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The photo editing site PicMonkey had two big surprises last week: a mobile app and a smart storage feature called Hub. The mobile app lets you edit your photos from your phone or tablet with many of the tools found on the PicMonkey website. Hub is a feature that’s a game-changer when editing photos on PicMonkey.
PicMonkey App
Availability
The PicMonkey app is available free on both iTunes and Google Play:
All of the app’s editing tools are included free.
PicMonkey App Features
The PicMonkey app has many, though not all, of the photo editing tools from the website. Using the app you can:
- Crop
- Add effects
- Add text
- Add stickers
- Draw
and more.
You can adjust and layer effects to get the look you want for your photos.
⇒ Don’t miss 4 Top Tips to Use PicMonkey Like a Pro!
What’s Missing from the App (and hopefully coming in an update?)
Missing are many of the overlays available on the site as well as the ability to add your own overlays. Not all of the effects are available on the app. Also missing from that app are frames, themes and textures.
Touch Up, that allows you to make faces look better, isn’t available either. I’m hoping this is one of the first additions PicMonkey offers in an update. Who doesn’t want to make their selfies look better?
Using the PicMonkey App
One of the best things about the PicMonkey app is how easy it is to use. The tools are intuitive. Editing your photos doesn’t require a learning curve.
To get started, download the app and allow it to access your photos. You can open a photo on your phone/tablet or from your Hub (more on that below).
After choosing a photo, you can start using the tools by tapping the icons on the bottom tool bar.
Crop –You can crop your photo before or after you make your edits. Rotate your photo at an angle, crop it to a custom size, or use the pre-set sizes in the app.
Adjust — Change the brightness, contrast, saturation and temperature of your photo in the Adjust section. A slider lets you control the intensity of each of these to get the desired effect.
Adjust also has a cool feature called Blur. This lets you keep part of your photo in focus while blurring the rest of the photo.
I used Blur on this photo to keep the focus on the tree while blurring the rest of the scene:
Effects — Add filters to your photos with the Effects tool. Effects lets you add filters to the entire photo or to part of the photo. You can either add the effect with the paintbrush tool, or erase the effect using the eraser.
This video illustrates how to use Effects:
https://youtu.be/GKqgVlF3vew
Draw — Use your finger or a stylus to draw on your photo. You can choose the color of your drawing and fade the drawing.
Stickers — Add stickers to your photo. The app offers dozens of stickers you can add. Pinch and zoom and change the color to customize the stickers.
Text — Add words to your photo with the text tool. Choose from different fonts and colors. Pinch and zoom the text box to adjust the size of the letters.
Saving Photos on the App
You can save your creations on your phone/tablet and on Hub. The app also lets you share your edited photos directly to social media and via text message and email.
Saving to Hub is only available for users with a Royale account.
[note] Royale is a paid account for PicMonkey that offers additional features on the website and the ability to save photos to Hub. A free 7-day trial of Royale is available. [/note]
Ready to learn about Hub?
PicMonkey Hub
PicMonkey introduced Hub last week, a service that lets Royale users save their photos to the Cloud. Hub works on both the website and the app, though a bit differently on each.
Hub on PicMonkey Website — Smart Save
Hub on the website lets you save photos you’ve edited on PicMonkey, but with a smart twist. When you save a photo to Hub from the website, it’s saved as a work-in-progress.
You can continue to edit photos you’ve saved on Hub, picking up where you left off. Hub is a very handy feature, allowing you to make changes to an edited photo even after it has been saved.
When you save a photo and re-open it on PicMonkey without Hub, all of your edits are finalized, meaning you can’t change them. When you open a saved photo on PicMonkey without Hub, there is no adjusting the text you added or changing an overlay. It’s as if you’re starting from scratch.
But with Hub, you can continue editing your saved photo, as if you never stopped editing it. Change your overlays and edit text, as easily as you could before you saved the photo to Hub. You can also use images you’ve saved in Hub as an overlay.
By saving your photos to Hub, you can back up your photos in case your computer crashes, and save different versions of your photo to see which one looks best. Once you’ve decided, you can continue editing your favorite.
[tip] If you have an image that you edit frequently, save it to Hub to use as a template. [/tip]
Hub lets you access your PicMonkey photos from anywhere, lets you continue editing them, and backs up your photos. Hub is a killer feature that will make using PicMonkey much more efficient.
Hub on the App
Hub on the PicMonkey app is handy, but not as handy as Hub on the website. With Hub on the app, you can save your photos to the Cloud to back them up and access them anywhere.
But unlike Hub on the website, you cannot continue editing photos saved to Hub from the app.
Hub is still handy to have on the app so you can access your saved photos and to transfer photos between devices and your computer.
With so many more tools on the PicMonkey website than the app, you may want to start editing your photos on the app, save it to your Hub, then do more editing on the website. Just know that whatever edits you save to Hub on the app can’t be adjusted as they can with Hub on the website.
Learn more about Hub at the PicMonkey blog.
Your Thoughts
Have you tried either the PicMonkey app or Hub? Do you want to have PicMonkey tools on your phone and tablet? Do you like the idea of Hub and the ability to continue editing where you left off?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn,
Though I create my own images but still, it’s good to know about that picmonkey app is available for the people to use.
I am sure, it would be great for them to edit the images using this app. It would help many people.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Enjoy the day.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi, Yes, these new tools will be very handy for many people. Nearly every photo on The Wonder of Tech has been edited on PicMonkey. I resize photos for easier loading for readers. Editing photos is easy on PicMonkey and even easier now with these tools.
I hope you enjoy using these, Ravi.
Hi Carolyn,
I’ve been using PicMonkey for awhile, but was not aware of Hub and the new app, so thanks for sharing the information.
Hi Cathy, Yes, both of these new tools are very exciting for PicMonkey users. If you’re a Royale member, you will love Hub. Having the ability to save templates and edit saved photos is very handy. I also like being able to access my PicMonkey photos from any device.
I hope you enjoy PicMonkey’s app and Hub, Cathy!
Hi Carolyn,
Interesting indeed! 🙂
I have used PicMonkey earlier, but didn’t know about the latest additions – must check it out, though I doubt if I could ever work on images through my mobile!! But yes, my kids are good at that, as that is what they use all the time!
I prefer Canva now, as I’ve got a little hang of it, or else it’s always been good old Photoshop. Need to try this out now.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, PicMonkey is my go-to photo editor. Nearly every photo on The Wonder of Tech has been edited in PicMonkey first. I do like Canva, but even when I design an image on Canva, I bring it over to PicMonkey for the final edits.
I like how PicMonkey lets me add my own layers and use my own fonts. The color matching is very useful too!
I hope you try PicMonkey again and enjoy the new features, Harleena!
I have been using Picmonaey for years & I love the ease of use & am very happy with it. The new Hub is sort of screwing me up though. I would also love the option to save my images like it always has & replace the edited image with the original one. I use Lightroom in conjunction with Picmonkey, & the way it always worked for me was perfect! I am feeling frustrated! Help? I don’t even know where the edited image I saved in HUB is located on my computer. Where do I retrieve it when I am happy with it?
Hi Christy, Sorry you’re having trouble with Hub. You don’t have to replace a saved photo on Hub when you’re using your computer. When you save an image to Hub, you can choose whether to update the image or save it as a new image. ‘
On the PicMonkey website, click on Edit and you will see Hub as an option to retrieve images from. You can also reach out to PicMonkey as they have excellent customer service. Their Hub Tutorial may also be helpful to you.