I Tested New Grok Imagine 4.0, Here’s Results & How to Use It

Elon Musk has been constantly posting new Grok images on Twitter these past two days. When I heard that Grok Imagine could bring faded memories back to life, I had to try it myself. Could AI really restore decades-old photos with the same warmth and detail they once carried? In this review, I tested Grok Imagine’s photo restoration performance and compared it with YouCam Online Editor — powered by Perfect Corp.’s professional AI API for image enhancement and restoration.

How to Use Grok Imagine?

1. Download Grok App
2. Log in (Twitter account also available)
3. Click "Imagine", upload photo, and provide prompt.

Prompt: 

Restore vibrant colors for a modern look, enhance with sharp high-definition details, brighten and clarify faces with vivid skin tones, improve clothing textures with crisp edges, add natural lighting for a contemporary feel, ultra-realistic textures, 4k

How Does Grok Restores Old Photos?

Grok Imagine claims to use advanced diffusion-based AI to reconstruct missing pixels, sharpen blurred faces, and recolor aged photos. The process is straightforward:

• Upload a faded or damaged photo
• Choose the restoration mode or intensity
• Wait a few seconds while the AI reconstructs missing details
• Preview and download the enhanced image

2. Testing on Different Photo Types

Faded Color Prints

Color correction worked well on mild fading — hues appeared richer without over-saturation. Still, skin tones occasionally leaned pinkish under strong contrast.

Cracked or Torn Photos

Crack removal was impressive. Minor tears disappeared entirely, while large missing areas became softer and painterly. The AI struggled slightly when background details were missing.

Black-and-White to Color

The automatic colorization feature produced natural results for clothing and hair but sometimes guessed incorrectly on lighting direction or era-specific tones.

3. Top Alternative – YouCam Online Editor (AI API Ready)

While Grok Imagine delivers strong consumer results, one standout professional-grade alternative is the YouCam Online Editor.

From the image, the most obvious difference is the color temperature. The picture processed by Grok has a yellowish, warm, nostalgic feel, while the one processed by YouCam Online Editor has a cool tone, giving it a more modern look.

Developed by Perfect Corp., this all-in-one AI photo enhancement platform combines photo restoration, colorization, detail recovery, and noise reduction in a single workflow.

Beyond the web tool, YouCam also offers an AI API that allows brands and developers to integrate these restoration features directly into their own apps, photo services, or content pipelines — enabling automated, large-scale image enhancement for enterprise use.

4. Performance Comparison: YouCam Online Editor

To evaluate overall performance, I tested the same vintage portrait using YouCam Online Editor. Below are the measured results for clarity, color accuracy, and usability.

Uniquely, when YouCam Online Editor AI generates new images, it does a good job of preserving the original face and body shape. Sometimes when we try Grok, we notice that people get a bit fatter; I wonder if other readers have this problem.

5. Pros and Cons of Grok Imagine

6. Which AI Restoration Tool Should You Use?

For individuals: Both Grok & YouCam Online Editor suit for small personal projects or casual restorations.

For brands and professionals: YouCam Online Editor with its AI API is a great choice. It offers API-level scalability for photo studios, museums, archives, and e-commerce businesses needing batch restoration and color enhancement at production quality.

7. Final Verdict — AI Can Bring Memories Back to Life

Both Grok Imagine and YouCam Online Editor demonstrate how far AI photo restoration has come. Grok Imagine provides solid, consumer-friendly restoration, while YouCam’s AI API turns the same power into a business solution — combining speed, accuracy, and integration potential. If you’re ready to see your memories come back to life with professional clarity, start with YouCam Online Editor.