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Restoring old photos on Android in 2026 has crossed into genuinely impressive territory. The AI-based tools can remove scratches, repair tears, sharpen blurry faces, colorize black-and-white images, and upscale low-resolution scans to 4K. The quality jumped meaningfully in 2024-2025 as diffusion models replaced the older GAN-based methods.
We tested five tools on Pixel 8a with a mix of scanned 1960s family prints, mid-2000s digital camera shots, and a few badly damaged Polaroids. The picks below cover free, paid, and the cases where each is the right answer.
TL;DR
The pick: Google Photos’ built-in Photo Unblur and Magic Editor handle most casual cases for free on Android.
Runner-up: MyHeritage Photo Enhancer is the best dedicated old-photo restorer; the Color and Enhance tools work well together.
Skip if: Skip apps that watermark the output unless you can preview the quality first. Some have aggressive watermarks that ruin the final image.
Google Photos: the no-install option
Google Photos in 2026 includes Photo Unblur (sharpen blurry old photos), Magic Editor (remove unwanted objects, fix scratches), and Magic Eraser (remove people or distractions). These work on Pixel and on Galaxy through the Photos subscription tier.
For casual cleanup of family photos, this is enough. Open a photo, Edit, Tools, choose the right one. Outputs save back to the album. Free for Pixel devices; some features require Google One subscription on other Android phones.
MyHeritage Photo Enhancer
MyHeritage’s Photo Enhancer specifically targets old and damaged photos: scratch removal, face sharpening, colorization. The tools are paid (around $20/month or $129/year for unlimited) but the quality on heavily damaged photos exceeds the free options.
Combine Color (adds color to black-and-white) with Enhance (sharpens faces) on the same photo for the most impressive results. Free trial gives you a handful to test.
Remini for face-specific restoration
Remini is laser-focused on faces. Blurry small face in a group shot becomes crisp. The free tier gives a few per day; Pro is $7/week or $50/year. The quality on faces is best-in-class but it sometimes invents detail that was not actually there.
Use Remini after Google Photos or MyHeritage for the face-specific pass. The combination produces results that single-tool processing cannot match.
Krita and GIMP for manual control
If you want full manual control (some professional restorers refuse AI tools entirely), Krita and GIMP run on Android tablets and provide proper layer editing, clone stamps, and healing brushes. The learning curve is real but the results are entirely yours.
On Galaxy Tab S9 with S Pen, Krita is a viable replacement for desktop Photoshop for restoration work. Free and open source.
Which tool fits your photo?
- Best for general cleanup: Google Photos. Free, built-in, fast.
- Best for heavily damaged photos: MyHeritage Photo Enhancer. Color and Enhance combined.
- Best for blurry faces: Remini. Face-specific AI restoration.
- Best for manual control: Krita on a tablet with S Pen.
- Best free option: Google Photos. Free for Pixel, Magic Editor for others requires Google One.
FAQ
Will I lose the original?
No. Google Photos saves edits as separate copies. MyHeritage and Remini export new files.
Are these apps free?
Google Photos is free on Pixel. MyHeritage, Remini have free trials and paid tiers. Krita is free.
Can I colorize black-and-white photos?
Yes. MyHeritage Photo Enhancer Color does this well. Quality varies by image clarity.
How high a resolution can I upscale to?
Most AI tools upscale to 4K (3840×2160). Beyond that, the AI invents detail rather than recovering it.
Bottom line
Photo restoration on Android in 2026 is mostly an AI affair, and the AI is good enough now that family-photo restoration is a casual task rather than a specialist craft. Google Photos for basic, MyHeritage for heavy damage, Remini for faces, Krita for manual control. Keep your originals; treat AI outputs as enhanced copies.
