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At last: Snapseed for Android!

Lauren Crabbe | Published: Dec 6, 2012 at 16:22:52 UTC 39

Snapseed has become a favorite photo editor amongst mobile photographers.

The Snapseed photo editor is a one-stop app for performing both quick and in-depth edits on a mobile device or computer. The app was released by Nik Software for the iPad in 2011 and has since become available on iPhone, Mac OS and Windows. Earlier this year, Google bought Nik Software and rumors circulated about the future of the popular software, and its potential availability on Android.

Today, Nik Software released the Android version of Snapseed. The app, formerly $4.99 from the Apple App Store, is now free in both the Apple App Store and Google Play. Challenging Facebook/Instagram's photo sharing dominance, the new Snapseed update also features built-in Google+ integration for easy image uploading to Google's social network. Users of the iOS version will also see some new filters added to version 1.5.

When Google bought Nik in September, Nik expressed its eagerness to share its award-winning software with more photography lovers in a public statement:

"We’ve always aspired to share our passion for photography with everyone, and with Google’s support we hope to be able to help many millions more people create awesome pictures."

This latest release is great news for mobile photographers but it also is encouraging for lovers of Nik’s desktop software; does Google’s generous gift of Snapseed indicate that Nik’s pricy software will become available for photographers on a budget?

Enter the Android App Talk Forum

Comments

Total comments: 39

Seems just like Bloatware aimed at Google+ users. Really? Does the app really need to be 26 MB's in size + processing memory? That's the best that Google/Nik could do & still not make it compatible with pre Android 4.0?

I'll stick with the Photo Editor app by Macgyver that is 1/20 th the size & which does FAR more. Photo Editor is a great app for photographers with no agenda for data mining & selling as per Google's intentions. For me Snapseed is a useless gimmick in comparison. Sheesh!

0 upvotes

TROLL

0 upvotes

Thanks neos9, nice helpful comment? So no alternative opinions allowed in your world of bullies?

0 upvotes

Thanks for the tip on Photo Editor. Very impressive app, especially for free. I had a snap that desperately needed perspective correction — it's from a TV screen mounted high over my head — and this is the first Android editor app I've seen that can do that.

0 upvotes

Cheeky buggers! I bought it quite recently....

1 upvote

Thank you Google.

Just installed the app on my Nexus 7.

Took my cat's pic from my P7700 sized at 4,000 x 3,000 12MP,
a 4.2 MB Jpeg.

Adjusted tone, cropped, etc. saved it.

I was expecting my image to be 2,048 pixels on the long side as the max other apps offer.

My saved image was saved as a 3.35 MB Jpeg, 3,696 x 2,464 - 9.1 MP.

You can not beat that.

Thank you Google!

1 upvote

I tried Snapseed on my Nexus 7. Very nice and it has an interesting interface. However, I much prefer Pixlr Express by Autodesk.

0 upvotes

Snapseed was great for me until I has bought and installed iPhoto.
It is more practical, and far powerful than Snapseed.
Anyway. one drawback of Snapseed that if it was solved in the latest version could let me continue using it - it does not let you view any kind of album - and that's irritating!

0 upvotes

Are there any plans for a native Windows 8 metro version?

Would like to use this on my new surface tab

1 upvote

We haven't heard word yet ... hopefully!

0 upvotes

New version not much different in my iPad. New retro filter not something I'm likely to use (seems like combined vintage and grunge effects) and they made the frames / borders much worse IMHO - more frame options but far less control over them once you've selected one.

Comment edited 24 seconds after posting

3 upvotes

I tried the desktop version and it didn't really convince me when I compared it to camera bag 2 which I currently use for these "retro" and such effects.

0 upvotes

I just briefly tested this program, but I think it has some advantage to the other programmes I use. It looks very intuitive. I'm glad I came across this article. Thanks Dpreview.

2 upvotes

...just loaded this on my Xoom, snapped a frame and played. Fantastic. Thanks for the heads up dpreview. :-D

2 upvotes

I love many things about Snapseed on my iPad 3 -- and it was worth the $4.99 I paid for it -- but I can't believe that it still can't resize photos.

The new "film" filters on the latest version are pretty useless, but they're free and phone photographers who want gimmicks may like them. I just wish they had put the effort into a resize-photo feature.

And, as klopus mentioned: no zoom. Sad omission.

1 upvote

iPhone 4S: it doesn't work. "For some reason, your post wasn't made." Delete.

0 upvotes

so i paid $4.99 last month for this crappy app that can't even close out a picture as it always must open with last pic worked on or demo pic.....terribly thought out in that regard.

now they spit in recent buyers facees. yes its only $4.99 but that not the point! screw nik/google IMO

1 upvote

How DARE they cut prices now that they're owned by a new company! That $5 could have put my kid through college!

1 upvote

It still has same maddening and inexplicable omissions as an iOS version - no zoom and no undo. Much lesser apps have both.

For example you can't see if you over or under sharpened making Details filter basically dangerous and useless. Same if you blew up highlights or plugged shadow detail in Selective Adjust.

And then after you spent 10 minutes editing and finally messed up forget about discarding that one last bad step. Start over dude!

1 upvote

This is the best mobile photograph editing app. I teach people how to use it at the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney.

If your android device isn't supported then you should update your OS.

Max file size is currently limited, which is really disappointing, but this will change with time I expect.

If you pair this editing app with an app that lets you control and lock exposure (Camera FV-5 for example) you will have a much better level of photographic output from your android device.

0 upvotes

Not for my phone or Z walkman either... Lástima margarito!

0 upvotes

Best app ever!

1 upvote

If your Android phone is pre 4.x (ICS/JB) then forget about it. My "old" Samsung Galaxy S2 is not compatible. Hence does not appear in the Play Store for me.

Pathetic.

0 upvotes

Or, instead of complaining about something there's an easy fix for, update your phone's OS and enjoy a great app!

4 upvotes

Updating the Samsung Galaxy S2 to 4.0.4 is a very simple process and having downloaded and 'played with' Snapseed for a while I have to say I like it very much, even though I am not really that interested in using the camera in the phone. I think it's a little unfair to attach the 'Pathetic Label' here.

3 upvotes

You can upgrade your phone to ICS since july I think.

4 upvotes

My carrier has not issued the upgrade, and it is under warranty, so no I cannot.

Pathetic is a fair description for a mammoth company such as Google with its resources, to release this as 4.x only; there are literally tens of millions of Android handsets sold in the last 12 months that are "stuck" with Gingerbread, yet easily have the hardware specs to run this application. It's just bad form.

2 upvotes

What you are seeing is the Android fragmentation problem itself, and is a much larger issue than just an App. What's particularily ironic in this case is that the app is released by Google, the OS developer itself. What is pathetic, is that they still cannot get a platform specification out that can be updated uniformly and in a timely fashion. In the end it means that we consumers need to shell out $$$ for new hardware i.e. new handsets just to update our OS far more often than we want or need new hardware.
Btw, this is an example of what I am talking about:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395401,00.asp

2 upvotes

Sorry Roger and Greg, but this issue has virtually nothing to do with google. It is primarily related to US carriers and manufacturers "skinning" the Android OS, like TouchWiz (worst name ever btw) for Samsung, or Sense for HTC. Google releases Android code typically before or the day the new version releases. The manufacturers then need to re-write their code to work with the updated OS, and then the US carriers take months testing it on their networks before they finally let it go through. Even with all this though, the Samsung Galaxy S2 has had an ICS update available for every major (and not so major) US carrier for at least 6 months. Most are not OTA updates, so install Kies on your computer, plug in the phone, and find the update.

0 upvotes

I suppose it's easy to point a finger at Google, but they had virtually nothing to do with the development of Snapseed for Android. They bought the company (Nik) just a couple of months ago. Snapseed for Android was announced almost a year ago, so in the time that Google's been involved, Snapseed has probably been in the beta-test stage.

Nik's vision of Snapseed for Android had been that it wasn't intended to work on mobile phones at all. It was targeted at the tablet market, which meant at least Honeycomb (3.0). They chose to go to ICS (4.0), which doesn't seem unreasonable under the circumstances. After all, by the time Snapseed for Android was finally released, even ICS had been replaced by JellyBean 4.1 and then by 4.2.

Google did seem to exert some influence in having gotten Snapseed released for Android mobile phones in addition to tablets.

1 upvote

This app is free so you cannot expect too much unless you are willing to pay $5.

Comment edited 19 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Try visiting the app store through your desktop...this app is not appearing on some devices. ...your compatible devices will show up from a list on the desktop play store....hope it helps...I am looking forward to testing it....

0 upvotes

"Challenging Facebook/Instagram's photo sharing dominance, the new Snapseed update..."

Why press always confuses Instagram with image editors? Instagram is first and foremost a proprietary cloud based image sharing social service, sort of visual Twitter. That's what defined its success and not a middling set of filters and rudimentary image editing tacked inside the app. Before Instagram there were gobs of much more powerful and easy to use editors that allowed to share images to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, etc.

4 upvotes

Interesting, Google Play finds nothing on Snapseed :)

0 upvotes

It should do:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.niksoftware.snapseed

0 upvotes

I want to install it on my phone, not on a computer, so I use Google play store - there is no such application there (at least now:)

0 upvotes

all my phones and tablets can see it in Google Play. If you cant see it , its because your phone has been flagged has incompatible with this app. And btw, you can push any app from the Google Play site using a computer. The link provided by R Butler has nothing to do with installing it on a computer.

0 upvotes

now my phone also sees it, (after 2 hours after this post).

0 upvotes

Snapseed is worth $4.99--actually, more. The economics of the app market are bizarre--developers create amazingly creative products and sell them for . . . $.99 or $1.99 or $4.99. Google has clearly decided that Snapseed's highest use is to drive traffic to Google plus, and we are all the benficiaries of that. The second benefit of free Snapseed may be in showing the world just how good U-point technology really is -- and that could pay off for Nik/Google in the long run. They will get an awesome number of people trying the software now.