App facts

Local Photo Upscaler at a glance

Verified product facts in one place, for anyone comparing photo upscalers or writing about them.

Checked against the U.S. App Store listing and the app source on September 25, 2026.

Local Photo Upscaler is an iPhone, iPad, and Mac app that enlarges and cleans up photos on the device instead of uploading them. It is sold for $9.99 once in the U.S. App Store, with no subscription or in-app purchases. It suits people who want to enlarge or tidy personal photos privately, and it is not meant for batch work, RAW workflows, or recovering detail that the source does not contain.

Name
Local Photo Upscaler (App Store). The app’s header reads “Local Upscale”.
App Store subtitle
AI Photo Enhancer, Offline
What it is
An on-device AI photo upscaler and enhancer with four modes: Upscale, Denoise, Sharpen, and Faces.
Developer
David Balderston, an independent developer. Developer page
Price
$9.99 one-time purchase (U.S.). No subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads.
Family Sharing
Yes, up to six family members
Current version
1.1.8, released September 22, 2026
First released
January 28, 2026
iPhone and iPad
iOS / iPadOS 18.2 or later
Mac
macOS 15.2 or later on a Mac with Apple M1 or later
Apple Vision Pro
visionOS 2.2 or later
Download size
278.4 MB
Languages
English and 43 more
Category and rating
Photo & Video; rated 4+
Privacy label
Data Not Collected
Processing
On device with bundled AI models; works offline
Upscale
AI 4× enlargement; output capped at about 17 megapixels, so larger inputs are scaled down first
Denoise
AI noise reduction; keeps original dimensions
Sharpen
Conservative luminance sharpening (not AI deblur); keeps original dimensions
Faces
Detects faces and applies AI face restoration; may alter fine facial details
Input and output
Pick from Photos (and image files on Mac); save a new copy to Photos; one photo at a time
Not included
Batch processing, video, RAW editing, scratch removal, colorization, accounts, cloud sync
Support
[email protected]
Official links
App Store · Website · Facts as JSON · llms.txt

Good fit

  • Enlarging small photos, old downloads, and crops for sharing or modest prints
  • Cleaning up grainy low-light phone photos
  • Private or sensitive images: family photos, documents, client work
  • People who would rather pay once than subscribe

Not designed for

  • Recovering detail that is not in the source (heavy motion blur, unreadable text, tiny faces)
  • Full 4x enlargement of already-large photos (output is capped at about 17 MP; crop first)
  • Batch processing, RAW workflows, or video
  • Scratch and tear removal or colorizing black-and-white photos
  • Forensic, legal, or identification use

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