5 easy ways I use AI to improve my smartphone photos and videos

Smartphone cameras are evolving, with many capable of producing excellent results straight out of your pocket. But as brands increasingly build artificial intelligence (AI) features into the experience, it’s no longer just about how you take a picture, but also what your phone can do with it afterwards.

AI-powered editing tools are now available to experiment with across Android handsets and iPhones. On iPhone, these include features powered by Apple Intelligence. In many cases, they’re built into your phone’s camera app, but you can also try similar features through third-party apps if you’re using an older model.

Below, we take a closer look at some of the most useful AI photo and video tools, along with real examples of how I've put them to use. If you're on Android, we recommend using the Google Photos app for AI edits.

How AI upgraded my travel shots

'AI tools won’t turn every snap into a masterpiece, but they can fix common problems in seconds, and some are surprisingly effective.

'I recently got back from a trip to Madeira – a dream destination if you're into photography, as it's blessed with lush greenery, vibrant colours and dramatic hilltop views. I took a Google Pixel with me, and while it captured great shots on its own, I also used its built-in AI editing tools to tweak and improve my holiday pictures.

'With so many of these tools now built into smartphones, they’re well worth trying, especially if you don’t consider yourself particularly confident with photography.'

Tom Morgan, senior consumer writer

1. Remove unwanted objects

Seixal Beach in Madeira has distinctive black sand and a dramatic mountain backdrop, so it's a really popular spot. Of course, the downside is that it can be tricky to get a clean shot, especially during the day, as there are usually lots of other visitors walking through the frame.

In one photo I was editing, someone was standing in the background behind me, looking out to sea. Rather than retaking the shot, I used Magic Eraser on Google Pixel to remove them. I opened the image in Google Photos, tapped Edit, then Magic Eraser, and circled the person I wanted to remove. The tool automatically highlighted the subject, and after a quick tweak to refine the selection, I tapped to erase. Within seconds, the background looked clean and uninterrupted.

I think this is one of the most useful AI photo tools around. It works best on simple scenes like skies, walls or beaches, although it struggles more with busy backgrounds.

2. Stabilise shaky videos

This waterfall on Madeira’s north coast, near São Vicente, is a popular roadside stop. I parked the hire car to film a quick clip, but the cold, windy conditions meant my hands were shaking and the footage looked unsteady.

Rather than banishing the video to my bin, I used the Stabilise tool in Google Photos to improve the footage. After opening the video and tapping Edit, I selected Stabilise, which cropped the frame slightly and reduced the jumpiness. The result was a much smoother clip that felt far more watchable.

This is a simple but effective tool, particularly if you tend to film handheld or grab quick clips without much time to set up.

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3. Fix blurry photos

On one of my more adventurous days in Madeira, I signed up for a zipline experience. I ended up being the first one down the mountain (not my choice), which meant I was in charge of taking photos of friends and family as they came flying down.

As you’d expect, capturing a fast-moving subject isn’t easy, and some of the shots came out a little blurry. But rather than discarding them, I used the Unblur tool in Google Photos to improve the images. It’s designed to sharpen your subject and bring back some of the lost detail, and I was genuinely surprised by how effective it was.

It won’t rescue every image, especially if it’s heavily blurred, but for slightly soft photos, it can make a noticeable difference. In this case, it meant I could keep a fun photo I’d otherwise have deleted.

4. Improve colours and lighting

I took the shot above using a drone, which can struggle to capture accurate colours in lower light. Given how mountainous Madeira is, the sun can drop behind the hills quite quickly, leaving scenes looking flatter and less vibrant than they do in person. The original image looked a little washed out, particularly the sky.

After saving the photo to Google Photos, I opened it on my Pixel and tapped Edit, then AI enhance. This automatically adjusted the colour balance, contrast and brightness, making the scene look closer to how it appeared in real life.

As a finishing touch, I used Filters > Sky styles to deepen the blue tones in the sky (I used Stormy for this one to match Madeira's moody weather), which had looked flat and slightly overexposed. The result was a more balanced image, with richer colours and better definition across the landscape.

Using AI to tweak colour and lighting is a useful approach if your original shot looks a bit dull or lacks contrast, especially when using cameras that don’t handle lighting as well. If you’re shooting in very low light or at night, it’s also worth switching to your phone’s dedicated night mode when taking the photo. On a Pixel, this is Night Sight, while iPhones and Samsung phones offer similar Night mode settings that help capture more detail before you even start editing.

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5. Move objects or people

Sometimes a photo can look slightly off, even if everything is sharp and well lit. In this case, the boat in my image above was positioned off to one side, which left too much empty space and made the composition feel unbalanced.

Using the Move tool in Google Photos, I repositioned the boat to the middle of the shot. All I had to do was draw a circle around the boat and then drag it into place (the grey outline shows where it was originally). The app then used generative AI to fill the background. Even if you look closely at the 'after' shot, you'll struggle to see the edit.

It’s not something you’ll want to use on every photo, but Move can be useful if your subject isn’t quite where you want it. You don’t have to use it only on objects, either – it can also come in handy for group shots, letting you move people slightly closer together.