Competition on Instagram grows day after day.
Instagram reports that there are more than 25 million active business profiles and that 200+ million Instagrammers visit at least one business profile a day.
When you combine these huge numbers with a recent survey, revealing that 60% of Instagrammers find new products on the network…
…it’s clear to see why brands are battling fiercely for prime location in user’s newsfeeds.
If you’re working at an agency, brand, business or you’re hoping to become the next big Insta influencer, you’re in for a treat today.
We’re going in on some FREE Instagram apps that will transform your profile and social posts. With the help of these apps you won’t have to work nearly as hard to create content that increases your Instagram followers.
Before we get into it, I need to enlist the help of a very average photo, because I want to demonstrate the versatility and image transforming potential of these apps…
…so, here we are:
That average enough for you?
Free Instagram Apps
Insta App for Photo Editing: SnapSeed
I want to kick off our countdown with an app I consider one of the most important.
SnapSeed is a Google developed, high-quality, professional photo editor. This app has more than 29 tools and filters, with an impressive array of image styling options.
There are loads of similar photo editing apps, but SnapSeed’s easy to use interface gives it the edge.
Included in their list of tools and filters, you’ll find ‘Healing’, ‘HDR scape’, ‘Text’, ‘Head pose’, ‘Frames’ and much more.
I spent a grand total of 30 seconds messing around with our cow photo on SnapSeed and came out with something a little more interesting than the original…
…but if you’re willing to put in 5 minutes work on this app, you can turn an ordinary (ungrammable) photo into something amazing.
Insta App for Getting Attention: Giphy Cam
If SnapSeed was the safest app in our list, Giphy Cam is definitely the most out-there.
This app has a host of crazy-looking photo and video editing options that will really make your images stand out in the Instagram Newsfeed.
As the name suggests, Giphy Cam allows you to create GIF’s from photos or videos, and can bring life to even the most mundane image (lucky I chose that cow then!).
The app is easy to use and the effects instantly apply themselves to your photos.
The editing features include Filters, GIF stickers, Faces, Moving Backgrounds, (see the dolphin above) Overlays, Frames and Text…
…and each one guarantees to surprise viewers more than the last!
This GIF of my cow photo took all of 10 seconds to find, apply and save and it would create much more engagement than the original:
Insta App for Brand Templates: Over
Over is one of the most complete apps for brands on Instagram.
It functions as an image editor, but that’s not the reason it makes this list (because it can’t complete with SnapSeed on that playing field).
Over has one of the most comprehensive libraries of post templates anywhere. It is a FREEMIUM app, so be prepared to only have a select number of templates available…
…but even so, there are more than enough options, especially if you’ve only just started using it.
The templates section has a search option, as well as a host of different categories with stunning options for brands in any industry.
It’s an easy to use app that can transform standard images into brand messages in the touch of a few buttons.
If you’re looking to step up your branded content game, I predict that Over could become a big part of your Insta strategy in 2019.
This is what I achieved with the cow photo in no time at all (btw: if I had a different photo, I would’ve used a much more interesting template!):
Insta App for Stylish Story Editing and Planning: Unfold
If you want to separate your Instagram stories from the average, Unfold might be the app to do it.
This app is an Instagram story designer and builder, with a range of customisable templates. This allows you to create and check your story before uploading it to your profile.
If you have a message that you’d like to share with your followers through several story posts, you can format them on Unfold and then optimise your story for engagement.
Over 500 million Instagram stories are posted everyday and a third of the most viewed (of these) are created by businesses.
If you aren’t already, make sure you’re posting regular Instagram stories to entertain and engage with your audience.
Instagram stories are a great way of providing insights into your business and increasing brand visibility.Click To TweetHere’s what I was able to create with our cow photo on Unfold (in moments):
Insta App for Selfies and Touch-Ups: Facetune 2
If you’re an aspiring Insta influencer or you use lots of personalisation in your posts, Facetune 2 might be the app for you.
Like a few of the others in this list, Facetune 2 is a FREEMIUM product, but it comes with more than enough free tools.
To understand the true power of this app, you really need to install it, take a selfie and play around with their facial editing tools.
Facetune 2 can transform even the ugliest selfie into something beautiful.
The selfie editing tools include sliding scales that can adjust the size of your nose, mouth and eyes, smoothness adjustment (which removes blemishes) and teeth whitening.
Unfortunately, these editing tools don’t look that great on our cow.
As well as being the ultimate selfie editing app, Facetune 2 also comes with some powerful tools that can transform regular photos. These include defocus, vignette, light FX, enhance, crop, neon, paint and many more (on the free version)…
…I spent a couple of minutes testing a few of these features on our cow photo, here’s how it came out:
Insta App for Collages: Pic Stitch
The final app in our list is (what I consider to be) the best Instagram collage builder.
Pic Stitch comes with tons of different formats that can be used for almost any purpose. These are separated into two categories, Classic or Fancy:
As you can see, there are a few locked templates (this is another FREEMIUM app), but there are more than enough collages to get started with.
The best thing about this app (and the reason it makes this list above other Insta collage apps) is the built-in editing software.
Pic Stich comes with a host of tools that can transform your pics before inserting them into the collage, and as you’d imagine, it’s really easy to use.
Here’s a collage of some of our cow pics in a ‘fancy’ template:
Conclusion
If you can’t find what you’re looking for in those apps, let us know.
These 7 free apps offer a wide variety of editing options and guarantee to up your Insta-game.
I’ve demonstrated their capabilities (very quickly) with a mundane image (apologies to the cow)…so imagine what’s possible with one of your high quality photos.
Pick out your favourite and give it a shot. Remember, all these apps are FREE, so you’ve got nothing to lose!
What do you think of these Free Insta apps? Did I miss anything?
If you’d like to learn more about improving your Instagram marketing game, check out one of our most popular ever articles:
- The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Hashtags
- How the Instagram Algorithm Works (and How To Make It Work For You)
- How To Increase Your Instagram Post Reach!
