Step 1: Digitise the Physical Photo First

To restore a physical photo, you first need a digital copy. Best methods: use a flatbed scanner (significantly better quality than phone photos for printed photos), or photograph with your phone in good natural light with the photo lying perfectly flat on a plain surface. Scan or photograph at the highest resolution possible — this preserves detail for restoration work.

Method 1: Google Photos Auto-Enhance (Free, Fastest)

  1. 1

    Open the photo in Google Photos → Edit

    Works on phone (Google Photos app) or at photos.google.com. Open the scanned photo → tap Edit (pencil icon). Tap Auto to apply automatic enhancement. This improves contrast, colour and sharpness automatically. Best for faded or poorly lit photos.

Method 2: Remini App (Free — Best for Faces)

  1. 2

    Upload to Remini and enhance

    Remini (free app on iPhone and Android) uses AI to upscale and sharpen old photos. Particularly good at restoring detail in faces. Free tier allows several enhancements per day. Tap Enhance, select the photo and let the AI process it. The before/after comparison is usually impressive for blurry or low-resolution old photos.

Method 3: Adobe Photoshop Neural Filters (Best Quality)

  1. 3

    Filter → Neural Filters → Photo Restoration

    In Photoshop (subscription): open the photo → Filter menu → Neural Filters. Enable Photo Restoration. Adjust the strength sliders for scratch reduction, face enhancement and noise reduction. This is the most powerful automated restoration tool available and handles scratches, tears, discolouration and blur simultaneously.

Method 4: Free Online Tools

  • MyHeritage Photo Enhancer (myheritage.com/photo-enhancer): specialises in old family photos, excellent for faces
  • PicWish (picwish.com): free AI photo restoration and enhancement online
  • Pixlr (pixlr.com): free photo editor in browser with healing and cloning tools for manual restoration
For heavily damaged photosManually restore tears and major scratches using the Clone Stamp or Healing Brush tool in Photoshop, Affinity Photo or the free GIMP. This requires more skill but gives the most control. Many professional photo restoration services also exist online if the photo is very important — typical cost $20–80 per photo.

Frequently Asked Questions

AI tools are remarkably good at restoring faded colour, low resolution and minor scratches. Major damage (large tears, severe water damage, missing sections) still requires manual work in photo editing software — AI fills in missing areas based on surrounding context but results vary. For severely damaged irreplaceable photos, a professional photo restoration service produces the best and most careful results.
Several AI tools do this automatically: MyHeritage Photo Colorizer (free, specialises in historical photos), Palette.fm (free online), or Adobe Photoshop Neural Filters → Colorize. AI colourisation is impressive for natural outdoor and portrait photos. Results are estimates — the AI assigns plausible colours based on training data rather than knowing the actual colours of the original scene.