How to Unblur an Image on the Desktop, Android, or iOS

Remember the time when you were thanking the heavens for that perfect shot and then while post-processing it tuned out your focus shifted resulting in a blurry image? Well, almost every photographer had to undergo a similar experience.

Blurry images are captured while shooting at a low shutter speed and large aperture. They are fairly common when you use manual focus or your camera’s auto-focus fixates on a different element other than what was intended.

Don’t worry there are image editors that let you unblur images with a few clicks. In this post, we will show you how to unblur an image using desktop, Android, and iOS applications.

How to Make a Blurry Picture Clear in Photoshop?

In order to unblur a picture using Photoshop, first import the image. Now, “Duplicate” the background layer.

Click on the “Filter” option, select “Other” and “High Pass”. A window will pop up and prompt you to select the radius in pixels. Set it to “10”.

Once that’s done, select the blend mode for the layer and set it to “Hard Light”. Now, adjust the “Opacity” until your image unblurs.

With the latest version of Photoshop, unblurring is much easier as the application does most of the heavy lifting. Here’s how to unblur an image on the latest version of Photoshop.

After importing your image, click on “Filter”, select “Sharpen” and finally “Shake Reduction”. Photoshop will automatically unblur your image. No user input is required.

How to Fix a Blurry Picture on Photoshop Elements?

While working with Photoshop Elements, click on “Enhance” and select the “Unsharp Mask” option. A window will pop up with Amount, Radius, and Threshold selectors.

Adjust the Radius and amount until you bring the blurred image into focus.

How to Unblur a Blurred Picture Without Using Photoshop?

If you are not using Adobe Photoshop, or want to check out other free and paid tools to unblur a blurred image, the following applications will help you.

1. GIMP

If you want to unblur images for free, you can use GIMP. An open-source image editor that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.

Here’s how to unblur an image using GIMP

First, open GIMP and import your blurred image. From the toolbox select the “Blur/ Sharpen” tool. Alternatively, you can also press “Shift + U” to turn on the unblur brush.

Select “Sharpen” and drag your mouse over the part of the image that you want to sharpen. You can also vary the size of the sharpening tool from this setting panel. 

2. Adobe Spark

If you are an Adobe Spark user, then you can use it to bring blurred images into focus. 

First, import your blurred image in Adobe Spark. Select the image and click on “Enhancements”. Now you will see a “Sharpen” slider along with a bunch of other sliders.

Adjust the sharpen slider until you are able to unblur your image. 

3. Fotor

Fotor is yet another image editing tool that lets you unblur images. This is one unblur photo app that you can use from a web browser.

No need to install any application on your machine. 

This is how to unblur a photo using Fotor.

First, import that image from your system which you want to unblur. Then go to the Adjust tab, and select, “Blur” option.

Here, you can see the size and blur intensity selectors and also the type of unblurring you are looking for. You can opt to unblur images with a circular or linear orientation.

Once you have unblurred your image, click “Apply” to save your changes. This unblurring method works mostly for landscape images. 

If you want to unblur a particular element or do precise unblurring of a portrait, you have to go for the “Blur – brush”. 

Using the brush you can pinpoint the specific areas which you want to unblur and also specify the unblurring intensity.

However, you will require a Fotor Pro plan in order to use the Blur-brush. You may read the full Fotor review here.

4. Pine Tools

Using Pine Tools sharpening and removing image blur is very simple. All you need to do is visit their website and import the image that you want to unblur.

By using their Sharpen tool, you can set the amount of blur removal you are looking for. It also has a sharpening strength selector that helps you dictate the level of sharpness you want in your unblurred image.

The best thing about Pine Tools is, you can access it on any web browser and use it for free!

5. Vance AI

Vance AI is an AI-enabled unblurring tool. It is a web application that can be accessed from your system’s browser.

Just upload the image that you want to unblur and its AI will automatically recognize the blurred and out-of-focus portions of the image and sharpen them.

Advanced users can manually dictate the amount of sharpness they want on their images.

Once you have unblurred your image you can preview the difference between the original and the sharpened output and download your copy on your device.

6. Photopea

Photopea is another web-based which you can use to unblur images for free. To sharpen an image, first, import it and click on “Filter”.

Then, select “Sharpen” from the dropdown and click “Smart Sharpen” or any other sharpening option.

Now you will see sharpen amount and radius sliders to unblur your image.

How to Unblur a Picture on Android?

Here are some of the best Android apps to unblur pictures.

1. Snapseed

Snapseed is an unblur photo app for Android and iOS. You can use it for post-processing RAW and normal images. 

If you are wondering how to unblur an image using Snapseed, first launch the app and import the image that you want to edit.

Under the “Tools” section click on “Details”, and configure its “Sharpen” and “Structure” properties.

Vary your image’s structure and sharpness until you get a crisp focussed image.

Once you have successfully converted your blurred image, save a copy on your device and later publish it on any social media platform of your choice.

2. Apowersoft Background Eraser

Apowersoft Background Eraser is an unblurring app for Android and iOS. Its inbuilt blur cleaner detects blurred portions of your image and automatically unblurs it.

To unblur a picture, open the app on your smart device and select “Blurry Portraits Cleaner”. Then import the image that you want to unblur.

Once the app has completed unblurring your image, you will see a slider that shows you pre and post-processed versions.

On the left side of the slider, you can preview the original image, while the unblurred image appears on the right side of the preview slider. In this preview window, you can decide whether you are satisfied with the sharpening.

If you are, click “Save HD” to save the edited copy on your device. 

Note: This unblurring process works well only with portraits.

3. Remini – AI Photo Enhancer

If you are looking for a no-nonsense unblurring app that does all the heavy lifting, Remini AI-Enhancer is the right tool for you.

You need not worry about configuring unblur intensity or sharpening images. Its AI tools will take care of all that and then some more. This is how to unblur an image using Remini AI-Enhancer.

First, open the app and tap on “Enhance”. Now, import the image that you want to unblur.

If you are using the free version, after importing the image you might have to wait through an ad before you can opt to enhance your image.

After the ad is over, tap on the “Check” icon to pass on the image for enhancement to Remini’s AI tool. 

At this stage, you can even choose to crop the image.

After the image enhancement is done you can see the difference in the image’s sharpness and download a copy on your Android device. It’s that simple.

4. EnhanceFox – AI Photo Enhancer

EnhanceFox AI Photo Enhancer lets you unblur images as well as restore and colorize old photos.

Its AI tools take care of most of the image enhancement chores, although you can tweak the image on your own as well.

First, launch EnhanceFox and import your image. Then tap “AI Denoise”. The tool’s AI enhancer will automatically try to denoise your image and remove blur from your image.

If you are not happy with the AI Enhancements, you can create your own custom preset by adjusting the sharpness and contrast of the image.

It also has an Undo feature that reverts back all your changes one at a time.

When you are satisfied with the preset you can download a copy and share it directly on connected social media platforms.

How to Unblur an Image on iPhone

Can you unblur a photo on your iPhone? You have dedicated apps to do just that!

1. VSCO Photo & Video Editor

VSCO is an unblurring app for Android and iOS platforms.

It even lets you edit video clips. But for now, let’s find out how to unblur an image on an iPhone using VSCO.

First, import your image on VSCO and start adding clarity to your blurred image. This will help to eliminate noise from your image.

Once the clarity is set, you can start to Sharpen your image. This will make the blurred edges prominent and put elements in focus.

Now adjust Contrast, to make shadows and lit elements even more prominent. Adjusting contrast or saturation can help make your image look more vivid and rich.

If you want to take things further and give your blurred image the oomph factor, you can adjust fade and even add grain.

2. BeFunky

BeFunky is one of those free apps to unblur pictures. You can install it on your iPhone or Android smartphone. 

To unblur an image on your iPhone, first open BeFunky and select the blurred image from the camera roll, and tap “Edit”.

Once the editor is open, select “Sharpen”. Now, you can either choose to sharpen the image on your own or opt for “Smart Sharpen” if you want the app to do all the hard work.

If your image is a landscape and is slightly out of focus, the “Smart Sharpen” option will work just fine. But, if your image is a blurry mess and you want to dictate the amount of sharpening you want, go for “Basic Sharpen”.

These sliders let you decide the overall sharpness of your unblurred image.

Once you have removed the image blur, tap “Apply” to save a copy on your iPhone. It’s that simple.

3. Prisma

Prisma is an unblurring app for iPhones and iPad. It is an app that lets you add various creative filters to your images. However, you can use it to sharpen images too.

First, launch the app and import the image that you want to sharpen. Tap “Edit” and adjust the sharpness and shadow until the image achieves intended clarity.

Even though Prisma lacks structure or clarity tools, it features many in-built filters that add grains and enhance clarity.

So you can try out such filters, and once the image is sharpened you can download a copy on your device.

4. Image Deblur – Blurred & Shaky

With the help of the Image Deblur iOS app, you can deblur your shaky images with ease. That’s not all, this app can be used for editing your images on your iPhone and iPad too.

It features a number of different filters and editors that let you tweak the color balance and saturation of the image.

To unblur an image using Image Deblur, first, you need to import the image on the app. Then you can either select the smart deblurring tool or opt to deblur images on your own.

While manually deblurring you get a lot of freedom as to how and to what extent of sharpness you are looking for in the final image.

The auto-deblur automatically recognizes the out-of-focus elements and deblurs them.

On the other hand, while manually editing shaky images, you have to change the image’s sharpness and smoothness till you get the desired output.

How to Read Blurred Text on a Photo?

Mostly private or paid information is blurred. You can find many ad campaigns for credit cards and other payment gateways where they use blurred-out images or payment-related information.

In case you’re wondering whether you can unblur text the same way you unblur images, well, the solution isn’t as straightforward.

Unblurring images are relatively easier than text.

Firstly, while unblurring images you are mostly trying to sharpen the image so that it can compensate for the blur.

But if you follow the same approach for text, it won’t work.

You can’t simply choose an unblurring brush on the blurred text and expect your text to magically pop up. Either you have to choose the same unblurring tool that was used to blur the text or opt for a bit more complex approach.

It’s unlikely that you will be able to find the tool used to blur text. So the alternative is to create your own text layout and blur it.

Now you have to map each character from your text layout against the original blurred text by matching white balance and contrast levels.

You will also need to find out the mosaic brightness vector for every blurred character.

This is not a straightforward process and is rather time-consuming. So it’s better to create an algorithm to iterate through different alphanumeric characters and find texts that match the original blurred image.

Once the mapping is ready, you can easily put each character together and figure out what the blurred text actually was.

Conclusion

So far we have discussed how to unblur an image on Photoshop and other desktop applications. We also listed a few unblurring apps for Android and iOS platforms. Here’s a gist of what we have learned so far –

• Most editors use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to edit their images. So you can use either of these applications to unblur images.
• You can also use free open-source image editors like GIMP to unblur a picture.
• There are many web-based editors too that let you unblur images from your browser itself. Fotor and Photopea are great examples of such editors.
• You can install an unblurring app from the Google Play store to rectify blurred images. Ideally, you have to increase sharpness, contrast, and saturation to bring elements to focus.
• Similarly, you can also download an unblur photo app from the iOS store to unblur images on iPhones or iPad. The unblurring process is similar to that of Android. 
• Some iOS apps also have dedicated sharpening filters to remove blurred elements.

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