Best Apps to Fix and Restore Old Photos

Old photos don’t age gracefully. They fade in ugly ways. Faces lose contrast first. Then come scratches, dust, random white dots, and those deep creases that always seem to cut straight through someone’s eyes. If you’ve ever held an original print from the 1950s or earlier, you know what I mean.

Restoring these photos used to mean one thing: Photoshop, hours of zooming in, and a lot of patience. Most people never finished. Now there are apps that promise to fix everything in seconds. Some actually help. Others just repaint the photo until it barely resembles the original.

This list isn’t about miracles. It’s about tools that respect old photos instead of rewriting them. Five apps. Different strengths. Very different results.

Why Restoring Old Photos Is Trickier Than It Looks

Old photos almost never have just one problem. They’re faded, scratched, unevenly exposed, and damaged in ways that don’t follow any neat pattern. 

One part of the image might still be sharp, while another has nearly disappeared. That kind of damage confuses most one-click tools, because old photos don’t fail the way modern images do.

The bigger issue is restraint. Pushing sharpness and contrast too far doesn’t restore a photo — it replaces it. Remove every flaw, and the image starts to feel wrong; leave everything untouched, and it stays unreadable. 

Real restoration sits somewhere in the middle, and that balance is exactly where most apps struggle.

1. Renew Photo: Best Overall for Natural Restoration

Renew Photo feels like it was designed by someone who has actually handled old photographs, not just trained a model on random images.

The first thing you notice is what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t aggressively sharpen faces. It doesn’t erase every wrinkle. It doesn’t turn skin into smooth plastic. Instead, it focuses on the boring but necessary stuff: scratches, dust, cracks, uneven fading.

That restraint matters. A lot.

Faces restored with Renew usually still look like real people. Imperfect. Slightly uneven. Human. If a photo is badly damaged, Renew tries to rebuild missing areas without inventing details that clearly weren’t there in the first place.

It’s especially good with mid-to-heavy damage. Torn edges, long scratches, blotchy exposure — the kind of problems that confuse many one-click tools. Renew doesn’t panic. The results won’t look brand new, but they’ll look believable.

Pros:

• Very natural results

• Strong scratch and damage removal

• Faces stay realistic

• Handles badly damaged photos well

Cons:

• Less dramatic “before/after” effect

• Not meant for artistic edits

If you care more about truth than gloss, this is the one to start with.

2. RetroFix: Best for Classic Film Aesthetic

RetroFix takes a different approach. It doesn’t try to erase the age of a photo. It leans into it.

This app is clearly tuned for old film characteristics: grain, contrast curves, and the slightly uneven tones you see in real analog prints. Photos from the 1940s through the 1970s tend to respond especially well.

What RetroFix does best is bringing tonal balance back. Blacks stop looking gray. Highlights calm down. The photo suddenly makes visual sense again, even if small flaws remain.

That’s the trade-off. RetroFix isn’t ideal for severe physical damage. Deep scratches or missing sections may still be visible. But for photos that are structurally intact and just look washed out or tired, it works beautifully.

Pros:

• Preserves authentic vintage feel

• Excellent tonal correction

• Avoids over-sharpening

Cons:

• Limited repair for heavy damage

• Less control over specific areas

If you want a restored photo that still feels like it came from a drawer, not a computer, RetroFix does that well.

3. Remini: Best for Face Detail (With Caveats)

Remini is famous for a reason. When it works, it really works.

If you have an old photo where faces are blurry to the point of being unrecognizable, Remini can sometimes pull out eyes, mouths, and expressions that seem completely gone. For casual use, it feels almost magical.

But it’s also the riskiest app on this list.

Remini has a tendency to guess. And sometimes it guesses wrong. Faces can end up slightly “off.” Symmetry looks too perfect. Skin becomes unnaturally smooth. In extreme cases, the person starts to look like a generic portrait rather than a specific individual.

It’s best used carefully. Great for rescuing lost facial detail. Not great as a blanket solution.

Pros:

• Extremely strong face enhancement

• Works well on very blurry images

• Fast and simple

Cons:

• Can invent details

• Faces may look artificial

Think of Remini as a powerful tool, not a safe one.

4. Adobe Photoshop (with Neural Filters): Best for Control Freaks

Photoshop isn’t quick, and it isn’t easy. But it’s still unmatched if you want control.

With modern Neural Filters and restoration tools, Photoshop can speed up tasks that used to take forever. Scratch removal, dust cleanup, reconstruction — all possible, all adjustable. You decide what stays and what goes.

The downside is obvious. Photoshop demands time and skill. It’s very easy to overdo things and erase the character of a photo if you’re not careful.

Pros:

• Full manual control

• Professional-quality results

• Best for complex restorations

Cons:

• Steep learning curve

• Slow compared to apps

• Requires subscription

For archival work or important historical photos, it’s still the gold standard.

5. MyHeritage Photo Enhancer: Best for Family Archives

MyHeritage is built for people digging through family history, and that shapes how its photo tools behave.

It works best on portraits. Faces are the priority. Enhancement is moderate — stronger than Renew, weaker than Remini. If you’re restoring dozens of family photos at once, consistency is one of its strengths.

Backgrounds and clothing sometimes get less attention, and faces can still lean slightly artificial. But for organizing and sharing family collections, it does the job without too much fuss.

Pros:

• Good for large family archives

• Batch processing

• Easy to use

Cons:

• Background restoration is basic

• Faces not always perfectly natural

It’s more practical than precise, and that’s fine for its purpose.

Making Old Photos Readable Again

Fixing old photos isn’t about making them modern. It’s about making them legible again. Letting faces reappear. Letting moments make sense.

• If you want the most natural results, Renew Photo is the safest choice.

• If you care about vintage character, RetroFix fits well.

• If faces are completely lost, Remini can help — just don’t trust it blindly.

• For full control, Photoshop still rules.

• And for family history projects, MyHeritage is convenient and consistent.

The best restorations know when to stop. That’s still a human decision.