Best Designing Apps to Create, Edit, and Design Efficiently in 2023

Check out the best mobile apps for effortless designing and editing to unleash your creative potential!
Last Updated on :
July 01, 2023
best designing apps

The technological advancements and our growing dependability on them have transformed our lives to a large extent. Today, we have a mobile application for everything from streaming music to writing a blog quickly and easily.

As users shift online, many businesses strive to make a mark on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. Through stunning visual posts, businesses aim to get better engagement and attract more customers for their products and services. The good part is that you do not need to spend a lot of time and effort on designing a good post.

Some of the best designing apps are available to help you create incredible social media posts and graphics. To simplify the jobs further, you can also use AI logo maker apps for commercial and personal uses. We have reviewed the best design-making apps along with their features and utility to help you choose what’s good and what isn’t.

Our Top Picks

We have explored best designing apps that will make the designing process easier, faster, and more efficient. These apps will surely help you get the job done in the simplest and most fun way possible.

Best Apps for Designing with Power, Precision, and Perfection!

There are plenty of options available in the market, but the prototype and wireframes of these tools make them stand out from the rest. These top apps for designers can do everything from brainstorming and planning the design to creating a stunning visual.

Each app is mentioned along with its detailed description, features, and downloadable links. So let’s move ahead with our list of the best designing apps available for designers.

1.

Photoshop Express

Apple 4.0
android 4.3

Photoshop Express is an inclusive platform that functions as the best logo design app for both professional and domestic users. The app is built for smartphone photography and works well with your mobile’s camera roll. With its robust set of tools, you can make fast edits easily through your mobile phone instantly.

It is among the best design-making apps that are ideal for applying quick edits like filter overlays and other effects like text, animations, and more. Users can also make a number of basic edits, like adjusting the exposure, shadows, brightness, and more, using the Photoshop Express app.

Features of Photoshop Express

  • Easy to pick up and use
  • Ideal for making quick social media posts
  • Make photo collages and retouch images quickly
  • Completely free to use without any additional cost
  • Add special effects, texts, stickers, borders, and more
Download Photoshop Express
2.

Affinity Designer

Apple 4.0
android 3.4

Affinity Designer is one of the best apps for designing that offers an effective UX solution for businesses to create icons, UI designs, concept art, illustrations, and more. It is an award-winning vector graphic software that is best known for its industry-standard tools. 

For new designers and old professionals, Affinity Designer offers a set of modern and powerful tools that are simple to learn and use. In terms of functionality and style, Affinity Designer offers an impressive and low-budget alternative to Adobe Illustrator.

Features of Affinity Designer

  • Intuitive and modern interface for all designers
  • A vector graphic software with shape tools and pens
  • Offers a variety of color swatches, brushes, and styles
  • Best tools with competitive pricing and no subscriptions
  • Offers professional-level capabilities, yet accessible for beginners
Download Affinity Designer
3.

Figma

Apple 4.0
android 4.4

Figma is one of the best apps for designing that helps you create everything from logos to websites, applications, and more. This software gives you access to all the tools you require in the project's design phase, ranging from vector to fully-fledged illustrations.  

Figma’s tools are primarily targeted toward people who are involved in interface design. Unlike other popular designing apps, Figma allows users to collaborate and connect in real-time for a particular project or task. With the basic tools for shapes, images, texts, and more, you can easily prototype a website, design an application, and do a lot more, even as a beginner.

Features of Figma

  • Offers the best interface design tools for beginners
  • Free and ready-to-use templates for websites and apps
  • Supports integration with Slack to enhance communication
  • Ideal for project management, app development, and more
  • Available on Mac, Windows PC, Linux Machines, and Chromebook as well
Download Figma
4.

Canva

Apple 4.0
android 4.8

Canva is ranked among the best apps to make designs that have been around for more than a decade now. It has a comprehensive suite of powerful tools that cater to designers and creators of all sizes but is commonly preferred by freelancers and small businesses. It is the most popular free graphic design app that lets you use all the basic tools without any charges. 

The powerful design tools offered by Canva are used in both educational and commercial purposes. Canva supports image editing and project-based learning through a simple drag-and-drop interface that works well for both professionals and new beginners.

Features of Canva

  • Offers powerful tools for graphic design 
  • Ideal for creating professional resumes and presentations
  • Add filters, crop, and edit your images easily through phone
  • Suitable for creating social media posts and academic projects
  • Simplest and the handiest tools for those in creative disciplines
Download Canva
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5.

VSCO

Apple 4.7
android 3.4

VSCO is the app for making a graphic design that offers a set of premium features and professional-quality tools. It has a direct messaging feature that allows users to send text or share images quickly. Its wide range of unique filters and templates makes VSCO a preferred choice for many users. 

VSCO is one of the best designing apps and sharing platforms that deliver a unique creative experience for all its users. It has a fully-fleshed set of basic and advanced tools that can support all kinds of creative projects and pursuits.

Features of VSCO

  • Offers advanced editing features, filters, and more
  • Offers both a free version and subscribed plans for users
  • Enables easy sharing of the images through direct messaging
  • Uniquely curated collections on the ‘Discover’ page of every user
  • Gives access to educational material like photography tutorials and tips
Download VSCO
6.

Snapseed

Apple 3.5
android 4.3

Snapseed is one of the best apps to create designs and edit photos on iOS and Android mobile phones. It offers excellent tools that can enhance your photographs using digital filters and effects. Snapseed is regarded as an artist’s favorite tool with advanced features. 

It is one of the best free graphic design apps that is meant for serious photographers and editors. However, its simple interface makes it ideal for new beginners as well. Using a simple swiping gesture and a wide selection of editing tools, Snapseed allows you to play around with your pictures and enhance them as per your preference.

Features of Snapseed

  • Simple swiping feature to retouch and edit images
  • Offers special effects like Drama, Vintage, Grunge, etc.
  • Enables an ‘automatic adjustment’ feature for retouching
  • Creates save filter combinations for saving time on editing
  • Professional tools like lens blur, glamour glow, HDR scape, etc
Download Snapseed
7.

Pixlr

Apple 3.6
android 4.1

Pixlr is among the most popular graphic designing apps for Android and iOS smartphones. Through its smart AI technology and advanced editing tools, Pixlr is a preferred choice for many professional users. It is a cloud-based image editing tool that facilitates a wide range of photo editing and sharing services. 

It is the best app for making designs as a beginner without much prior knowledge and experience. Pixlr was initially targeted at non-professional users; however, with recent updates, the app now supports advanced photo editing as well. It features three different subscription plans for users to choose from. If you are on the lookout for suitable apps for designers, Pixlr is an excellent choice for you.

Features of Pixlr

  • Flash-based photo editing software
  • Quickly and effortlessly edits images.
  • Free to use without any additional charges
  • Ideal for users with any skill level and expertise
  • Advanced tools and options for quick and easy fixes
Download Pixlr
8.

Adobe Xd

Apple 4.7
android 3.8

Adobe Xd is an easy-to-use yet extremely powerful vector-based design platform that can help in completing a creative project collaboratively and easily. Adobe Xd is one of the best design-making apps that is packed with a wide range of features and tools, making it an essential tool for any UX designer. 

If you are looking for the best free app for designing a simple mobile application or a full-fledged website, Adobe Xd is an ideal solution for you. It is ideal for vector-based UI design, wireframing, prototyping, web/app design, and more.

Features of AdobeXd

  • Versatile tools with a huge range of features
  • High-quality templates for creating beautiful projects
  • Supports voice commands and gestures for easy working
  • A clean interface with an expansive set of features and tools
  • Offers a repeat grid feature ideal for creating complex layouts
Download Adobe Xd
9.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Apple 4.6
android 4.8

Adobe Creative Cloud is one of the best designing apps that offers a collection of tools ideal for graphic design, video editing, web development, photography, and more. It is one of the most trusted names in software for filmmakers, photographers, artists, and more. 

With a robust set of tools, you can create an array of visual content and creative projects. From video editing and mobile designing to desktop publishing, Adobe Creative Cloud can assist you in all kinds of professional and non-professional projects.

Features of Adobe Creative Cloud

  • Automatically save projects to the cloud
  • Available on both iOS and Android mobile devices
  • Valuable for digital designers, photographers, filmmakers, etc. 
  • Available as a subscription-based model and free version for users
  • Design flyers, books, websites, photo editing, logo making, and more
Download Adobe Creative Cloud
10.

VistaCreate

Apple 4.8
android 4.3

VistaCreate is a graphic design platform that offers a suite of powerful tools that creates engaging projects for any industry. It is one of the best designing apps for anyone who wishes to create a design quickly and efficiently. You can edit an image using both basic and advanced tools. 

VistaCreate is primarily targeted at marketers, bloggers, and small business owners. It is suitable for creators who wish to produce content regularly but do not wish to spend money and excess time on the same.

Features of VistaCreate

  • Simple and intuitive interface 
  • Offers a team account to support collaboration
  • Automatic social media scheduler for adding posts
  • Offers brand kits with fonts, logos, and color palettes 
  • Basic and advanced features such as background remover, image resizer, etc.
Download VistaCreate
11.

Ibis Paint X

Apple 4.7
android 4.4

Ibis Paint X is a feature-packed drawing tool that is ranked among the best designing apps available for Android and iOS users. With its robust set of tools, this app has gained immense popularity among many digital artists, designers, and illustrators. If you are someone who prefers the convenience and comfort of a mobile platform, Ibis Paint X is best for you. 

Similar to other designing apps, Ibis Paint X offers a wide selection of features, including brushes, filters, layers, and more. It is highly versatile in its working and is thus suitable for both beginners and more experienced artists and designers.

Features of Ibis Paint X

  • Wide selection of filters and special effects to apply
  • Supports vector layers to create crisp and clean layouts
  • Intuitive interface and simple-to-use tools for beginners
  • Offers an extensive brush library for professional editing
  • Supports large canvases up to 10,000 by 10,000 pixels in size
Download Ibis Paint X
12.

Behance

Apple 4.7
android 4.5

Behancs, part of Adobe, is a leading design platform to discover and display creative work. From creating a creative portfolio to searching for popular works in your field, Behance is among the best designer apps that can do it all. It is one of the many Adobe tools that help creators shine in their field. This tool is a preferred choice for many designers, videographers, and photographers. 

Behnace’s offerings are pretty diverse and it thus stands as one of the best apps for designing. It offers a collaborative platform and a set of robust tools that can help you easily showcase your artistic skills and strengthen your network.

Features of Behance

  • Display your work in a presentable and saleable way
  • Showcase your artwork by creating a unique portfolio
  • Easy and highly customizable tools to create portfolios
  • Free to be used by all creative professionals across disciplines
  • Suitable for website designing, graphic design, creative, writing, etc.
Download Behance
13.

GoDaddy Studio

Apple 5.0
android 4.4

GoDaddy Studio is one of the best design-making apps that offer a wide range of tools that can help you elevate creatives and sell your brand through social media. The designs created through GoDaddy Studio can be used on any platform be it a website or social media. It is considered among the best apps for designers as it lets you capture the true brand image through stunning designs and illustrations. 

GoDaddy is specifically designed to help you create professional-looking designs within a fraction of the time. It is the best marketing solution for any company that is looking to expand its sales and business through online channels and social media.

Features of GoDaddy Studio

  • Offers both paid and free versions for users
  • Simple, drag-and-drop features for designing 
  • Access to GoDaddy cloud to create and edit on the go
  • Designs custom sites to communicate the brand’s ideas
  • Unrestricted design capabilities and built-in marketing tools
Download GoDaddy Studio
14.

GIMP

Apple 1.5
android 2.5

GIMP is a unique cross-platform image editor that is available for macOS, Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. It is one of the best free apps for designing and editing that is suitable for both basic and advanced tasks. A comprehensive suite of powerful tools makes GIMP a suitable choice for Photographers, Graphic Designers, and other professionals.

It is the best app for making designs and image manipulation tasks such as logo designing, image construction, painting, editing, and more. GIMP is capable enough to be used as a simple and basic image editing tool or as advanced and power-packed editing software.

Features of GIMP

  • Supports cross-platform functioning 
  • Completely free and an open source tool
  • Offers tools for high-quality image editing
  • Useful for creating logos, icons, mockups, etc.
  • Supports third-party plug-ins for advanced editing
Download GIMP
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What are the best apps for creating designs as a beginner?

Finding the best design app or software is critical if you wish to complete all your creative projects with the best efficiency. If you are looking for a designing app as a beginner, you must select an option that offers high flexibility and simplicity in its use. An app that is easy to understand will help you get started with your professional career in the best way possible. 

Some of our recommendations of the best design apps and software available for beginners are listed below:

a. VistaCreate

1. Offers team collaboration tools
2. Simple to use blur and editing tools
3. Wide selection of frames and filters
4. Access to 75,000+ predesigned templates
5. Free fonts, audio, animations, backgrounds

b. Stencil

1. Easy to upload and store designed logos
2. Speedy, web-based graphic designing tool
3. Browser extension for Chrom and Firefox
4. Ideal for designing social media posts and designs
5. Over 140 preset sizes and 5100+ Google web fonts

c. Pixlr

1. Intuitive and simple interface 
2. Offers a large stock image library
3. A wallet-friendly alternative to Photoshop
4. Multiple photo effects like dispersion, and more
5. Directly import photos from a computer, URL, or Facebook

d. Canva

1. Magic resize and fitting
2. Built-in tools for editing videos
3. Robust free version for beginners
4. Simple tools for removing background
5. Direct sharing to social media platforms

How to choose a suitable design app?

Given the wide range of prices, features, and use cases for the best design-making apps and software, it is important to carefully the website cost that matches your needs and requirements. You must consider the following points to select an app that suits your goals and interests:

a. Reflect on your goal

Before choosing a design-making app, you must be clear about the goal and purpose of your designs. Consider the type of projects that you wish to complete, highlight the important designing parameters you need to focus on, and choose a suitable app as per that. 

b. Research your options

There is a huge variety of the best designer app available for Android and iOS devices. Before fixing one option, you must explore all the apps that are available to you. Examine and compare their features and functionality thoroughly to make the best choice for your project. 
 Some key considerations are-

1. User-friendly and intuitive interface
2. Pre-made designs and templates library
3. A help-desk and training support to learn the software 
4. A set of both basic and pro-level tools for editing and designing
5. Task-specific features and tools

c. Experiment with different tools and software

You can sign-up for free trials or basic plans with multiple designing apps before selecting the one. This way you will be able to make an informed decision after trying out all the options available to you. Experimenting with different tools will also strengthen your confidence in making a long-term investment in a suitable design app.

Final Verdict!

After reviewing the best designing apps available for your mobile phones, we are sure that these will simplify your tasks and improve your efficiency. The choice of the best app ultimately depends upon your personal preferences and requirements. However, the above-mentioned apps offer great tools that are optimized for basic and advanced editing tasks. 

You can experiment with the best graphic design apps for Android and iOS mobile phones to carefully select the best one that aligns with your preferences and requirements. Be it a professional designer or a new beginner, these apps work equally well for all. Give these apps a shot to elevate your editing and designing game. 

Lastly, if you are an app owner and wish to list your product, get in touch with us at MobileAppDaily. Our expert reviews will help in the substantial growth and success of your app by ensuring its maximum reach among the targeted audience. Until then, keep on exploring MobileAppDaily for more information, updates, reviews, and the latest news on the world of technology and mobile applications.

General FAQ

  • What is the best app to create a design?
  • What app do most graphic designers use?
  • Is Adobe graphic design free?
Written By
Pallavi
Pallavi Content Head at MobileAppDaily

She is an avid writer of technology and trending mobile apps. When she is not busy updating you about the tech world, she spends time reading books and playing guitar.


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