I’ve had this beat-up photo of my grandpa (when he was young!) in a drawer forever—her face was fuzzy, there were scratch marks, and I thought it was just a lost cause… until I tried AI face restoration. Here’s my no-BS experience, broken down:
The tool that saved the day: HitPaw FotorPea Downloaded the desktop app (works on Windows/Mac), uploaded the photo in 2 clicks. Picked the “Face Restoration” AI model (they have options for scratches/noise too!), hit preview… and waited 10 seconds. The result? His smile was sharp, scratches vanished, and it still looked like her—no weird “AI plastic face” vibe. I even batch-fixed 3 more family photos later—total time saver!
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Other tools I tested (for quick phone fixes): Tried Restorephoto (free online) for a quick selfie touch-up—it’s simple, but only focuses on faces. Good for minor blurs, but useless for big scratches. GFPGAN? Way too techy (needs coding stuff) if you’re not a pro. Stick to HitPaw if you want “set-it-and-forget-it” results. -
The best part? No skills needed! I’m terrible at photo editing—like, can’t even use Photoshop’s crop tool right. But AI did all the heavy lifting. My mom saw the fixed pic and immediately handed me her wedding album (“Fix these next!”). Seeing those clear old memories? Priceless.
If you’ve got old blurry photos collecting dust, do yourself a favor and grab HitPaw’s free trial. It’s changed how I look at my family’s photo box. Has anyone else used AI to restore old pics? Drop your tips below—I need more hacks! 