Get 5 Apps to Turn Your Photos into Watercolor Paintings

Edited by Hazel Carter Jun 18, 2025 Style Transfer

Many users search online for a good photo-to-watercolor app to do digital watercolor paintings. Do you need similar recommendations? These photo-to-watercolor apps are ideal for casual users who want to create art without traditional skills. They often use AI or machine learning algorithms to automatically convert ordinary pictures into stunning watercolor artworks.

This article introduces you to five popular photo-to-watercolor apps. You can compare their features, benefits, drawbacks, and more, and then use your preferred one to make your pictures like real watercolor images.

Part 1. What Is a Watercolor Image

A watercolor image can be a traditional artwork or a digital one that simulates the aesthetic qualities of watercolor painting. Traditional watercolor paintings are known for soft gradients, ethereal textures, delicate blending, and organic textures. Unlike oil paintings and other photorealistic artworks, watercolor images allow colors to flow and blend naturally. Digital watercolor-style pictures are generated by photo-editing software or AI-powered apps. They apply specific watercolor filters to ordinary photos.

Part 2. Top 5 Photo-to-Watercolor Apps

Generally, mastering this watercolor medium requires years of practice. For a really long time, drawing stunning watercolor paintings was complex for most casual users. Fortunately, with advancements in AI and photo-editing software, turning a regular photo into a watercolor-style image has become much easier. Many AI-powered photo-to-watercolor apps allow you to create beautiful watercolor paintings with zero effort. This part will share five top contenders for you to choose from.

Picwand AI Photo Editor

Picwand AI Photo Editor stands out as a top choice if you want a dedicated photo-to-watercolor app. It provides various art styles for transforming ordinary photos into artworks. You can select the desired styles and apply creative effects to your pictures. Picwand AI enables you to achieve professional-looking watercolor art in seconds.

Picwand AI Photo Editor uses advanced neural style transfer and deep learning algorithms to generate high-quality results like real hand-painted watercolors. You can use its web-based tool directly on any device to convert photos to watercolor paintings. Besides, Picwand AI offers mobile apps to apply realistic watercolor textures on iOS and Android devices. It provides an Intensity option to adjust the effect freely. Moreover, this photo-to-watercolor app supports real-time previews. You can apply different styles and check how they affect your image.

Waterlogue

The Waterlogue app is a popular photo-to-watercolor converter for iOS users. It currently does not offer an Android version. It adopts advanced algorithms to simulate traditional watercolor paintings. Waterlogue offers a quick way to transform photos into watercolor-style images. It provides 12 preset styles for realistic watercolor conversions. Moreover, you are allowed to fine-tune watercolor effects by adjusting the color intensity, brush detail, border effects, and more.

Waterbrush Photo to Watercolor

Waterbrush is another high-rated iOS app that can convert pictures to watercolor paintings. It provides 31 presets to add beautiful watercolor effects to your photographs. Moreover, this photo-to-watercolor app offers options to edit and correct your generated images. The Waterbrush Photo to Watercolor app also supports Apple Pencil. You can use it to optimize details based on your needs freely.

Picsart AI Photo Editor

PicsArt is a powerful, all-in-one platform that offers various photo and video editing tools. PicsArt AI Photo Editor uses AI to edit, transform, and stylize images. It provides multiple photo-to-art effects like AI Watercolor, AI Cartoon, AI Sketch, AI Portrait Effects, etc., for you to apply. This cross-platform app works well on Android, iOS, and the web.

BeFunky Photo Editor

BeFunky is a cloud-based photo editor, graphic designer, and collage maker that carries various AI-powered tools. Its Photo Editor gives you a straightforward way to turn photos into watercolor paintings, sketches, or cartoons according to your needs. This photo-to-watercolor app offers multiple watercolor effects for you to choose from. You can apply them to your photo one by one and keep the desired one. BeFunky also allows you to adjust and enhance the generated image. Its free version has basic edits and watermarked exports.

Part 3. FAQs of the Photo to Watercolor App

Question 1. Is the Waterlogue app free?

No, Waterlogue is not a free app. It is a paid app available for iOS (iPhone/iPad) with a one-time purchase of $5.99. The Waterlogue Watercolor Camera app has no subscription or in-app purchases. When you search for a good app with high-quality, realistic watercolor effects, you may get the Waterlogue recommendation.

Question 2. What photo editor has the watercolor effect?

Several photo editors offer watercolor effects to transform your photos into painterly artworks. Some popular options include Adobe Photoshop,GIMP , Picwand AI Photo Editor, BeCasso, Prisma, Fotor, and Canva. Photoshop is always a strong contender for advanced users who want full control over the watercolor effect. If you need a free alternative to Photoshop, try GIMP. The open-source photo editor offers filters with adjustments to mimic watercolor. If you prefer a dedicated AI photo-to-watercolor app, then the recommended Picwand AI is your choice.

Question 3. Can Canva turn a photo into a watercolor?

Yes. Canva is an all-featured web-based graphic design platform that carries various tools for users to create stunning visuals and edit images. It has an individual tool called Paintify to help you quickly turn photos into watercolor-style paintings. Navigate to the official Canva website and search for the Paintify tool. When you locate it, you are required to sign in to your account to move on. This AI-powered photo-to-watercolor app is limited to Canva Pro. Canva allows you to try Pro for 30 days. If you have Canva Pro, you can easily use its Magic Edit or Magic Media to generate a watercolor effect.

Summary

For different purposes, you may want to transform regular photos into watercolor-style images. In this post, you can get five reliable photo-to-watercolor apps for watercolor painting conversion. All these recommendations focus on simplicity, which is ideal for casual users.