There are many free apps that can help you create a beautiful birthday card or make a collage of pictures of your kid(s). But if you never use one before or haven’t found the right one yet, let me introduce you to some of my favorite apps. I use them every week if not every day! They are great apps and they are free. There is no need to pay for subscription or buy extra stuff (only if you want to). The basic elements that these apps provide will give you plenty of options. So let me introduce each app then you can decide which one is best for you. Or like me, just use all of them.
Fotor
I mostly use Fotor to create a photo collage. Every month I will put together 5-6 pictures of my son in a collage template, adjusting the pictures, changing the background color. After you save it, then you can edit by adding text, stickers, etc. I do this every month to share pictures of my son with our family. I feel like this is one of the best ways to keep my family especially the ones who are faraway feeling connected to him. This app is super easy to use so it won’t take long to create a beautiful collage to share.
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everimaging.photoeffectstudio&hl=en&gl=US
PicCollage
Despite the name PicCollage, I mainly use this app to create invitations and cards - birthday, Christmas, New Year, you name it. They have lots of templates that you can choose from and they are adding new ones for special occasions too (Easters, Mother’s Day, etc. Of course, there will always be nicer and more beautiful ones that they are tempting you to pay for. Nevertheless, I’m quite happy with the free selections. You also have the same functions as in photo collage, adding texts and stickers as Fotor. But I find Fotor to be a bit easier to make collages.
One of the best functions of this app is cutout. It means you can remove the background and keep just what you want directly from your phone. No Photoshop required. You can draw the line around the object or person with your finger and it will just cut the background out. You can refine it further too if you want to. I find it pretty easy to use and it turns out great.
Website: https://piccollage.com/
Canva
One of the most popular apps for graphic design right now. They have a free version which comes with lots of templates, background photos and other elements like stickers or gifs. You can do a lot of things with Canva such as Facebook Posts, IG Stories, flyers, presentations and logos. I do all of my design work for BAMBI from Canva, believe it or not? However, it also means that there are a lot more tools, functions and elements on the app. I would recommend Canva if you have specific ideas that you want in your design and that you can’t do it with other apps. Also, it is much better to use it on a bigger screen.
Website: https://www.canva.com/
Spark Post
Developed by Adobe, Spark Post is an easy-to-use graphic design app, mainly for social media posts. It has many templates (a lot of them are not free unfortunately), pictures, backgrounds and stickers. It’s a bit more compact and simpler than Canva, especially when using it on the phone. Spark Post gives you more freedom to create compared to Fotor and PicCollage. Unlike Canva, it can only create one page at a time. I would recommend this app if you want a single artwork while just using your phone.
All these apps are really free?
Well, for Fotor and PicCollage, you will see ads that pop up every time you save your design. For PicCollage, its logo is added to the bottom right corner of your design. For these two apps though, you do not need to sign up.
Canva and Spark Post require you to sign up. Keep in mind their target users are professional. However, they are simple enough that you can learn how to use it quite quickly. If you want to use some of their more fancy templates or elements, that’s only when you need to pay for a subscription. You won’t see any ads ever in the free version. Just a note on Spark Post, their logo will appear on the bottom right corner on every design. However, you can simply remove it.
I hope that you find these apps useful as much as I do. Since they are free, why not download them and try them all. Creating a beautiful design will be so easy peasy lemon squeezy (like how my son would say it).
Source: Images from iTunes App Store and Google Play
Note: This article appeared first in BAMBI Magazine July-August 2021 issue. Link