Fancy Color is a popular photo editing and graphic design app available for iOS and Android devices. With Fancy Color, users can edit photos, create collages, add text, apply filters and effects, and more. The app provides a wide range of powerful tools for creative editing and design, making it popular among casual users and professionals alike.
One of the most common questions about Fancy Color is whether or not it is free to use. The answer is a bit complicated, as Fancy Color operates on a freemium model with both free and paid features. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what you can and can’t do with the free version of Fancy Color.
Basic Editing Features
The free version of Fancy Color provides access to a solid set of basic photo editing tools and effects including:
| Crop and rotate | Image filters (black and white, sepia, etc.) |
| Brightness, contrast, saturation | Vignette |
| Sharpen and blur | Text overlays |
| Exposure and highlights | Stickers and emojis |
These tools allow you to make common adjustments and enhancements to improve the look of your photos. You can crop, straighten, adjust color and lighting, apply filters, overlay text, and add embellishments like stickers. It covers the core set of tools most casual users would need for quick, basic edits and touch-ups.
Collages
Another feature included in the free version of Fancy Color is the ability to create photo collages. You can combine multiple photos into formatted collage designs, customize the layout, and adjust individual photos within the collage. There are various preset collage templates to choose from, or you can create your own custom collage from scratch.
Collages are a fun way to combine photos from an event or story into a single graphic. The collage feature makes it easy for casual users to put together polished, professional-looking collages without any design experience.
Sharing and Exporting
Once you’ve edited your photos and designs in Fancy Color, you can share and export them right from the app even with the free version. Your creations can be shared directly to social media sites and messaging apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp.
You can also export your finished products to your device’s camera roll or photo library. The app supports exporting photos at their full resolution. So you can freely use your edited photos anywhere without watermarks or Fancy Color branding.
Ads and Limited Use
So what can’t you do with the free version of Fancy Color? The main limitations are the presence of ads and caps on usage.
Free users will see ads within the app – mainly banner ads that appear at the bottom of the screen. The ads are occasional but can be disruptive during the editing process.
There are also limits placed on how many projects you can work on and how many exports you can do. The caps vary based on the specific tool, but are intended to nudge users towards upgrading to the paid version for unlimited use.
No Batch Editing
One significant constraint in the free Fancy Color app is that you can only edit one photo at a time. There is no batch editing functionality that allows you to apply edits and filters to multiple photos simultaneously.
If you need to work on large volumes of images, the lack of batch editing can seriously limit your productivity. You have to edit each photo one-by-one instead of streamlining repetitive workflows.
Batch editing is an essential feature for social media managers, influencers, photographers, and other power users. The absence of it makes Fancy Color less than ideal for working professionals.
No RAW Support
In addition to the lack of batch editing, the free version of Fancy Color also does not allow you to edit photos shot in RAW format. It only supports standard JPGs and compressed image formats.
For hobbyists, this may not be an issue. But for professional photographers who work with RAW files, the inability to process RAW images makes the free app unusable for core workflow.
RAW files contain more image data that allows for significantly better editing control and quality. The files need specialized processing. Overall, the lack of RAW support further limits Fancy Color’s capabilities for photography professionals.
No Layer Editing
Working with layers is standard in advanced photo editing. Layers allow you to edit and manipulate specific elements of a photo independently. You can apply adjustments and effects to each layer without impacting other parts of the image.
However, layer editing is not possible in the free version of Fancy Color. All edits apply globally to the entire image. There is no way to target adjustments to certain sections or layers.
Without layers, creating complex, multi-element compositions is extremely difficult. For users looking to create professional graphic designs, the inability to work with layers is a major drawback.
No Content Library Access
Fancy Color provides premium users access to a library of creative assets like fonts, templates, illustrations, and more. This content can help users enhance their graphics and produce more polished results.
Unfortunately, the content library is not accessible to users of the free version. You only have access to a limited set of basic fonts and templates. To unlock the full content catalog, you would need to subscribe to a paid plan.
Subscription Required for Premium Tools
To unlock features like batch editing, RAW support, layers, and the content library, you need to subscribe to a premium plan. Fancy Color offers weekly, monthly, and annual subscription options with progressively increasing prices.
Here is an overview of the pricing options:
| 1 Week Subscription | $2.99 |
| 1 Month Subscription | $4.99 |
| 1 Year Subscription | $19.99 |
While affordable, having to subscribe can add up, especially if you need to use the premium tools long-term. There is no one-time purchase option to unlock the advanced features permanently.
Conclusion
The free version of Fancy Color provides a solid set of basic photo editing and collage creation capabilities. For casual users, it offers enough functionality to enhance photos through cropping, filters, text overlays, and more.
However, professionals and power users will quickly run into limitations around batch editing, RAW support, layers, and content. Upgrading to a paid subscription is necessary to unlock the app’s full capabilities.
So while you can accomplish basic editing for free, you ultimately get what you pay for with Fancy Color. To go beyond casual use and basic edits, expect to purchase a subscription to get the most out of this powerful photo and graphics app.
