Looking for an Ubuntu app to apply Instagram style filters to your photos in Ubuntu?
Grab your selfie stick and step this way…
XnRetro Photo Editor
XnRetro is a simple image editing application that lets you quickly add “Instagram like” effects to your photos.
You know the sort of effects I’m talking about: scratches, noises, and frames, over processing, vintage washes and nostalgic tints (because in this age of digital transience we must know that endless selfies and sandwich snaps are unlikely to ever become nostalgic of themselves).
Whether you consider such effects to be of asinine artistic value or shortcut to being creative, these kinds of filters are popular and can help add a splash of personality to an otherwise so-so photo.
XnRetro Features
XnRetro features the following:
- 20 color filters
- 15 light effects (bokeh, leaks, etc)
- 28 frames and borders
- 5 Vignettes (with strength control)
- Image adjustments for contrast, gamma, saturation, etc
- Square crop option
You can save edited images (in theory) as .jpg or .png files and share them straight to social media from within the app.
I say “in theory” because .jpg saving doesn’t actually work in the Linux version of the app (you can save edited images as .png files though). Similarly, most of the built-in social networking links are borked or just flat out fail on export.
To get the 15 light leaks to work you will need to re-save each .jpg image in XnRetro ‘light’ folder as a .png file. Edit the ‘light.xml’ to match the new file names, hit save and the light effects will load up in XnRetro without issue.
‘For user-friendly image editing XnRetro is hard to beat — once you make it work.’
Is XnRetro Worth Installing?
XnRetro is not perfect. It’s is pretty old-looking, difficult to properly install and has not been updated for several years.
It does still work, barring .jpg saving, and is a nimble alternative to an advanced app like The Gimp or Shotwell’s set of ‘serious’ image adjustment tools.
While web apps and Chrome Apps¹ like Pixlr Touch Up and Polarr offer similar features you may be looking for a truly native solution.
And for that, for user-friendly image editing based around easy-to-apply filters, XnRetro is hard to beat.
Download XnRetro for Ubuntu
XnRetro is not available as an installable .deb package. It is distributed as a binary file, meaning you need to double-click on the program file run it each and every time. It’s also 32-bit only.
You can download XnRetro using the link below. Once completed you need to extract the archive and enter the folder it creates. Double-click on the ‘xnretro’ program binary inside.