How to Restore Old Family Photos with Remini: A Beginner’s Guide

Everyone has that drawer. Faded prints, creased corners, a scratch running right across someone’s face. My grandmother’s portrait sat in a drawer like that for years before I finally did something about it.

This guide is the exact process I now use. Nothing fancy. Just the steps that actually decide whether your restored photo looks magical or weird.

Step 1: Get a Clean Scan (This Decides Everything)

The AI can only work with what you give it. A bad scan means a bad restoration, no matter how smart the app is.

Best option: a flatbed scanner at the highest resolution it offers. No scanner? Photograph the print instead. Lay it flat on a table, use daylight from a window, hold the phone directly above it, and turn the flash off. Shadows and glare are the enemy here.

Wipe dust off the print first. Seriously. The AI sometimes “restores” dust spots into the photo like they belong there.

Step 2: Upload and Choose Restore

Open Remini, pick the scanned photo, and choose the enhance or restore option. Faces are the app’s obsession, so portraits and group photos get the best treatment.

Processing happens on servers, not your phone, so keep a stable internet connection and a little patience. A few seconds is normal. A minute for a big file is normal too.

Step 3: Compare Honestly With the Slider

Drag the before and after slider slowly. You are looking for two things: faces that look like the actual people, and details that have not been invented.

And invented details do happen. The AI predicts what a face should look like. Most of the time it is eerily right. Sometimes a tooth changes, a mole vanishes, an earring appears from nowhere. If the person stops looking like themselves, the enhancement went too far.

Step 4: Colour, Only If You Want It

Black and white photos can be colourised, and the results often make the whole family emotional. Just remember what the colours are: educated guesses. Your grandfather’s shirt might have been a different colour entirely.

My rule: keep the restored black and white version as the main copy. Treat the colour version as a bonus, not the truth.

Mistakes That Ruin Restorations

• Scanning through glass frames. Reflections get baked in. Take the print out first.
• Using a tiny, compressed copy. That WhatsApp-forwarded version is the worst source you own. Find the biggest file.
• Expecting torn corners to come back. If part of the photo is physically gone, the AI guesses. Sometimes fine, sometimes not.
• Overwriting the original scan. Never do this. Keep the untouched scan as your archive copy.

The Bottom Line

Restoring family photos is the best thing Remini does, full stop. Give it a clean scan and honest expectations, and it will hand you back people you thought were fading away for good.

New to the app? Start with the features overview on our homepage, and read the safety section before installing anything from a third-party site.

Get the App and Try It Yourself

Features, requirements and safe installation steps are all on the download page.