Snapseed is one of the most popular and powerful photo editing apps. The app is quite fashionable at the moment for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was hugely popular on iOS and, if the initial popularity of Instagram and Temple Run are anything to go by, Android users like to snap up apps that have also been popular on Apple’s ecosystem. Secondly, Snapseed was recently purchased by Google and this app was soon released. However, one area where the Google Play Store is heaving with options is photo editing, so how good is Snapseed?

Snapseed is most definitely a photo editor with a difference. Firstly, each effect, frame and setting appears to be adjustable. Instead of just adding a filter, you also get a sliding scale where you can alter the strength of the effect. It doesn’t end there either as you can carefully adjust brightness, saturation, texture strength and center size (an additional vignetting effect). This means that with each effect you have a myriad of variants to choose from and all are highly customisable.

The Snapseed app is available on both App Store and Google Play Store.

You also get a host of additional tools. These include; Automatic (color and contrast correction for quick enhancements), Selective Adjust (select specific areas of your picture to adjust), Tune Image (brightness, ambiance, contrast, saturation and white balance) Straighten, Crop, Details (adjust the sharpness and structure), Center Focus, Tilt-Shift and Frames. With each of these editing tools you can easily tap a button to see what your original picture looks like which allows you to compare between the two.

Despite the fact you can make detailed adjustments to each effect, there are only four filters contained in the app; Black & White, Vintage, Drama and Grunge. While you still have massive scope here, I still would have liked to have seen more. The same can be applied to the limited frames (only in white) and relatively basic editing toolkit- red eye removal, for example, is missing.

I did find Snapseed to feel incredibly native to your device and I especially liked the big share to Google+ tab. This makes it as simple to share your creations as it is in apps like Instagram and Streamzoo. Using Android’s built-in sharing functionality you can just as easily share to other social networks and apps and it feels very intuitive to do so.

With Instagram’s recent sale to Facebook, plus it’s changing policies, users are seemingly leaving the service in mighty droves. Something like Snapseed then is perhaps something that might be turned to as an alternative. While the app itself isn’t a hosting platform- so it’s perhaps inaccurate to call Snapseed a ‘replacement’, if you are on Google+ and happy to share your pictures there it is as good as. That said I did feel the simple filter selection on Instagram a tad more intuitive- although at the same time it is far behind Snapseed in terms of functionality and actual results.

I like to think Snapseed will continue to be developed- a few more filters and frames here and there would go a long long way. The method in which you edit pictures is rich and innovative, but might take a little getting used to initially, especially if you’re used to just picking a filter with something like Instagram. Snapseed is a far better product, just perhaps not quite as immediate.

If you take your photo sharing seriously using your Android device, Snapseed is a must-have app. It’s fun to use and offers plenty of customisability. I certainly think it could do more but it’s still an incredibly functional tool.

The app is easy to use but, perhaps not as straightforward as other editing apps you might have used. That said it does offer much more in terms of functionality compared to similar apps and this is the sacrifice I think you make with Snapseed.

I’ve been using Snapseed consistently since its release a couple of weeks ago and have been very impressed with it. Certainly for that period it has been my go-to photo editing app and, for me anyway, almost comparable to PicShop Pro. I think if you’re someone who has used Instagram extensively and have become disillusioned with the service of late, this is great replacement with lots of enhanced features.

Obviously the frequency of which you will use the app will depend heavily on how often you like to edit and tweak your pictures, but there’s certainly enough innovation and functionality for it to become something you use on a regular basis.

Being popular on iOS and backed by Google you are right to expect a great user experience with Snapseed. Thankfully then it really delivers and is brilliant to use. I initially found the notion of pressing and holding the screen for the sub menu to come up a little unintuitive (a little like making settings adjustments with the camera in Android 4.2) but I quickly got used to it.

Snapseed is a great photo editing app that provides lots of options when it comes to editing and fine-tuning your pictures. I don’t think it’s quite the best editing app out there, but it most certainly has the potential to be with a few enhancements. It’s free so definitely be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.