How to Remove Blemishes and Retouch Skin on iPhone

A single spot or a patch of uneven light can pull attention away from an otherwise good portrait. Clearing it takes seconds with the right tool, and keeping the retouch light is what makes it look natural rather than airbrushed.

Can you do it with the built-in apps?

The Photos app has solid brightness and colour controls, but no tool for clearing a spot or retouching skin. To tidy a blemish or whiten teeth you need an editor with dedicated beauty tools, ideally alongside the colour controls so you can finish the whole photo in one place.

Step by step

Here is how to do it with Photo Editor: HSL & Skin Tools.

1. Install Photo Editor: HSL & Skin Tools and open the portrait you want to retouch.
2. Open the Beauty tools and choose Blemish Remover, then tap each spot to clear it. Zoom in for the small ones.
3. Use Whiten Teeth and Remove Redeye to tidy the rest of the face if needed.
4. Even out skin tone with the Selective HSL controls: nudge the saturation or lightness of a single colour range for a natural finish.
5. Adjust the overall look with tools like brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows and vibrance.
6. Add a filter if you want a consistent look for your grid, then save the finished photo.

Tips

• Work zoomed in and clear one blemish at a time, so the retouch stays subtle rather than smoothing the whole face.
• Selective HSL is handy for keeping skin tones consistent across a set of photos for your feed.
• A light hand on vibrance and contrast usually looks more natural than a heavy filter.

Frequently asked questions