Everything people ask before they upload their first old family photo to Refresh.photos.
Refresh.photos is an AI photo restoration tool built for families with old prints. Upload any photo and see a watermarked, low-resolution preview for free — no account required. Purchase credits to download the full-resolution, watermark-free version. It uses AI to repair scratches, faded color, and soft focus while preserving the original faces and expressions.
Take a clear phone photo of the print (or scan it at 300+ DPI), upload it to Refresh.photos, add a one-line description of who's in the photo and roughly when it was taken, then click Refresh. The AI returns a restored, colorized version in about 20 seconds that you can download watermark-free after sign-up.
Upload any photo and see a watermarked preview free. Full resolution requires credits. There is no subscription. Packs start at $19 for 25 credits (Family pack) or $49 for 100 credits (Archive pack). Credits never expire.
AI photo restoration uses an image model trained on millions of before-and-after pairs to infer what a damaged photo originally looked like. The model identifies faces, fabric, edges, and backgrounds, then rebuilds lost detail, corrects color casts, and removes scratches — without changing identity.
A well-tuned model should not change recognizable facial identity. Refresh.photos explicitly instructs the AI to preserve the exact facial geometry, expressions, and natural softness of the original lens. If a face is only partly damaged, the visible side is used as a reference so the reconstructed side matches the same person.
A flatbed scan at 600 DPI is ideal, but a well-lit phone photo works surprisingly well. Lay the print flat on a neutral surface, use natural daylight to avoid glare, shoot straight down, and fill the frame with the print. Refresh.photos auto-crops phone photos so you don't have to be perfect.
Yes. Refresh.photos detects black-and-white inputs automatically and colorizes them using period-appropriate tones based on the decade you provide. For best results, add any colors you remember (e.g. 'green dress, brown hair') in the details field — the model uses those as anchors instead of guessing.
Yes — turn on the 'heavy reconstruction' toggle before restoring. This tells the AI to aggressively fill in missing, torn, or stained regions by inferring what was plausibly there based on context and any details you provide. It works best when at least part of the subject is still visible as a reference.
No. You can restore one photo on Refresh.photos without creating an account — just enter an email to receive the result. Creating a free account gives you additional credits, a dashboard to re-download your restorations, and the ability to restore multiple photos in one session.
Refresh.photos uses a one-credit-per-photo model. The Family pack is 25 credits for $19 ($0.76/photo) and the Archive pack is 100 credits for $49 ($0.49/photo). There is no subscription, no hidden fees, and credits never expire.
Yes. Your uploaded photos are stored privately in Supabase storage with signed URLs — only you can access them. We do not sell or share your photos, do not use them to train models, and you can delete any photo from your dashboard at any time. See our privacy policy for full details.
Any photo where the subject is still mostly visible works well: faded color prints, grainy black-and-white snapshots, mild water damage, scratches, dust, and soft focus. Heavily burned, completely torn, or fully missing sections are harder and benefit from the heavy reconstruction toggle.
Yes. Every restoration is upscaled to print-ready resolution — roughly 2.4× larger than the input on each side, which is several times more pixels overall. That means a blurry snapshot of a faded print comes out sharp enough to order a professionally printed 8×10, canvas, or framed enlargement from services like Shutterfly, Printful, or your local photo lab. Most people don't realize how much the upscaling matters — a phone photo of an old print is rarely print-ready on its own.
A typical phone photo of an old 4×6 print is around 1500×1000 pixels — too soft to print larger than a wallet photo. After restoration, Refresh.photos upscales the file to roughly 3000+ pixels on the long edge, large enough for sharp 8×10 and 11×14 enlargements from a professional print lab. For memorial service easel prints or canvas gallery prints, this is the difference between a crisp print and a blurry one.
Yes, and it's one of the most common uses of Refresh.photos. Families use our restorations for memorial service easel photos, in loving memory tributes, funeral programs, and remembrance slideshows. Restorations take about 30 seconds and come out at print-ready quality, so you can order a professional print in time for the service. Upload a scan or a phone photo of the original print, add any context like the decade and the person's name, and click Refresh. Learn more on our memorial photo restoration page.
Yes. Restored photos are exported at print-ready resolution — roughly 3000+ pixels on the long edge — which means you can order prints, canvases, framed prints, photo blankets, or mugs from any print service. We recommend Printful for framed prints and canvases because the quality is consistently high and your restored file is large enough to get the full benefit. Download your restoration from your dashboard and upload it to the print service of your choice.
Refresh.photos is an AI-powered family photo solution that restores faded, damaged, and black-and-white family photographs. In addition to repair and colorization, every restoration is upscaled to print-ready quality for framed prints, canvases, and memorial displays. It's built specifically for families looking to preserve generations of photos for memorial services, anniversaries, reunions, and gifts.