Twitter on Monday unveiled the ability to adjust the color, size and style of photos uploaded via applications for Apple Inc. iPhones and Android phones, as the social media site adds features to compete with Facebook Inc.’s Instagram.

The photo filters, developed in partnership with software maker Aviary Inc. are part of an update to the mobile apps made available today, San Francisco-based Twitter said in a blog post.

Twitter is letting users add photos, video, and audio to their postings as it steps up competition with Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), which bought photo-sharing service Instagram earlier this year.

Last week, Instagram disabled a feature called Twitter cards for showcasing photos and other media. The move was seen as a step that better prepares Instagram for generating revenue from its own services by driving traffic to its website.

Filters. Apply one of eight filters, ranging from black & white to vintage, to add a new look and feel to your photos.

Here’s twitter’s announcement:

Twitter photos: Put a filter on it

Every day, millions of people come to Twitter to connect with the things they care about and find out what’s happening around the world. As one of the most compelling forms of self-expression, photos have long been an important part of these experiences.

Starting today, you’ll be able to edit and refine your photos, right from Twitter. The latest versions of Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android introduce a few new ways to enhance the images you tweet. We’re grateful to our partner, Aviary, for powering our filters and effects.

  • Take a bird’s-eye view. See how each filter would affect your photo in a single grid view, or swipe through looks to compare your options.
  • Frame the action. Crop and pinch to zoom in order to focus attention.
  • Auto-enhance. Make your photos pop with balanced light and colors by tapping the wand.

In June, 2011, we introduced the ability to attach a photo to your Tweet, a first step toward improving the entire photo experience on Twitter. Since then we’ve been making it easier and faster to share and discover and enjoy great photos on Twitter every day:

  • You can expand Tweets to view photos from various photo services right on Twitter;
  • You can preview photos directly in Discover and search;
  • You can quickly swipe through images on Twitter with photo streams in profiles and search results.

Facebook Vs. Twitter

Twitter’s updated photo-enhancing apps will probably bring more exposure to Aviary, a New York-based startup with backing from Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and LinkedIn Corp. co- founder Reid Hoffman.

Facebook, owner of the world’s largest social network, is stepping up efforts to more directly challenge Twitter, a service that has become the main outlet for many celebrities and politicians to share their thoughts with millions around the world. Instagram, which has more than 100 million users, wants users to go back to its own Web service for viewing photos, Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, said in a statement provided by Menlo Park, California-based Facebook.

“A handful of months ago, we supported Twitter cards because we had a minimal Web presence,” Systrom said. “We’ve since launched several improvements to our website that allow users to directly engage with Instagram content through likes, comments, hashtags, and now we believe the best experience is for us to link back to where the content lives.”

(Bloomberg contributed to this report.)