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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
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The verdict on

PhotoGrid

35
User verdict / 100 High confidence In trouble

PhotoGrid is a long-standing photo and video editing app praised for its ease of use and collage features, but recent updates have introduced significant issues with excessive ads, aggressive paywalls, and billing scams related to free trials, leading to a sharp decline in user satisfaction.

4.9★ lifetime (116,479) Free + in-app purchases since 2012 by JUPITER PALACE PTE. LTD. updated 0.1 mo ago recent negative 10% 120 reviews across 4 regions
Ads & Paywalls Billing & Free Trial Scams Ease of Use App Performance & Bugs Feature Degradation AI Features
5★843
4★44
3★12
2★20
1★81
recent reviews across 4 regions, vs the 4.9★ lifetime average

PhotoGrid is a popular photo and video editing app, particularly noted for its collage-making capabilities and user-friendly interface. However, recent user reviews highlight a negative trajectory, citing an overwhelming number of ads, features moved behind paywalls, and widespread reports of being charged for 'free trials'.

What users like

  • Easy to use for photo and video editing, especially for collagesR1R3R10R13
  • Offers a variety of free options and customization for collages and photosR9R11R15R32
  • Includes effective AI tools, such as AI removalR28

What users complain about

  • Excessive and long, unskippable ads disrupt the user experienceR6R24R73R143
  • Many previously free features are now behind a paywall or subscriptionR73R202R209R268
  • Reports of free trials immediately charging users for annual subscriptions, with no refundsR68R90R152R182
  • App suffers from frequent freezing, crashing, and glitches, especially on iPads or after updatesR63R193R233R248
  • Output quality has declined, with blurry images and videosR157R209R326R714
  • Poor customer support, especially regarding billing issuesR182R204R329R501

Latest update · v9.2.71

What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):

▶ Easy to Use and perfect to memorialize your moments. • AI Agent｜Create anything with AI～ Introducing the new AI Agent! From wallpapers and social media posts to product photos, AI videos, image editing, and more—simply describe your idea and let AI do the rest. • Trending AI Styles｜Explore what's popular～ Discover the latest AI styles for photos and videos, including football-inspired looks, celebrity edits, vintage camera aesthetics, summer outfit vibes, and more. • AI Video Effects & Templates｜Bring every moment to life～ Create eye-catching videos with romantic templates and trending AI effects. Turn your photos into cinematic, social-ready stories in seconds.

Recurring themes

Ads & Paywalls negative
Users are frustrated by the significant increase in repetitive, long, and unskippable ads. Many previously free features, including basic grids and watermark removal, are now locked behind a premium subscription, leading to a perception of greed and a degraded free experience. Some users report being forced to pay or watch ads for features that used to be free, or experiencing blurry output unless they subscribe.R6R24R31R73
Billing & Free Trial Scams negative
A prevalent issue is users being charged immediately for annual subscriptions (e.g., $34.99, $49.99, $52, $56.49, £34.99) despite signing up for a 'free trial'. Many report canceling the trial but still being charged, with difficulties getting refunds or support. This has led to accusations of the app being a 'scam' or 'rip off'.R68R90R152R182
App Performance & Bugs negative
Many users report the app frequently freezing, crashing, or becoming glitchy, especially when applying edits or trying to download. Some issues are specific to certain devices like iPads or occur after recent updates. This contradicts the developer's claim of being 'Easy to Use'.R63R193R233R248
Ease of Use positive
Despite recent issues, many long-term users still praise PhotoGrid for its intuitive and straightforward interface, making it easy to create collages, add text, and perform basic photo edits. This positive aspect is frequently mentioned by users who have used the app for years.R1R3R10R13
Feature Degradation negative
Users note a decline in the quality of output, with photos and videos appearing blurry after editing or saving. Some specific features, like certain grids or fonts, have been removed or moved to premium, and video editing sometimes cuts out parts of the video.R31R157R209R310
AI Features mixed
While one user praised the AI removal tool, another user, an artist, expressed strong disapproval of the constant pushing of AI features, specifically 'AI slop generator' trained on 'stolen art,' leading them to cancel their subscription. The developer notes highlight new AI features like 'AI Agent' and 'Trending AI Styles'.R28R517

Who it's for

PhotoGrid is for users who need a simple, fast, and easy-to-use app for creating photo collages and basic photo edits, especially if they are willing to tolerate numerous ads or pay for a subscription R1R3R10. It is NOT for users who are sensitive to aggressive monetization tactics, frequent ads, or potential billing issues with 'free trials' R6R24R182R204.

Evidence note: The recent reviews skew heavily negative, particularly regarding ads, paywalls, and billing scams. While there are still positive reviews praising ease of use, the volume and specificity of negative feedback suggest a significant decline in user satisfaction compared to the lifetime rating. The developer's notes mention new AI features, which received mixed, but limited, feedback in the reviews.

Frequently asked

Is PhotoGrid free to use?
PhotoGrid is technically free to download and use for basic functions, but many features, including removing watermarks and accessing various templates, now require payment or a subscription, and the free version is heavily interrupted by long, repetitive ads R31R73R268R397.
Are there issues with PhotoGrid's free trial?
Yes, many users report that PhotoGrid's 'free trial' immediately charges them for a full annual subscription, ranging from $34.99 to $56.49, even if they cancel the trial shortly after signing up R182R204R394R501.
Does PhotoGrid have performance problems?
Yes, recent reviews indicate that PhotoGrid frequently freezes, crashes, and experiences glitches, particularly when editing photos, applying changes, or trying to download content, with some users reporting issues on iPads or after updates R63R193R233R290.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R1] 5/5 · US Great!!: Very easy to use
  2. [R3] 5/5 · US Easy: Super ready to add text and images
  3. [R10] 5/5 · US Great!!: This is is awesome and very easy to use.
  4. [R13] 5/5 · US Easy to use: Easy to use!
  5. [R9] 5/5 · US Muy buena app: Siempre que quiero editar cualquier cosa relacionado a fotos o videos, uso esta app. Es muy buena incluso en su versión gratuita.
  6. [R11] 5/5 · US So fun!: Plenty of free options which I like. So many ways to customize my photos and make amazing collages!
  7. [R15] 5/5 · US love love love: this is my favorite app for designing cards and posters and photo memories.
  8. [R32] 5/5 · US Fun and fast way to enhance your pics.: I use PhotoGrid a lot. To add stickers to pictures. (Large variety) So cute! I use it to combine pictures (to create collages) It’s so fast. And fairly simple. People are always asking, “How did you do that?” And I love that it saves the creations directly into my photo gallery. It makes it easy to share however I want.
  9. [R28] 5/5 · US AI REMOVAL: I just used the AI removal taking a corner of a couch out of the picture and my mouth fell open when I saw the result! Lol AMAZING!!!
  10. [R6] 1/5 · US Terrible news: Soooooooooooooooooo many adds
  11. [R24] 2/5 · US To many ads! 🙄: This used to be a quick and easy app to use and I’ve had it for many years (5+ maybe). As of recent the app is becoming very annoying with a lot(repetitive) ads, To many bs ads!!It takes away from just wanting to edit your photos quickly. Currently looking for a new app.
  12. [R73] 1/5 · US Pushy for money: This app used to be great but now they have ads and heavily try to push you into paying for things that used to be free like good photo quality when saving. So disappointing.
  13. [R143] 1/5 · US This is a scam!!!: I have a subscription to this APP but I cannot use it without being barraged by ads! Some ads won’t disappear even if I try to delete them.
  14. [R202] 1/5 · US Changing free feature: I use to love this app offering various options to create my family photos. And now mid creating it removes some features that were free trying to force an upgrade 👎🏾 no longer referring my friends to use this one.
  15. [R209] 1/5 · US Now just a cash grab: used to be great, but now they basically force you to pay for the subscription by intentionally blurring your photos so that you can barely see them. this app is now just another cash grab.
  16. [R268] 1/5 · GB Getting worse: I used to like this app, but then watermarks started requiring ads, basic templates disappeared, and many paid, rarely used templates were added. So I uninstalled it. · translated
  17. [R68] 1/5 · US Payment and free trial: Used the free trial but it’s trying to charge my card so now I can’t download anything
  18. [R90] 1/5 · US Rip Off: I did a free trial it let me make one kissing video. And then it immediately wants you to buy more. So a couple days went by and I got a notification that said hey for $1.99 you can have. I’m like whatever so I paid $1.99. Then it told me I had to wait. until the free trial ended. I’m assuming today I got charged the dollar 99. But nothing has changed from when I was doing the free trial.
  19. [R152] 1/5 · US Bad practices. Stay away!: Offer a free trial. Cancel it the same day it was activated, and even though it says in red letters that it will cancel under my subscriptions, I was still charged for the full year.
  20. [R182] 3/5 · US no refunds not even your first: free trial led to 34 dollar charge followed by my bank 34 dollar fee. No response from support
  21. [R63] 1/5 · US Just get rid of it: What should be a very simple and easy to use app is one of the glitchiest and most annoying pieces of garbage I’ve ever used on a phone. I would recommend Microsoft paint before I recommended this trash. Whoever made this app I hope you see this and never make another dime off of it ever again. You’re garbage. Period!
  22. [R193] 2/5 · US Needs bugs fixed: I’ve been using photo grid premium for years and never had an issue. Recently when I’m editing pictures, applying any change whether is font, color, background, the app will freeze, take forever or just not pull up anything. It’s extremely frustrating as I depend on the use of this app to commercialize my business. If issues continue I will have no choice but to find an alternati
  23. [R233] 3/5 · US Very good: Would have gave it 5 stars but the app freezes when I try to download it on my iPad can’t do anything. Works well on my phone tho
  24. [R248] 1/5 · US Issues: I use to love this app so much but recently it’s been given a lot of issues. When I try to put my photos in any grid the grid doesn’t pop up with the pictures in it like it’s suppose to. I deleted the app reinstalled it worked one time it’s back to the same issues. I’m done!
  25. [R157] 1/5 · US What happened?: This used to my favorite collage app until I tried making 2 photo&video collages - SO BLURRY that i can’t even use it. Need to find another app now cause this one’s become useless
  26. [R326] 1/5 · GB Don’t fix things that aren’t broken: I used to absolutely love this app, I had used it for 10 years. It was free to use, now they seem to have made it so you HAVE to pay the monthly fee or the collage is blurry and unusable? Such a shame as I loved this app, should’ve kept it how it was.
  27. [R714] 3/5 · CA Please be better on videos: It cuts out half of my video on slide show😞you have to bye EVERYTHING!!!😔😔😔😖🥺🙁
  28. [R204] 1/5 · US Crooks: I canceled my free subscription and TWICE now they’ve took money. Twice I’ve had my bank over drawn. And they make it impossible to talk to someone!!! I clearly cancelled my subscription and they’re still charging me?! Yeah I’ll be posting everywhere telling everyone to avoid this SCAM!! DO NOT GET UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE ROBBED
  29. [R329] 1/5 · GB Subscription problems: I paid to upgrade the app for a year but after a month, it’s locked all of the features again and my email hasn’t been responded to. Very disappointed and feeling scammed!
  30. [R501] 1/5 · CA 3 day free trial is a scam: The app was advertising a 3-day free trial for their premium membership. I signed up for this with the understanding that after the three days had passed, if I did not cancel my subscription, I would be charged an annual membership fee of $49.99. However, IMMEDIATELY after signing up for a FREE 3-day trial, my card was charged $49.99. I emailed their support team and
  31. [R31] 3/5 · US I’ve used PhotoGrid forever: This is the most convenient option out there that I know of, but it could be better. There are ads to get rid of the watermark, it’s really hard to see the grids when selecting one. The app has only gotten worse over the years. Maybe there are better options out there, and it is a headache to use, but I couldn’t find a better option when I looked years ago and so I’ve
  32. [R310] 1/5 · GB I used to love but they have removed the normal grid: They removed the normal grids and you now have to pay for everything I’ve had this app for 4 years but deleting now
  33. [R517] 1/5 · CA Hope the ai was worth losing longtime users: It is with a heavy heart that after 10+ years of using this app and being subscribed to the premium plan, that I just could not take the ai slop generator being constantly pushed into the app that I have cancelled my subscription and plan to delete the app once my plan is up. As much as I’ve loved this app for many years and it’s helped me many a times,
  34. [R397] 2/5 · GB used to be good, ruined with greed.: they slowly removed functionality and made it part of a subscription, and increased the number of full screen adverts. i was editing a photo and every time i selected a different font i got a full screen advert that lasted over a minute. obnoxious to the point of frustration and the subscription price for a photo editor is ridiculous. greed ruined an app that
  35. [R394] 1/5 · GB SCAM! Stole £35 from my bank account! AVOID!: I have been using the app for a long time. All was fine until they added really long adverts! An offer popped up to try premium FREE for 30 days. I clicked it and they instantly STOLE £35 from my bank account. Google comments show they have done this to many more people. Avoid at all costs if you don’t want to get scammed!
  36. [R290] 2/5 · GB Sort it out!: It used to be good, now it’s awful. Keeps crashing all the time. Looking for something else now. This is rubbish. :(

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store