Snapseed: Photo Editor 4+

I’m changing my rating after discovering something and remembering something else since writing my former review. If my new findings prove solid I will change it again to four stars, because I do love this app and hope it is as strong as it once was, but I wanna make sure it’s running smoothly. Here’s my findings:
For a while my app was freezing and then I couldn’t upload photos to it at all. I just went to check if restrictions were on and they were, so I changed the setting and now I can upload photos and edit them again. I would have figured this much longer ago had there been a restricted access notification when I tried to hit the open button, but since there was not and since Id been having having other issues with the app, I assumed it had just failed. Another problem I was having involved saving images. For years my saved Snapseed images would show up in my main photo collection, and then one day- I now figure it was after an update- I wasn’t finding them in my main photos, so I would instead use the share option and text them to myself and then save them to my photos; I did this for years not realizing until just now that my Snapseed photos had switched storage locations, now ending up in a separate (hard to reach at the bottom of all my other photo folders) Snapseed folder.

As a Snapseed user since it was originally launched (~15 years ago?!), the new redesign is frustrating. The developers reversed the direction for edits; ie if you want to increase contrast now you swipe left when previously it’s always been swipe right. There’s no way to change this setting. The export button is in the top right corner rather than the bottom left. The top corners are arguably the least ergonomic locations to put anything due to the average reach of the thumb. The launch animation? Completely pointless. Just launch the app so I can edit! Why are edited/imported images saved on the landing page? Yes, you can delete them but only one by one. If you’re going to force these images to be stored on the app taking up more space at least allow the option for ‘delete all’.

I will acknowledge that being able to add/rearrange a few commonly used editing tools is extremely handy and hopefully we’ll see the ability to save more than 4 in a future update. Speaking of which, why not allow the option to save a ‘look’? The app has always allowed users to quickly apply the ‘last look’ to images, but it would always be nice to create/save/apply your own recipes for even quicker edits.

Really hope they allow users to change the direction of edit to match the old app. With the current layout I’m not sure where they’d relocate the export button but GD the top right corner is the worst position

Snapseed has been my go to editing app for close to a decade now. It’s wide range of powerful features and it’s complete lack of hidden purchases still do a lot to recommend it (the Selective Edit feature in particular is what turned me onto it in the first place) but…Having now tried this on two different phones, two different software profiles, the app hangs anytime I go to load a RAW image for development. Now, I could just go to Lightroom for this kind of thing, but the core simplicity and intuitive controls of Snapseed make it much less complicated than Lr. But, I shoot almost everything in RAW so that I can have that editing latitude, and loading an image, waiting and wondering whether I’ll be able to edit it at all have left me looking to other options. For jpeg shooters, however, this app is a marvel: It costs nothing, and is packed with wonderful features. The aforementioned Selective Edit is a great way to punch up contrast and saturation to specific areas of your images and leaving areas of first shot perfection relatively untouched. Furthermore, the preset edits like Portrait and Fine Art (black and white) are a one tap ticket to Gorgeous Town. I just wish the developers would do something about the lottery like nature of RAW development. Fix the lag, and I’ll bring back the Fifth Star, how about that?