The best way to restore old photos on your iPhone

Faded prints, scratched portraits, blurry faces, black-and-white memories — PicFix repairs them in one tap and keeps everyone looking like themselves. Preview your restored photo free before you pay. No ads, no watermark, cancel anytime.

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Before and after: an old faded family photo restored and colorized with PicFix on iPhone

What’s the best app to restore old photos? For iPhone, PicFix is built specifically for old-photo restoration: it repairs faces, scratches, fading, and blur across the whole photo, colorizes black-and-white prints, and uses a faithful identity-preserve mode so relatives still look like themselves. You can preview the restored result for free before subscribing, and your original photo is always kept.

What PicFix restores

Faces — blurry, faded, or soft faces brought back, faithfully (no re-shaping)
Damage — scratches, cracks, tears, water damage on old prints
Fading & color — lift faded prints; colorize black-and-white
Sharpness — upscale and denoise low-resolution or grainy scans
Exposure — brighten dark, dim, underexposed shots

PicFix vs other photo-restoration apps

What matters for old photos	PicFix	MyHeritage	YouCam	Remini
Faithful, identity-preserving faces	✅ TrueFace	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Can over-smooth	⚠️ Can re-shape
Whole-photo repair (scratches, tears, fade)	✅ Yes	⚠️ Partial	⚠️ Enhance-focused	⚠️ Face-focused
Colorize black & white	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	⚠️ Limited
Free preview before paying	✅ Yes	⚠️ Varies	⚠️ Varies	⚠️ Often behind credits
No ads / no watermark	✅ Both	⚠️ Varies	⚠️ Watermark on free	❌ Ads
Platform	iPhone / iPad	iOS / Android / web	iOS / Android	iOS / Android

Comparison reflects publicly reported features & user sentiment as of 2026 — check each app’s current store listing before relying on it. MyHeritage, YouCam and Remini are trademarks of their respective owners; PicFix is not affiliated with them.

How to restore an old photo

Open PicFix, tap Restore.
Choose the old photo, or snap a picture of a printed one.
PicFix repairs damage, fading, and blur — pick Faithful to stay closest to the original.
Preview the result free, compare the before/after.
Colorize if it’s black-and-white.
Export in full quality — your original is kept.

Tip from restorers: scan or photograph the print in good, even light — a sharp input gives a far better restoration than a dim phone snapshot.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best app to restore old photos on iPhone?

PicFix is purpose-built for it — whole-photo repair, faithful faces, colorize, and a free preview before you pay.

Can I restore a photo for free?

Yes — restore and preview free; full-quality export is part of the 3-day-trial subscription.

Will restoration change the person’s face?

No — TrueFace preserves identity; Faithful mode stays closest to the original.

Can it fix scratches and water damage?

Yes — cracks, tears, scratches, and fading on old prints.

Does it keep my original?

Always. Nothing is overwritten.

Restore your photos with PicFix3-day free trial