Photos
Vow Photo Editor
Crop, brighten, blur a face, add text, and save to an exact file size
- Free: Every basic edit, 15 saved photos a day, no watermarks
- $9.95 once: No daily limit, one-click face blur, layers, batch edits and presets
Vow Photo Restorer
AI old photo restorer for Windows
Bring old photos back to life. On your PC. In seconds.
Drop in a scan or a phone photo of a faded, scratched print. It restores itself straight away: dust and scratches healed, fading fixed, faces sharpened, colour added if you like, and enlarged for printing. Your family photos are never uploaded.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- Light & dark theme
- Restore and preview everything, 10 screen-size saves a day
No ads. Ever.No pop-ups, no banners, no "offers".
No malware or bundlewareThe installer installs one thing: this app.
No account, no uploadIt works on your PC, and your files stay there.
Free daily limits, just $9.95 unlimitedNo subscription. No trial that runs out.
The problem
Most photo restorers want your family album first
Old photos are irreplaceable. The usual AI restore apps treat them as uploads, credits and a weekly plan.
Upload Grandma to a stranger
Most AI restorers are apps and websites that need your family photos on their servers before they do anything.
Credits and weekly plans
A few free tries, then a credit pack or a subscription for something you'll do one shoebox at a time.
Watermarked or tiny results
The free download is stamped with a logo or shrunk to thumbnail size until you pay up.
"That's not my grandmother"
Over-eager AI invents a new face with plastic skin, and you can't turn it down or off.
All or nothing
One button, one result. No say in how much is fixed, and no way to keep the grain that makes it look real.
Downloads you can't trust
Free "photo fixers" that arrive with pop-up ads, toolbars and installers that change your browser.
Vow Photo Restorer fixes all of it.
How it works
Drop. Restore. Save.
The photo restores itself as it opens, tuned to that photo. Compare, tweak if you like, and save.
- 01
Add your photos
Drag in scans or phone photos of prints, add a whole folder, or paste a picture with Ctrl+V straight from a browser or scanner app.
Drop old photos or scans and bring them back to life - 02
Watch it restore itself
The Auto preset looks at each photo and restores it in seconds. Drag the line to compare before and after, or hold Space for the original.
...scratches, faces, colour and enlarging, all offline - 03
Save it
Press Ctrl+S. Your original is never changed: the restored copy is saved as a new file in Pictures, or next to the original.
Choose where restored photos are saved and in which format
Features
Careful restoration, not an AI makeover
For family historians, anyone with a shoebox of prints, and everyone who wants Grandma to still look like Grandma.
Dust and scratches healed
Spots, dust and thin scratches are found and filled in. The eye button shows what was healed, and a brush handles the rest.
Fading and colour casts fixed
True blacks and whites come back, a named colour cast is removed, and yellowed or sepia prints can turn neutral grey.
Faces restored, faithfully
Blurry faces are restored by AI, even small ones in group photos. Faithful faces skips any face that would stop looking like itself.
Natural colour for black and white
Colourise with AI and set the intensity with a slider. The photo's own brightness is kept; only the colour is added.
Enlarge up to 4x for printing
Real-ESRGAN removes grain and restores detail at the same size, 2x or 4x, and shows how big it prints at 300 dpi.
Split a scan of several prints
Scanned three photos at once? It cuts each one out, straightens it and adds it to the strip, ready to restore.
Trim and straighten
Finds a print lying on the scanner glass and cuts it out, turns, mirrors and straightens up to 20 degrees.
Tuned to each photo
Auto, Gentle, Strong and Colorize presets, plus a strength for every step and chips that diagnose fading, casts and damage.
Fast on your graphics card
Uses any DirectX 12 graphics card (NVIDIA, AMD or Intel) or the processor, and falls back by itself if the card runs out of memory.
Before and after, for the family
Optionally save a side-by-side before | after picture with every photo, ready to share.
Light & dark theme
Easy on the eyes, day or night.
Photo Restorer comes with a crisp light theme and a calm dark theme. Switch with one click, or let it follow your Windows setting by itself. It remembers your choice.
- LightClear and bright for daytime and busy offices
- DarkGentle on tired eyes late at night
- Follow WindowsChanges by itself when your PC does
Screenshots
See Vow Photo Restorer in action
Real screenshots of the real app, in both of its themes: 4 light, 4 dark. Click any picture to see it full size.
Light theme
Dark theme
Who it's for
Made for the photos that matter most
Family historians
Clean up the faces and dates in old portraits before they go into the family tree.
A shoebox of prints
Scan several prints at a time and let the app split, straighten and restore each one.
Reprints and gifts
Enlarge a small snapshot for a frame, with the print size shown at 300 dpi.
Photo books and slideshows
Give anniversary books and tribute slideshows clean, consistent old photos.
No scanner? No problem
Photograph the print with your phone; it comes in upright and restores the same way.
Local history groups
Restore archive photos on your own PC, without sending collections to a website.
Compare
Vow Photo Restorer vs typical AI restore apps
What you actually get when you look for a way to restore an old photo, side by side.
| Feature | Vow Photo Restorer | Typical AI photo restore apps & sites |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free every day, or $9.95 once | Credits or weekly and monthly plans |
| Your photos are uploaded | Never: 100% on your PC | Usually, to their servers |
| Watermarks on free saves | None | Common |
| Faces kept faithful | Unsure faces are skipped | Faces can drift or look plastic |
| Strength for each step | Every step, plus film grain | Usually all or nothing |
| Shows what was healed | Red overlay, plus a repair brush | Rarely |
| Splits a scan of several prints | Yes | Rarely |
| Ads, pop-ups, bundled extras | None, ever | Common on free apps |
| Works without internet | Yes | No, for online tools |
"Typical" describes what we found across the most-downloaded alternatives when we built Photo Restorer. Your mileage with any one of them may vary; ours won't.
Pricing
Free every day. Just $9.95 once for the lot.
That is not a typo. Software this powerful usually means a monthly subscription; Photo Restorer is $9.95, once, for life: it's almost a giveaway. Use it free for as long as you like, and unlock Unlimited only if you need more.
Free
$0forever
Restore and preview everything, 10 screen-size saves a day.
- Restore and preview every photo, every feature
- 10 saves a day at screen size (resets at midnight)
- Scratches, fading, faces and 4x enlarging
- Colourise previews for black-and-white photos
- Split scans, brush repairs and all presets
- No watermarks, no sign-up, nothing uploaded
Best valueUnlimited
$9.95USD, once. Yours for life.
Almost a giveaway. Less than a takeaway lunch for software this powerful: no subscription, no renewals, yours for life on 2 PCs.
Unlimited full-resolution saves, colourised saves and batches.
- Unlimited saves, every day
- Full resolution, enlarged up to 4x
- Save and copy colourised photos
- Save all: restore whole folders in one go
- One payment, yours for life on 2 PCs
- Every future update included
How unlocking works
- 1Use it free first Install Vow Photo Restorer and use it on your own files. No card, no account, no time limit.
- 2Click "Unlimited" in the app Pay $9.95 USD once by card, securely through Stripe in your browser.
- 3It unlocks itself Within seconds, for life, on up to 2 of your PCs. Your license key is emailed to you, and every future update is included.
Payments by Stripe: we never see or store your card. Questions? Ask a real person.
Clean software
Safe to install. Nothing else comes with it.
Most "free" Windows downloads pay for themselves with ads, bundled extras or your data. Vow Photo Restorer doesn't need to: it's paid for honestly, once, by the people who find it useful.
Download Photo Restorer free- No ads, toolbars or "offers"The installer installs one thing: Vow Photo Restorer. No pre-ticked boxes to watch out for.
- No administrator rights neededIt installs just for you, in your own user folder, and leaves the rest of Windows alone.
- Nothing running in the backgroundNo startup programs, no tray nags, no services. When you close it, it's closed.
- Everything includedAll it needs is inside the installer, so you never have to fetch a "required component" from somewhere else.
- Uninstalls cleanlyOne click in Windows Settings > Apps. Your own files are never touched.
- A real company behind itMade, published and supported by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company, with real people answering every message.
Step-by-step guide
How to restore an old photo on Windows
From a faded, scratched print to a clean copy ready to print or share, in a couple of minutes.
Step 1: get it freeDownload and install it free
Get Vow Photo Restorer from this page and run the installer. It needs no administrator rights and no account, and every AI model is already inside, so nothing is downloaded later.
Scan or photograph the print
A flatbed scan gives the best detail, but a straight-on phone photo of the print works too. Several prints on one scan are fine.
Drop it on the window
Drag the file in, press Ctrl+O, or paste it with Ctrl+V. The photo opens and restores itself with the Auto preset, tuned to that photo.
Compare and fine-tune
Drag the line between Before and After. If you want more or less, pick Gentle or Strong, change a step's strength, or paint over a missed scratch with the brush.
Save the restored copy
Press Save or Ctrl+S. The original is never changed; the restored photo is saved as name_restored.jpg in Pictures\Vow Photo Restorer, or next to the original.
Technical details
Photo Restorer at a glance
- Works on
- Windows 10 (1809+) and Windows 11, 64-bit
- AI models
- Real-ESRGAN, GFPGAN 1.4, YuNet, DDColor (all bundled)
- Runs on
- DirectX 12 GPU (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel) or CPU
- Opens
- JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, WebP
- Saves
- JPG, PNG, TIFF, WebP or same as original
- Enlarges
- 2x or 4x, up to 64 MP (Unlimited)
- Internet
- Not needed: works fully offline
- Install
- Per-user, no administrator rights, no account
- Theme
- Light, dark or follow Windows: one click to switch
- Version
- 1.0.0, released 7 November 2026
- Publisher
- XTO Pty Ltd (Australia)
FAQ
Questions about Photo Restorer
Is Vow Photo Restorer free?
Yes. You can restore and preview every photo with every feature for free, and save 10 photos a day at screen size (1920 px on the long edge), with no watermarks. Unlimited, a one-time $9.95 USD payment, adds unlimited full-resolution saves (up to 4x enlarged), saving colourised photos and batch Save all.
Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
No. Every step, including the AI, runs on your own PC, on the graphics card when there is one. There is no account and no cloud, and the app works with no internet connection at all.
Will the AI change how people's faces look?
Faithful faces is on by default. It skips a face when the face finder is unsure, when the landmarks look wrong, or when the restored face strays too far from the original, so a face is never swapped for a stranger's. You can also set how strongly faces are restored.
Can it colourise black-and-white photos?
Yes. Colourising is previewed free on any black-and-white photo, with a slider for the colour intensity; saving colourised photos is part of Unlimited. Unusual prints such as tintypes can come out warm, so the slider and the Colorize switch are always one click away.
How large can I print a restored photo?
Photos can be enlarged 2x or 4x (up to 64 megapixels), and the panel shows the print size at 300 dpi before you save. Free saves are at screen size, 1920 px on the long edge.
Do I need a powerful PC?
No. It runs on any 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 PC. With a DirectX 12 graphics card from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel it is much faster, and if the card fails or runs out of memory the work moves to the processor by itself.
Why is the download so large?
All the AI models for scratches, faces, colour and enlarging are included in the installer, so nothing is downloaded on first run and the app works offline. It opens JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP and WebP files.
Is it safe to install?
Yes. It is made and published by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company. The installer contains no ads, no toolbars and no bundled software, needs no administrator rights, and uninstalls cleanly from Windows Settings.
The Vow collection
More apps you'll never have to go looking for
Same design, same promises, a tiny one-time price. Learn one and you already know them all.
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Passport, visa and ID photos at home, sized to each country's rules
- Free: Make and check unlimited photos, save or print 2 a day
- $4.95 once: Save and print any number of photos, Save all for a whole family
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Vow Image Converter
Turn WebP, AVIF, HEIC and 40+ formats into pictures that open everywhere
- Free: 30 pictures a day, one at a time, every format and option
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Done searching. Get Photo Restorer.
Bring faded, scratched old family photos back to life, offline. Free to use every day, $9.95 once if you ever want Unlimited.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- No subscription