Microsoft launches free mobile app versions of Designer, its AI photo creator

Since its debut about a year ago, Microsoft Designer, the generative AI image production tool formerly known as Bing Image Creator, has only been available on the web or through Microsoft Edge.

That changed on Wednesday when Microsoft announced that Designer is now available as a free app for iOS and Android. The company added that Designer is also coming to more apps, starting today with Microsoft Photos for Windows Insiders. With Designer in Photos, you can click the new “Edit with Designer” button to access features like generative erase (similar to Google’s Magic Erase), color pop, auto crop, text and markup, and more.

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Similar capabilities will be coming to Microsoft Edge in the future. Designer is already available in a few Microsoft apps, like Word and PowerPoint, letting you create images while you’re working on something else or make a banner based on the content of your document.

If you need a little help generating an image, Designer is adding new prompt templates that come pre-populated with ideas, styles, and descriptions — similar to the AI wallpaper generator on Pixel phones. You can share these templates with friends or other creators, Microsoft says, and can even create custom stickers for social and messaging apps.

“You can also create emojis, clip art, wallpapers, monograms, avatars, and more,” the company stated in the announcement, “all starting with a simple description.”

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Alongside the AI generation features, the new Designer app also has a few light image editing tools, like removing or blurring a background. A replace-background tool is rolling out soon and will let you upload a photo, explain your vision, and let the app create a whole new background for it. 

At the moment, Designer has 15 free daily boosts that you can use to jump the line and create or edit AI-powered images and designs faster. These boosts apply to your account, whether it’s the app version, web version, or a version of Designer in another Microsoft app. You can upgrade to a Copilot Pro subscription to receive 100 boosts per day.