Phota Labs has released a new iOS app designed to turn ordinary snapshots into images that resemble professional photography while maintaining the authenticity of the original moment.
The tool automates the editing process using artificial intelligence to help users access better photos without needing manual adjustment skills.
Cecilia Zhang and Zach Xia founded the a16z-backed startup after meeting while working on computational photography products at Adobe, including Project Indigo, Lightroom, and Photoshop.
The founders identified a gap in the market where existing editing tools struggle to fix photos that were not captured well initially. Phota Labs addresses this by correcting the shot itself while preserving the natural appearance of people within the image.
Zhang told TechCrunch that the app acts as a personal photo assistant that prepares great images for any moment before the user even requests it.
“Think of it almost like a photographer or virtual photographer who looks over your camera roll and tries to understand what’s happening and how they could have taken that photo for you on the spot for that scene,” Zhang said.
The system transforms images, such as converting a wide-angle group shot into a tighter portrait or changing a selfie into a standard photograph.
Users can select from various photography styles that determine how the AI alters their images. Options range from subtle edits that keep the original lens and composition to dramatic transformations introducing effects like fisheye lenses, alternative angles, and entirely different perspectives.
While some people use ChatGPT and other generative AI tools to enhance images, these services often alter a person’s appearance. This issue is particularly common with blurry photos because the tools do not know what that person actually looks like.
“For Phota, we built our own tech,” Zhang said. “We built this personalization technology that actually learns about people’s identity and is able to preserve them in any transformation we do to a photo.”
Images edited with Phota Labs carry invisible watermarks that identify them as altered by AI when shared on social platforms.
The startup initially targets people who take many photos and share them on social media but avoid the tedious editing process. The founders plan to expand the audience over time to include retirees creating photos for grandchildren and parents sharing polished family albums with relatives.
“We have this obsession with authenticity,” Xia said. “I think there’s so much value in connecting AI with real moments and making sure those photos are not perfect, in a sense. That’s why we spend a lot of research into understanding personal context, into building this identity model because we want to make sure the photos are authentic. They’re just better photos of the same moment, rather than saying, ‘Oh, this is an AI image’.”
Beta users expressed excitement at seeing improved versions of moments they had actually lived. The founders observed that users took more photos knowing Phota Labs could enhance them later.
“We’re turning something that’s unusable into something that people want to print,” Zhang said. “People who just love photos but never really got into editing can now experience professional quality that could never have been possible. So, I think that meant so much to us. There’s so many cherished moments for photos, and we really want them to be actually meaningful and something that you can remember.”
The company raised a $5.6 million seed round led by a16z last year.
Phota Labs launches as a free app to build an initial user base before exploring a freemium model. The startup plans to release an Android app in the future.
What it means
Users can expect their existing photos to improve without manual intervention, provided the app preserves their identity accurately. The invisible watermarks ensure transparency when sharing altered images on social media.
