Review Insights · App Store
VSCO: Photo Editor & Presets
Visual Supply Company · 274,028 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
274,028 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 59 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"vsco"
16 negative reviews mention this · 27% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be my go to editor. I don’t know what happened to this app but it’s slowed to a crawl. I don’t have a single other app on my phone that lags as much, takes as long to load images as VSCO these days. It’s become a very real headache to use and it’s a bummer to …" - inserttitlehere
2
"photos"
16 negative reviews mention this · 27% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Requiring Access to All Photos. I’ve used VSCO for years and they slowly took away the features I was using for free. Most recently I went in to edit some pictures and they require total access to my photos instead of only the ones I choose. Nope. Won’t be using anymore p…" - Wardj118
3
"features"
15 negative reviews mention this · 25% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless without paying. There are what feels like zero features on this app unless you want to pay the subscription" - austinfromdenver
4
"been"
11 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t get back into my old acc. I hate how to log in you HAVE to use another website to log in with and you can’t just use your username and password. I’ve been using the same account for the past 4 years. (My entirety of high school) Now that I have a new phone I can’t l…" - 135$?,/;
5
"edit"
10 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Putting the defining feature of making a border-to-square edit behind a paywall was loser behavior. 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼" - Pizza-Bagels-Wings
6
"years"
10 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t get back into my old acc. I hate how to log in you HAVE to use another website to log in with and you can’t just use your username and password. I’ve been using the same account for the past 4 years. (My entirety of high school) Now that I have a new phone I can’t l…" - 135$?,/;
7
"subscription"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless without paying. There are what feels like zero features on this app unless you want to pay the subscription" - austinfromdenver
8
"paying"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless without paying. There are what feels like zero features on this app unless you want to pay the subscription" - austinfromdenver
9
"behind"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Putting the defining feature of making a border-to-square edit behind a paywall was loser behavior. 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼" - Pizza-Bagels-Wings
10
"people"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Too inaccessible. Getting rid of the regular “membership” was a huge mistake. This has turned into a pro-only app and is so inaccessible! $60 for features most people don’t need/wont use?! I miss when it was $20-30 for the year and had everything I needed, n…" - Hailey 55555
11
"photo"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Too inaccessible. Getting rid of the regular “membership” was a huge mistake. This has turned into a pro-only app and is so inaccessible! $60 for features most people don’t need/wont use?! I miss when it was $20-30 for the year and had everything I needed, n…" - Hailey 55555
12
"update"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Broken. App is unusable after the most recent update. Simply going into the edit menu for an image makes the whole thing faded before even applying any edits, and most presets do the same thing." - Asa868
📋 All 59 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Useless without paying
There are what feels like zero features on this app unless you want to pay the subscription
Too inaccessible
Getting rid of the regular “membership” was a huge mistake. This has turned into a pro-only app and is so inaccessible! $60 for features most people don’t need/wont use?! I miss when it was $20-30 for the year and had everything I needed, now it’s all one level and $60 is insane. Doing this list a lot of mid-level photo editors
The app suck
The app suck
Broken
App is unusable after the most recent update. Simply going into the edit menu for an image makes the whole thing faded before even applying any edits, and most presets do the same thing.
Can’t get back into my old acc
I hate how to log in you HAVE to use another website to log in with and you can’t just use your username and password. I’ve been using the same account for the past 4 years. (My entirety of high school) Now that I have a new phone I can’t log back in and am very upset. 😡
Too Expensive/Money Grabbing
Literally everything is locked if you don’t pay for the subscription.
No just no
👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾
Dude
Why did you make the UI so unfriendly to navigate just to edit a picture and then post it? This is such a trash update, do you guys even use the app before you decide to screw around?
Used to be my go to editor
I don’t know what happened to this app but it’s slowed to a crawl. I don’t have a single other app on my phone that lags as much, takes as long to load images as VSCO these days. It’s become a very real headache to use and it’s a bummer to have to go to Lightroom on my desktop to get a decent workflow because of it.
UPDATE: down to 1 star because they’ve now paywalled simple correction tools that didn’t used to be locked behind a paywall. Spent years paying for this and now it’s so trash.
UPDATE: down to 1 star because they’ve now paywalled simple correction tools that didn’t used to be locked behind a paywall. Spent years paying for this and now it’s so trash.
Do not purchase anything from them
You will never be able to get your subscription cancelled and they will eventually take away the premium version while you remain paying for it. They are stealing from their users and the app is so dead I assume that’s how they still make money
Adds adds adds
Literally just adds now
Requiring Access to All Photos
I’ve used VSCO for years and they slowly took away the features I was using for free. Most recently I went in to edit some pictures and they require total access to my photos instead of only the ones I choose. Nope. Won’t be using anymore purely because of that requirement. Because no, you may not have access to everything when I want to use it for an editing app for a few photos.
Expensive but the app keeps on crashing. Not worth it
I was initially excited about this app, especially the feature that allows you to remove unwanted objects or distractions from photos. That capability is exactly why I decided to subscribe, despite the relatively high monthly cost.
Unfortunately, my experience has been extremely disappointing. After completing just one edit, the app consistently crashes and fails to save any progress. It becomes unusable almost immediately, which makes the subscription feel unjustified. Paying $12.99 plus tax for a service that does not function reliably is frustrating.
If AI tools are going to be a core feature, they should at least perform consistently and deliver the value users are paying for. At the very least, the app should be stable enough to complete basic edits without crashing
Unfortunately, my experience has been extremely disappointing. After completing just one edit, the app consistently crashes and fails to save any progress. It becomes unusable almost immediately, which makes the subscription feel unjustified. Paying $12.99 plus tax for a service that does not function reliably is frustrating.
If AI tools are going to be a core feature, they should at least perform consistently and deliver the value users are paying for. At the very least, the app should be stable enough to complete basic edits without crashing
video exports are dark. stop making it worse.
I have been a paying user of VSCO for years, but price increase without adding new features or updating the old ones that don’t work?? like how videos export dark??
now my photos are defaulting to HDR when I never changed the settings.
also how come when exporting, it always says (16/…) and you can’t see the total photos exporting. Feels like that would be a super easy fix!!
THIS HDR SITUATION IS RUINING MY WORKFLOW!!!!
now my photos are defaulting to HDR when I never changed the settings.
also how come when exporting, it always says (16/…) and you can’t see the total photos exporting. Feels like that would be a super easy fix!!
THIS HDR SITUATION IS RUINING MY WORKFLOW!!!!
PAYING FOR EVERYTHING!
This app seems to be interested in their own demise, because over time the app becomes more and more inaccessible unless you bite the bullet to break down the paywall. Now I can’t DOWNLOAD PHOTOS without pro which is $60 A YEAR? This is insane. Will be finding a new editing app.
Buggy, updates not helping and AI keeps being pushed on users.
Latest update broke the blur adjustment, all exports with the adjustment can’t be used. App continues to be buggy and you keep pushing for AI instead of focusing on a working app and functions people that appreciate photography care for. Looking for a replacement app that does that.
No longer works
No longer working when I try to post photos
another app ruined
we did NOT need to add ai to the app. this new feature is tempting me to delete the app forever.
Ai lab
I opened VSCO today to see that a new AI feature has been added. I’m extremely disappointed. Prioritizing something that is horrible for our planet and our minds over other features or literally anything else is something that every app seems to be doing lately, and I’m very upset VSCO has hopped on the bandwagon. There is no need for this feature and now it’s in the way
selfish trump supporters planet wreckers
If you don’t stop using AI you’re going to be boycotted.
This app and studio editor sucks
You can’t even import photos, when it let me once i edited a few photos and exported them to find out they exported with an inverted look…
It’s something bad
Look of if I could rate it zero stars I would, their guidelines monitoring could use a lot of work, glad I deleted my personal account so I could do a meme account that was deactivated by VSCO for violating guidelines without actually doing so.
Used to be good
Recent updates with the stupid pseudo tik tok "for you page" mean that now what little followers and friends I have on the app don't even see my posts. That's literally all VSCO was for in 2026 - sharing photos through a more casual / artistic lens than Instagram with a smaller group of people who I know and who also use the app, now it's useless for that. Posting into the void of an algorithm... we lost another one <\3
They ruined it
VSCO used to be a place for creative people to edit and collect photos. They put most of the formerly free editing features behind a pay wall now, and have changed the interface completely. This app is trash now. Don’t even get me started on it’s unnecessary introduction of AI
It calls itself a Photo Editor & presets
It should describe itself as a photo sharing platform first. All I can do is look at other people’s photos or post one of my own. I don’t want to post, I want to see & try out the editing tools
Dumb
If you ever lose your account, it is the worst app to ever recover your account on. You would be better off letting your phone on fire and changing your identity in making a new account then trying to recover your old one.
Extremely disappointing
The app was okay for the past four years, but they have no way to help recover your account. And their customer service is actually terrible. I have lost multiple accounts because it signs me out and when I try to get back in there is no way to. Like it forgot my information when I know it’s right!!! Extremely disappointing for such a big corporate app.
Ads make unusable
Garbage. Just shut the app down if you’re going to ruin it like this.
App stuck
1. The app always gets stuck when I long press an image for a quick preview. It’ll just lock into that image full screen and doesn’t minimize no matter where I click.
2. The memory of the app crashes and needs to refresh whenever I scroll down past 100th image. It’ll auto reload and brings be back up to the first pic.
Whenever I leave the app mid editing, it always refreshes when I come back. It’s been super super annoying using VSCO lately. I’m only of very very early users since 2014.
2. The memory of the app crashes and needs to refresh whenever I scroll down past 100th image. It’ll auto reload and brings be back up to the first pic.
Whenever I leave the app mid editing, it always refreshes when I come back. It’s been super super annoying using VSCO lately. I’m only of very very early users since 2014.
yikes
everytime this app updates it gets worse … and worse … and worse. LOL @ introducing Ai
I Can No Longer Recommend This App
I have been using this for almost a decade but the price they charge for premium simply does not meet the features you get. They continue to increase the price of their subscription. In addition, they try to incentivize you to buy this subscription by reducing the features that were once available for free (Grain, H/S tone, Clarity, etc).
By doing this, they have pushed away both paying and free users.
VSCO, you used to be my favorite app. Do better.
By doing this, they have pushed away both paying and free users.
VSCO, you used to be my favorite app. Do better.
all about money
i’ve had vsco basically since it got popular (2014ish). i paid for it a bit, but decided i liked the free version just as much. went on today and all of a sudden, half of the features that used to be free (highlights and shadows, clarity, grain, text, and way more) are now locked unless you pay for pro. deleting the app!
MJ
Used to be a great app for editing photos and getting a break from some of the toxic parts of social media but has since gotten worse in its algorithm and the new ads make it detestable. Seriously considering deleting the app.
Gone Downhill
Used to be a fun photo editing app, loved creating and editing on it for almost the last decade. Used to be free, then they started charging a yearly subscription. Price for subscription keeps going up and up, even with a basic subscription it has so many features behind a paywall unless you buy “premium”. Greedy! So sad, everyone used to use it! Now I think I’m the last one of my friends to finally leave the app behind.
App getting worse
where tf are my edits? Exit the app and all my work is lost, drafts don’t auto save anymore…what is going on with this app? VSCO used to be a favorite but all the updates has made it worse over time. Ive been using it close to 10 years more or less and have seen it get jumbled with too many unnecessary changes. Many landmark features are forever changing such as the import folder, home layout, edited photos sometimes don’t save changes on the drafts, 16:9 photos import in a random dimension. It’s become increasingly less user friendly and more confusing. Older VSCO versions were better and there should be a legacy option for controls for people who actually enjoyed using older versions of this app. I would pay $$$ for it to stop being updated and ruined.
😑
needs an archive button for posts
Ads will kill this app.
VSCO was game changing when it first came out. The first social media that didn’t rely on likes or selfies or followers. It was a space for people to share their true selves with friends with no other factor in what was posted. Allowing ads was a complete sell out. Not only is the ad frequency so heavy that you can’t see three post without an ad in between, but they have allowed too much for it. You’ll get stuck on the ads forced to see them, they will play audio that doesn’t stop once you scroll, if you touch on the ad it will sometimes have some sort of interaction with the ad so that it’s moving the ad but not scrolling past. I have been on vsco for many many years now and have had multiple accounts at the same time. This has literally caused me to stop going on there as much. As soon as I see an ad I close it out anymore. You are literally making your own app obsolete by selling out to these ad companies. Mind you, every platform has ads, but they aren’t so in your face, disrupting the atmosphere created on the app. Before this, this app would be categorized with the big ones; Snapchat, instagram, Facebook. Now I am borderline disgusted by the ads and how much freedom you have given them. This was not customer forward thinking.
Disappointed
I used to LOVE this app when it first launched. Now it’s buggy, paywalled, and honestly a pretty terrible user experience. Maybe it’s because it used to be great, but over time they took away options and put them behind a subscription, maybe it’s because it used to be easy to use. At the end of the day I’m disappointed every single time I open the app. If they didn’t try to jam down my throat paying for features I’d be okay with it, but as a free user there’s not much going for it anymore.
Horrible
This app used to be GREAT. Between all the ads and how they changed the layout this app is HORRIBLE! Also now when you upload photos to VSCO they are NOT there! FOR THE AMOUNT YOU CHARGE THIS SHOULD BE BETTER!!!
Greedy App
They keep taking away features that were free and making them part of their “pro”, i’m really starting to get annoyed.
Putting the defining feature of making a border-to-square edit behind a paywall was loser behavior
👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼
price increase
this app is glitchy AF. also NO ONE ASKED FOR AI. now the price increase. gonna delete this app and find something else. congrats.
Was my go to app
Simultaneously the software became buggier (especially with video) and they jacked up their prices by literally double.
It would be one thing if they had added value instead of bugs. Then insult to injury they hid even *more* tools behind subscription. They lost me after 4 years as a premium member.
It would be one thing if they had added value instead of bugs. Then insult to injury they hid even *more* tools behind subscription. They lost me after 4 years as a premium member.
Nice filters , horrible ui and pricing.
Great filters and that’s about it. The menus are confusing and the pricing is way too much . I really wanted to love this app but those 2 negatives are bad enough for me.
Recent Update Screwed Up
Recent update screwed up.
Slow connection
Slow connection
Не работает инструмент размытие. Сохраняет не корректно
При сохранении фото, размытие не на тех местах. Так уже месяц. Поверите. Подписка платная.
the paywalls have gotten out of hand
i’ve been using VSCO since 2018, now i’m going to delete it because it’s no better than using the apple photos to just edit my photos because the amount of stuff that didn’t use to be behind paywalls, are now behind a paywall. it’s insane.
Super buggy latest update
I used to really like this app but it doesn’t work as well as it used to. Photo will look fine in app but blur breaks when it’s rendered to camera roll. Randomly deletes edits. And now there’s an ‘premium’ paywall so you don’t have access to different effects and filters unless you pay extra
Charged me??
It gave me the option for a free subscription trial. Then it charged me $60 immediately requesting a refund
+ 9 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
93%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
5%
Negative (1-2★)