Let your photos talking! Create empowering and valuable visuals with these Text Overlay Apps
A picture is worth a thousand words. However, a picture with some valuable words over it is likely worth much more. Digital marketers and influencers, know the importance of good visuals and accompanying words. They often use different photo- and text-editing apps to add meaning to their pictures.
Well, who doesn’t do that? At this era of social networking, often we add text on pictures to share them on facebook, twitter or Instagram. Be it a caption, funny comment or a meme, we often add text on pictures. Rather than adding some casual text on a photo we should throw some style, add some effects and apply gorgeous looking fonts. To make it easier right use the apps below to add text on images, so that you can also make your content stand out.
Top 11 apps to add text or caption on pictures
How to add text to a picture
There are a few different ways to add text to photos. Using photo editing software on a computer or an online tool to annotate a picture is very simple. But for most people, the go-to way to capture an image with a smartphone and use a text to photo app to put some beautiful words on it. Since it’s effortless, the user can also save in image from online and import it to the app to quickly convert an image to eye-catching meme for social media sharing.
Canva: Logo, Flyer, Poster maker
Price: Free/ Offers IAP
Canva is one of the most popular photo-editing apps with over 10 million downloads and has a perfect built-in functionality to add text into visuals, especially for creating quote imagery often seen on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest.
Aside from adding text, Canva is ideal for making posters, flyers, banners, and even logos for your business. If you’re looking for an app which can add more functionality than just text-editing, Canva is the right app for you or your business.
Download Canva: Graphic Design App
Phonto – Text on Photos
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
As its name suggests, Phonto allows you to combine beautiful imagery with over 200 built-in fonts that will flatter your design. Additionally, you can download even more fonts to fit the exact style you’re looking for.
The app is extremely intuitive for using and allows different text manipulations to make the photos more appealing. While the app itself is available for free, the app may at times appear over-crowded by ads, so upgrading it for some money will free you from advertisements and enable you to use all of its features.
Download Phonto App
Text on Photo
Price: Free with ads
Text on Photo is a special app for text-overlay functionality with intuitive controls for creating custom captions, quotes, and greeting cards. The app distinguishes itself with extensive typography options (80+ fonts), precise text manipulation, and complementary design elements like stickers and frames for complete visual messaging. The interface prioritizes simplicity with straightforward text controls for font selection, color adjustment, border styling, and shadow effects. Letter and line spacing options provide typographic precision while handles for moving, scaling, and rotating text ensure perfect placement. The app requires minimal permissions, works offline, and maintains consistent functionality across Android devices of varying screen sizes.
Unlike full-featured editors like PhotoDirector, Text on Photo excels through its focused approach to typography while eliminating unnecessary complexity. The app is completely free (ad-supported) with no in-app purchases required to access core text features. Text on Photo is worth downloading for anyone who regularly creates greeting cards, memes, or social media posts with text overlays, offering exceptional value for users who prioritize typography over comprehensive editing capabilities.
Download Text on Photo
Photo Editor – Stickers & Text
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Photo Editor is an all-in-one platform for adding text and graphics to images. The app distinguishes itself with a robust library of premium fonts, multiple text layer support, and advanced text styling options including drop shadows, rotation, and opacity adjustments for creating polished typography overlays. The user interface prioritizes accessibility with intuitive text controls and a well-organized asset library featuring stickers, artwork, and visual effects. Text manipulation is seamless with simple resize, rotate, and positioning tools that maintain visual quality across various export resolutions. While requiring standard photo permissions, the app works offline for most text functions and maintains consistent performance across Android devices.
Compared to text-focused apps like Add Text or Text on Photo, Photo Editor offers a more balanced approach with equal emphasis on typography and complementary visual elements like stickers and filters. Photo Editor is ideal for social media enthusiasts and casual content creators seeking an accessible, feature-rich tool for creating visually engaging captioned images without requiring specialized design knowledge.
Download Photo Editor – Stickers & Text
Add Text: Text on Photo Editor
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Add Text is a typography app for text overlay application, offering unparalleled customization with 1,000+ fonts, custom font imports, and specialized text effects. The app distinguishes itself with advanced features like 3D text rotation, perspective tools, and partial text styling—capabilities typically found only in desktop design software. The interface balances depth with accessibility through an organized layer management system and precise control handles for text manipulation. Beyond basic positioning, users can apply complex text transformations including curved text, perspective shifts, and text-behind effects. The app excels in offline functionality, requires minimal permissions, and supports multiple export formats including transparent PNG for professional graphic workflows.
Compared to other Text on Photo app it offers significantly more typography-focused features while maintaining a reasonable app size. It even allows to upload custom font files giving greater flexibilty in font choice. All features are available for free with ads, with a one-time purchase option to remove advertisements rather than a subscription model. Add Text is the definitive choice for content creators, designers, and marketers who regularly need professional-quality text overlays, offering desktop-class typography tools in a mobile application.
Download Text on Photo Editor
iMarkup: Text, Draw on photos
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
iMarkup mainly focused at annotation functionality with efficient tools for adding text and visual elements to images. The app stands out with its comprehensive markup options including custom shapes, and specialized features like pixelation and magnification for practical image communication. The interface prioritizes functionality with straightforward controls for text manipulation, offering customization of color, background, shadow, stroke, and size. Text placement is precise while drawing tools (arrows, rectangles, circles) complement typography for effective visual communication. The app works completely offline, requires minimal permissions, and uniquely supports SD card storage for edited images.
Unlike design-oriented apps like Photo Editor or Add Text, iMarkup focuses on practical annotation rather than artistic expression, offering specialized features like webpage and map markup alongside photo editing. The completely free, no-restriction model provides full functionality without watermarks or paywalls. iMarkup is ideal for professionals, educators, and anyone needing clear, precise text annotations on images for instructional or communicative purposes rather than decorative social media content.
Download iMarkup
Geulgram – Text on Photo
Price: Free with ad
Download Geulgram
However, the app doesn’t offer a great variety of functionality for advanced photo editing compared to other text adding apps. Nevertheless, it’s perfect for entry-level devices, and those not so knowledgeable with editing.
Text on Photos
Price: Free with ads
If you’re a fan of a cute “text-message” style text on photos, this app is absolute love. It will appeal to everyone looking for a professional-quality image procession while maintaining its ease of use. The app is well-known for a vivid and vibrant display of different colors for its letters and stickers.
The app comes with a lot of glue-on fonts which you can use to make your photos more lively. Additionally, it offers more than 5000 beautiful stickers of different sizes which can easily be adjusted accordingly, as well as plenty of picture frames and artworks to help you. Additionally, there is a sufficient photo storage functionality which allows you to safely store photos before sharing them to Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks. The photo storage can also be used to set the photos as your avatar.
Download Text on Photos
Caption It
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Captions add additional value to your photos, and Caption It may be a perfect choice for those who want to make empowering, moving and encouraging captions. You can capture a photo directly in the app, or import them from your gallery. Easily drag the text and position it anyhow you want.
Unfortunately, the functionality of this app falls behind than the above apps. But it’s still an excellent app for those who want to customize their photos, add funny or wise captions and choose different colors and rotation for their texts.
Download Caption It
Write on Pictures
Price: Free
Write on Pictures is a free app that allows users to add text to their images effortlessly. Its primary function is to enable quick and easy customization of photos with captions, quotes, or stylish text overlays. The user-friendly design allows for text addition in just a few taps with a diverse selection of fonts, colors, and effects, providing ample creative freedom. While the app excels in its core functionality, it’s worth noting that it focuses primarily on text overlay features rather than offering a comprehensive suite of photo editing tools. Write on Pictures is compatible with Android devices and can be used offline, ensuring accessibility without constant internet connectivity.
It’s an excellent choice for users who primarily need to add text to their images without the complexity of full-featured photo editors. The app is particularly well-suited for social media enthusiasts, casual users looking to personalize their photos, and small business owners creating simple marketing visuals. Overall, Write on Pictures is worth downloading for anyone seeking a straightforward, efficient tool for adding text to photos.
Download Write on Pictures
Photo Captions – Insta Square
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Photo Captions Android app makes it’s easy to add a caption to photos. The app automatically adjusts the font size of your caption to best fit on the photos. The app comes with a handful selection of pre-defined quotes, simply chose one of them to apply on your photo. Users can also add their own captions.
Mostly used captions and fonts can be marked as favorites so you can easily find them the next time you work with a new image. Another fun feature called PIP allows inserting a picture in picture.
Download Photo Captions
Conclusion
Canva is undoubtedly the best because it’s multi-functional and is used by the vast majority of online businesses to promote their products and services. However, some may find its complexity a bit over the plate. Other apps in this list offer less functionality but more ease of use and vice versa.
When it comes to choosing the right app for adding text over photos, it just comes down to personal preference and purpose. If you want to make different formats, make sure to use apps with supported aspect ratio. For telling stories with your pictures and content, you can use Unfold. Which app for adding text over photos do you use? Let us know in the comments!