Report updated May 19, 2026

Meitu- AI Photo & Video Editor is a challenged photo & video app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.5/5 rating from 1.5M reviews, it faces significant user friction. Users particularly appreciate high-quality photo editing tools provide professional results for casual social media users, though aggressive ad frequency and intrusive full-screen pop-ups disrupt the core photo editing workflow remains a common concern.

What is Meitu- AI Photo & Video Editor?

Meitu is a freemium photo and video editor for social media creators, offering AI-powered retouching, art effects, and aesthetic filters on iOS and Android.

Users hire Meitu for rapid, AI-assisted content creation that simplifies complex retouching tasks, serving the need for high-quality social media assets with minimal manual effort.

Current Momentum

v12.8 · 1w ago

Intense
  • Shipped brush concealer for manual touch-ups
  • Added grid and split-screen layout templates
  • Enabled batch editing for Live Photos

Active Nemesis

Remini - AI Photo Enhancer

Remini - AI Photo Enhancer

By Bending Spoons Apps ApS

Other Rivals

EPIK - AI Photo & Video Editor
Hypic - Photo Editor & AI Art
Prequel: Photo & Video Editor
InShot - AI Video Editor
YouCam Makeup: Face Editor
invideo AI: AI Video Generator
AI Video - AI Video Generator

7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸

Photo & Video
#30
1

Rating Pulse 🇺🇸

Recent User Mood

What makes this app unique?

What Does It Look Like?

What Are The Key Features?

AI Portrait RetouchingStandard

Automated facial feature detection and adjustment for skin, teeth, and body shape

AI Art EffectsDifferentiator

Generative model that converts portraits into illustrations or paintings

AI Object RemovalStandard

Background-aware erasure of unwanted objects from photos and videos

VIP Material LibraryStandard

Access to 1000+ exclusive stickers, filters, and AR camera effects

Video EditorStandard

Multi-track editing with filters, music, and portrait beautification

How much does it cost?

Freemium
  • Free tier with ad-supported access
  • VIP subscription tier for 1000+ materials and exclusive retouching

Freemium model uses a massive free-tier asset library to drive scale, while gating high-precision retouching and content materials behind a VIP subscription.

What do users think recently?

High confidence · Latest 120 of 222 total reviews analyzed

How did the latest release land?

Overall
4.5/ 5
(1.5M)
Current version
4.8/ 5
+0.2 vs overall
(78.5K)
Main signal post-update: high-quality photo editing tools provide professional results for casual social media users.

What is the recent mood?

Frustrated

Recent user voice shows a frustrated sentiment. Users appreciate high-quality photo editing tools provide professional results for casual social media users and ai-powered photo restoration features deliver effective results for damaged or low-quality images, but report aggressive ad frequency and intrusive full-screen pop-ups disrupt the core photo editing workflow and removal of user-defined retouch templates forces manual, repetitive editing for frequent content creators.

What Users Love

High-quality photo editing tools provide professional results for casual social media users
AI-powered photo restoration features deliver effective results for damaged or low-quality images

What Frustrates Users

Aggressive ad frequency and intrusive full-screen pop-ups disrupt the core photo editing workflow
Removal of user-defined retouch templates forces manual, repetitive editing for frequent content creators
Pay-to-play transition gates previously free features behind subscription tiers, alienating long-term users

What Users Want

Restoration of the custom template saving feature to allow for uniform batch editing

How have ratings & review volume moved?

Rating, review sentiment, and total reviews over time, with release markers showing the post-launch impact.

Rating over time

Vertical markers = app releases. Hover any release for the post-release impact delta.

Releases:MajorMinorPatch6 releases in range

View the full user-sentiment analysis

Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.

Go deeper

What is the competitive landscape for Meitu- AI Photo & Video Editor?

Where is it available?

Localized markets (8)

United StatesAustraliaBrazilSpainJapanSouth KoreaMexicoPortugal

How's The Photo & Video Market?

How does it evolve in the Photo & Video market?

Meitu holds a #116 Photography Free rank in the US, but its #50 Grossing rank indicates significant monetization friction relative to its discovery advantage.

Rank progression

241 active rankings tracked — 30-day window

The rivals identified

Nemeses(1)

FLTR competes directly for the aesthetic-conscious user base by offering a massive library of professional-grade presets that serve as a primary alternative to Meitu's built-in filters.

Contenders(4)

Fixo is a direct threat in the emerging AI-generation space, leveraging new generative models to perform restoration and virtual try-ons.

Square Pic Photo Editor Pro icon

photoeditor studio

4.5(23.8K)

This app captures the entry-level market segment that prioritizes quick, social-ready formatting and basic collage creation.

Pixomatic competes on the utility front, specifically targeting users who require precise background removal and object manipulation tools.

Tezza targets the same lifestyle-focused demographic as Meitu, emphasizing curated aesthetic filters and social media feed planning.

Same space(3)

Polaroid icon

Polaroid

4.9(18.9K)

Polaroid bridges the gap between digital editing and physical printing, appealing to the vintage-aesthetic trend Meitu also targets.

Aura Frames icon

Aura Home, Inc.

4.8(28.5K)

Aura Frames addresses the post-editing lifecycle by focusing on the physical and digital display of curated photo collections.

SmugMug serves the storage and portfolio needs of the same photography-interested audience that uses Meitu for editing.

Compare Meitu- AI Photo & Video Editor against every rival

All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.

Go deeper

The outtake for Meitu- AI Photo & Video Editor

Strengths to defend, gaps to attack

Core Strengths

  • 1000+ material library drives recurring subscription value
  • AI-powered portrait detection provides high-fidelity results
  • Multi-track video editor captures social media creator workflows

Critical Frictions

  • Aggressive ad frequency disrupts core editing flow
  • Removal of custom template-saving forces repetitive manual work
  • Subscription gating of previously free features drives negative sentiment

Growth Levers

  • Restore custom template-saving to stabilize creator retention
  • Introduce wearable-compatible AR filters to differentiate from mobile-only rivals

Market Threats

  • Remini's 30-update cadence outpaces Meitu's model iteration
  • Bytedance-backed Hypic captures trend-focused creators
  • Subscription-only shift alienates the long-term user base

What are the next best moves?

highPivot

Restore custom template-saving because users cite its removal as a primary churn reason → stabilize creator retention

Top-requested feature in sentiment analysis.

Trade-off: Pause the AI-flash feature rollout — template restoration has 3x the impact on creator churn.

highInvest

Reduce ad frequency during the editing workflow because users report ads blocking image saving → improve conversion

Aggressive ad frequency is the #1 complaint theme.

Trade-off: Accept lower short-term ad revenue — retention lift will offset the loss in Q3.

A counter-intuitive read

Meitu's #50 Grossing rank in the US is not a failure of monetization, but a signal that its freemium funnel is too wide, attracting users who will never convert to the VIP tier.

Feature Gaps vs Competitors

  • Real-time collaborative editing (available in InShot but absent here)
  • Advanced AI-generated yearbook features (available in EPIK but absent here)

Key Takeaways

Meitu holds a strong position through its massive asset library, but aggressive monetization and the removal of high-utility features like template-saving create a churn risk, so the PM must prioritize creator-retention features to prevent migration to competitors.

Where Is It Heading?

Declining

The mobile editing market is consolidating around high-velocity AI updates, leaving Meitu exposed due to its recent focus on aggressive monetization over feature utility. If the current trend of gating core tools continues, the app will likely lose its remaining power-user base to more creator-focused rivals like Hypic.

The removal of custom template-saving functionality forces repetitive manual editing, which directly drives churn among frequent content creators.

Aggressive ad frequency during the core editing workflow creates a negative user experience, leading to a decline in overall sentiment.

Disclosure: Independent intel to help mobile builders succeed.

AI-powered analysis with editorial review, built from publicly available sources. Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meitu- AI Photo & Video Editor, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

What's new

Meitu's competitive position is weakening due to aggressive monetization and the removal of power-user features, resulting in a shift from mixed to negative sentiment.

declined

Overall Sentiment Downgrade

shifted

Subscription Gating

added

New Editing Tools

added

Increased Competitive Threats

Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “Meitu- AI Photo & Video Editor Intelligence Report.” Updated May 19, 2026. https://marlvel.ai/apps/com-meitu-mtxx

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