How to unblur a photo in Google Photos
Open the photo in Google Photos, tap Edit, go to Tools and choose Unblur. Since May 2024 Google has offered it free on devices that meet its minimum requirements, not only on Pixel phones.
Unblur in Google Photos, step by step
Unblur started as a Pixel 7 feature and now reaches many other phones through the Google Photos app.
- Open the photo
Open it in the Google Photos app. It does not need to have been taken on the same phone; scans of old prints work too.
- Tap Edit, then Tools
Tools holds the AI editing features your device supports.
- Choose Unblur
Google Photos processes the image. Where a strength slider appears, use it to dial the effect back.
- Save a copy
Choose Save as copy to keep the original next to the sharpened version.
Where it stops. Unblur is designed for mild blur. Strong motion blur, tiny faces in group shots and images flattened by chat compression get limited help, and it neither enlarges a photo nor repairs damage on old prints. If Tools shows no Unblur, your device does not meet Google’s requirements.
Unblur or Enhance
Enhance, offered as a suggestion when you open Edit, adjusts brightness, contrast and colour. Unblur works on edge detail. For a photo that is both dull and soft, apply Enhance first and Unblur second, and compare each step.
When a dedicated app is the better route
Unblur is the free first try, and for a slightly soft photo it may be all you need. Move to a dedicated app for strongly blurred photos, faces that need a portrait model, compressed images that need upscaling, and old prints with damage. Those are different problems from the mild softness Google’s tool is tuned for.
The tool to start with is Unblur photo.
Questions
Why is there no Unblur option in my Google Photos?
Your device probably does not meet Google’s minimum requirements, or the rollout has not reached it. Update the Google Photos app and look again under Edit, then Tools.
Is Google Photos Unblur free?
Yes. In May 2024 Google made Unblur and several other AI editing tools free for Google Photos users on eligible devices, with no Google One subscription needed.
Going deeper
Phone photo tools compared covers the method in more depth, including the cases no tool can fix.