MIX for Android Lets You Create And Save Custom Photo Filters

MIX for Android is the app for you if you often feel like Goldilocks when confronted with the filters in other photo-editing apps. Not only does MIX let you edit photos, but it also allows you to create custom filters, which you can then save to use again. MIX, now available for free on Google Play, is the latest product from Camera360, which has already gained 300 million users with its other apps, including its flagship product Camera360 Ultimate.

Camera360’s head of overseas public relations, Caroline Luo, says the company decided to create MIX after browsing through photos edited using Camera360 on Instagram and seeing that users applied a wide arrange of effects and filters. MIX was specifically created for Instagram users who want more customization.

“Through MIX we hope to remove any previous limitations placed on their creative process and open up unlimited possibilities,” she says.

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There are already other Android apps that allow users to create custom filters and effects, like Litho and Adobe Photoshop Express, but Luo says MIX differentiates by being centered entirely on “the creation and propagation of DIY photo filters.”

Once you take or load a photo from your gallery into MIX, the app gives you a selection of nine series of filters (MIX has a total of 115 pre-made filters, including ones designed for portraits, HDR, or black and white photos) to choose from if you want to edit photos in a hurry. Alternatively, you can also add a filter and then start building on it by adding different effects.

If you skip the filters, MIX takes you to the rest of its features, which include 10 more filter series (including ones designed for portraits, HDR, or black and white photos), a comprehensive selection of editing tools, including a blur tool that allows you to replicate the depth-of-field in a photo taken with lens ranging from f1.0 to f3.2 in aperture size. Then you can add different textures (from a selection of 40), light effects, like lens flare, “stage” lights, and light leaks, and a rainbow of adjustable tints.

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MIX allows you to save filters as “formulas” in the app. You can see how your photo looks before and after editing by tapping on it to see the original, which is a helpful feature, but one of MIX’s drawbacks is that you can’t undo each step. Hopefully Camera360 will add an undo feature to its next update, because with a total of 200 filters, textures, light leaks, and other effects, it’s a pain if your photo doesn’t quite look the way it should. The app does, however, allow you to save your edits at any point for future use.

The app will monetize by offering in-app purchases including, presumably, more filters and effects. For more examples of what MIX can do and formula guides, check out the app’s blog.