Guide · Memories
Restore old photos
Faded colours, scratches, blur — AI can bring old family photos back to life. Here's how to digitise a print properly, restore it on iPhone and keep the original safe.
Quick answer
Photograph the print flat, in soft daylight and without glare, then open it in Aybuke and apply the Restore Old Photo look (Pro) — or use Enhance to sharpen a blurry photo. Compare before and after, save the result as a copy and keep the original scan.
Step 1: digitise the print well
The better your starting image, the better the restoration. A phone photo works if you're careful:
- Take it out of the frame. Glass and plastic sleeves cause reflections.
- Lay it flat on a table near a window, in soft daylight. Avoid direct sun and the camera flash.
- Hold your phone parallel to the photo so it isn't skewed, and fill the frame.
- Straighten and crop afterwards with Crop — it's free and on your device.
Step 2: restore it
Open your scan
In Aybuke, open the photo of your print in the editor.
Choose how to restore
Apply Restore Old Photo (in Edit › Styles, under Dreamy portraits), or Enhance to sharpen a blurry photo.
Allow cloud AI once
Restoring runs in the cloud. Aybuke asks first, and doesn't keep your photo.
Compare carefully
Slide before and after and look closely at faces and fine details.
Save a copy
Save the restored version and keep the original scan alongside it.
What AI restoration can — and can't — do
AI is great at sharpening blur, smoothing scratches and bringing back faded colour. But when detail is truly missing, it has to guess, and it can invent small things that weren't there. That's why you should always keep the original, look closely at faces before sharing, and treat the result as a lovely interpretation rather than a historical record.
Every restored image Aybuke exports carries an invisible “made with AI” label, so it stays clear that AI was involved.
Respect the people in the photo
Old photos often show family members who can't be asked. Share restorations with care, ask living relatives before posting them publicly, and use Hide faces for people who'd rather not be online.
What it costs
Restore Old Photo is a Pro look; Enhance uses 1 AI credit, and you get 2 free credits every day. Failed restorations are refunded automatically. See pricing.
