VSCO

VSCO has quietly outlasted most of the filter apps it launched alongside, and the reason is craft: its film presets are recreations of classic Kodak and Fuji stocks that look considered rather than gimmicky, and a single tap gives a set of photos the kind of cohesive, analog-leaning look that's hard to achieve by hand. Underneath the presets there's real depth too — HSL color grading, tone curves, grain, and AI object removal — so it scales from casual to fairly serious mobile editing. At $29.99 a year for Plus — or $59.99 for the Pro tier that adds AI object removal and client galleries — it's still one of the better-value photo subscriptions out there, and it syncs between phone and desktop. The trade-offs are clear: the free tier is deliberately thin, so the presets that make VSCO worth using sit behind Pro, and it's mobile-first by design — if you shoot RAW and want layer-based precision, Lightroom remains the better home. The separate Workspace tier is squarely for working studios and unnecessary for everyone else. For mobile photographers who care about a consistent aesthetic, though, VSCO is still the one to beat.