a collage making an app. When you are planning to choose the best among the available 100s of apps for your smartphone, it is important to choose the right one so that you can enjoy the creative tool in the best possible way. The following list of features will help you to choose the right app for your daily use.
Cost: Most of the apps available for Android and iOS are free of cost. It is not wise to choose a paid app until you want to make something entirely different and unique.
Layouts: Choose an app that offers at least 50 different layouts for the collage. Also, make sure that it has the option to customize the size and style of the layout so that you can add the different size of photographs without any glitch.
Photo editing tools: Though most of the collage apps come with inbuilt photo editing tools, you should choose the one that is easy to use and offers a lot of different filters and styles. The app size may stay on the higher side if it offers more customizable options.
Compatibility: There are some high-end apps which require latter android or an iOS version with specific requirements of processor and RAM. Do check the details of the apps and make sure that your smartphone is compatible with enough storage capacity.
Beautification features: Choose the apps that offer the option to add stickers, speech bubbles, text, a lot of different fonts and border colors so that the final result shows the extent of your creativity in the best possible way.
Social network sharing: Some of the apps available on the Play store and iTunes do not allow you to share the images from the app itself. It makes it difficult to share the image as you have to close the app and then choose the image to share. It is always better to choose an app that allows you to share the photograph from the app.
Conclusion
The photo collage making apps are one of the finest examples of technology advancements. The digital photo manipulation has opened new doors for the creative corner of our mind. It allows us to use different tools and styles to get the best possible results. It is important for every person to be creative. It is not only an easy way to reduce stress but it also helps in gaining confidence among the social circle.
The photo collages can also be a good digital gift for your loved ones. How cool it will be to gift a digital collage on your sibling, parent or loved one’s birthday! The photographs have the potential to bring people closer and creative collages can do the task very well.
The smartphones allow us to click photographs whenever we want. Gathering photographs in a collage is an easy and fun way to share the snapshot of a particular moment of life with everyone. Before the smartphone apps, making collages was a difficult task and used to take a lot of time. The apps have made it easy for us to create, share and enjoy the collages. You can create a collage with the help of an app within a few seconds. All you need to do is select the images, edit them, add in the layout and press save!
The creativity should not have any limit and photographs can show it in the best possible way.
So what are you waiting for? Download one of the best apps and showcase your inner creative being to the whole world!