How to Edit and Share Photos with VSCO

VSCO (pronounced "vis-co") is a photo editing app known for its film-inspired filters and clean, minimal design. While apps like Lightroom give you detailed technical controls, VSCO focuses on making your photos look beautiful without requiring much technical knowledge. Its preset filters are inspired by classic film stocks — think of the slightly muted, nostalgic look you might see in a printed photograph from the 1980s or 90s.

The app is free to download on iPhone and Android, with a library of 10 free presets. A VSCO Pro membership (around $30 per year) unlocks dozens more preset packs and a few additional editing tools.

To edit a photo, open VSCO and tap the + icon (or the camera roll icon) to import a photo from your phone. You'll land in the editor. Along the bottom, you'll see a row of preset filters labeled with letters and numbers. The A-series filters (A4, A6) lean cool and muted, great for outdoor and street photos. The C-series (C1, C7) are warmer and more vivid, good for portraits and food. The HB-series mimic high-contrast black and white.

Tap a preset to apply it. Then use the slider that appears to adjust the intensity — dragging left makes the effect more subtle, dragging right makes it stronger. For most photos, somewhere between 60% and 80% intensity looks natural.

After applying a preset, tap the sliders icon to access individual editing tools: Exposure (brightness), Contrast, Grain (adds film texture), Fade (lifts the shadows for a soft, washed look), Highlights Tint, and Skin Tone (warms or cools skin without shifting the entire photo). There are about 20 tools in total, all with simple sliders.

When you're done editing, tap the save icon to keep the photo in VSCO. To export it to your phone's camera roll (so you can share it anywhere), tap the three-dot menu and choose Save to Camera Roll. VSCO saves a copy at full resolution.

VSCO also has its own social feed where you can share photos with the VSCO community, though this is entirely optional. Unlike Instagram, the VSCO feed has no likes, comments, or follower counts — it's designed as a quieter space for photography.

For people who shoot a lot of photos in a similar setting (like a vacation), VSCO lets you copy your edits from one photo and paste them onto others, creating a consistent look across an entire album.