Latest news with #PhotoshopExpress
Web Release
3 hours ago
- Web Release
Photoshop Launches on Android, Free During Beta
After years of anticipation, Adobe has launched Photoshop for Android. This follows the iPhone release earlier in 2025, marking Adobe's most serious mobile Photoshop effort yet. Android users can now download the app in beta for free, though that offer only lasts during the testing phase. Unlike earlier mobile attempts such as Photoshop Touch and Photoshop Express, this new version brings several core desktop features. You'll find familiar tools like layers, masks, cropping, transformations, and the clone stamp. Additionally, Adobe has integrated generative AI tools that allow users to remove objects, insert elements with text prompts, and isolate subjects—all with impressive accuracy. While the app looks simple at first, tools reveal themselves dynamically as you interact with layers and selections. Even beginners can dive in, thanks to a built-in tutorial system. Tapping the light bulb icon provides access to a variety of helpful guides, making the learning curve much smoother than with earlier versions. Although some desktop functions are missing, this app feels more complete than its predecessors. AI Tools Stand Out—but Some Features Are Missing Adobe emphasizes its cloud-based AI features in the mobile experience. These allow for advanced tasks, such as replacing backgrounds and generating content with text prompts. Because these functions rely on the same back-end as the desktop version, performance remains strong. However, mobile competition has increased. Tools like Google's Magic Editor now offer similar capabilities, sometimes without requiring a subscription. That said, not everything made the cut. Currently, there are no traditional filters, and cropping is limited to preset ratios. Content-aware fill is notably absent for now, listed as a 'coming soon' feature. Additionally, image resolution settings are restricted, limiting flexibility for professionals. Users must also log in to access the app, which is likely due to future monetization plans. A Free Beta—But Don't Wait Too Long The Photoshop app is free while in beta, but Adobe hasn't shared when that phase will end. Eventually, it will likely follow the Lightroom model, offering limited free access with advanced tools locked behind a Creative Cloud subscription. Given that Adobe's subscription starts at $20 per month, the full app experience probably won't stay free for long. For now, if you want to try it, act quickly. The app requires Android 11 or higher, 6GB of RAM minimum (though 8GB is recommended), and about 600MB of storage space. While it doesn't replace the desktop version entirely, Photoshop for Android is Adobe's most capable mobile image editor to date.
Deccan Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- Deccan Herald
Adobe finally brings Photoshop app to Android phones
The new Photoshop app is considerably better than the Photoshop Express, which has been available for close to a decade.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Yahoo
Photoshop iPhone App Hands-On: Convenience Is the Name of the Game
Adobe has finally released a true Photoshop iPhone app -- not Photoshop Express, not Lightroom, but Photoshop, the company's marquee program that is virtually synonymous with photo editing. Did it take more than 20 years? Sure. But rather than lament the past, I'd rather dive into what all is inside this inaugural Photoshop iOS app. Don't fret if you're an Android user; you can expect to see a version ready for you later this year. After spending the past few days getting to know the app, the most accurate and succinct thing I can say about it is this: It is entirely its own beast. The Photoshop many of us know and love -- as a desktop app or on the web -- is overloaded with tools and precise to the point of occasionally being temperamental. But when creating a mobile version of Photoshop, Adobe had the (admittedly tough) challenge of shrinking its professional, feature-crammed program down to a small screen and an even smaller editing menu. And, frankly, that really isn't possible. Instead, Adobe had to reimagine what the program could be in an age where everyone can take decent photos on their phones and edit them there, too. The end result does what it's supposed to do -- it's actually pretty good in certain cases -- but everyone from veteran pro users to beginners will have to spend some time getting reacquainted with Photoshop on their iPhones. But once you've got a feel for how it's laid out, it does feel somewhat familiar to the Photoshop we all know and sometimes love. The mobile app is available free or you can upgrade to the premium plan for $8 per month -- and if you're already paying for the Photography, Creative Cloud or another Adobe plan that includes Photoshop, you'll get access to the app, too. These are the features that stood out to me, my tried-and-tested tips for finding your way around and everything I hope Adobe addresses in its next update. Throughout my time using the app, I got a sense of déjà vu from my first time exploring Photoshop. I found myself stumbling through menus, searching for the right tool, adjusting nitpicky sliders and running into frustrating errors I eventually solved. The joys of creating! If you feel like there should be more features then you might be missing some if you're not opening every tool's submenu. You have to keep tapping each option to reveal another row or panel of options. Given your iPhone's limited screen real estate, it's an understandable design choice but it makes for a tedious learning curve. Once you know where your go-to tools are housed, it's less inconvenient. Once you're feeling more comfortable finding your way around, you'll want to get familiar with tap select. Tap select is the new, made-for-mobile selection tool that you'll want to get to know quickly. It helps you isolate the regions of your project you want to edit. If you're familiar with quick actions in the Lightroom mobile app, you'll recognize the different ways it categorizes elements in the project: subject, background and sky. In Photoshop, it also pulls out other elements in the project tool. It is by no means a perfect tool, though. In one memorable instance, the engines separated my colleague Imad's glasses and eyes from the rest of his body. I guess I could've given him glowing red eyes, but I didn't want to do that. Tap select identifies objects seemingly haphazardly. Sometimes it would pull out random objects in the background of my photos and miss people in the foreground. Other times it works well -- it's inconsistent. When you need to make precise selections on desktop, you can tease and adjust your selections down to the pixel if you want. But you're naturally more limited on mobile, which makes it frustrating when tap select can't seem to get what you're trying to choose. The add and subtract tools meant to refine your choices need some refinement, too. While you might have to futz with the selection to get what you want, eventually you're able to create unlimited layers and then masks. Masking, for the uninitiated, is a process that lets you hide and reveal different layers in your project. It's an essential tool in a photo editor's toolbox but it's also something that you need time to get comfortable with. I found it less intimidating to create and use masks on mobile than I did on desktop, but it was still a learning process. Masking on mobile is one of the things that separates Photoshop from other basic editors. "I'm very excited for more people to understand the power of masking, and how much benefit there is to non-destructively hiding elements of your image," said Shambhavi Kadam, senior director of product management for Photoshop mobile, in an interview at the app launch. "It gives me a lot more flexibility when I'm working on my projects." Like tap select, masking isn't perfect on mobile. But I hope to see future improvements from this base foundation. There's no separate Firefly iPhone app, so Photoshop is a good option if you need to generate AI images on the fly. Like most other experiences I've had with Adobe Firefly, the AI images were pretty good. You get three variations per prompt. Unlike when you use the Firefly web or desktop apps, there aren't any follow-up editing tools for further refinements. This is a serious loss for creators; Firefly has one of the best editing panels of the AI image generators I've tested. Being able to upload reference images, specify the style and make other adjustments is key to creating usable AI images. You get none of that in the Photoshop mobile app. So, if you're unhappy with the variations, you either need to edit manually in the app or start over. Another option for editing your AI images is to add layers from assets from Adobe Stock's free collection. The Photoshop app lets you search and upload easily, without needing to log into Adobe Stock and manually license, download and upload each element. If you want to pay to use an image or element that isn't included in the free collection, you'll need to do all that. But as a budget-conscious creator, I appreciated the free collection's integration. Generative fill is one of the most used tools in Photoshop -- on par with the crop tool, Adobe told me last year -- so it's not surprising to see that the genAI tool is front and center in the mobile app. You get three variations and the same lack of editing tools (though it's less important with generative fill). I did notice that the generations seemed to be clearer on the desktop app than the mobile app, but I couldn't figure out why. Overall though, the generations were usable. Generative expand also didn't seem to produce the same high-quality results I'm used to seeing. However, generative remove was on par with the desktop app. As a reminder, Adobe's AI policy states it won't train on your work. Adobe's AI models are trained using publicly licensed content, including Adobe Stock. You can opt out of using generative AI by adjusting your settings. Photoshop is inherently different from so many other mobile photo editing apps that simply prompt you to scroll through different thumbnails to select the best filter or adjust a few sliders. So the task of creating a mobile app that's true to what its users need is a high mountain to climb. For its initial launch, I think Adobe did an okay job with that. But I'm hopeful this is just laying the foundation for stronger updates and more feature roll-outs. Inevitably, you will run into times when you wish you had a specific tool or more precise control over your edits. Which, while I am not a professional creator, makes me suspect the mobile app likely isn't going to replace your work using other versions of Photoshop. If you're using Photoshop all day, every day for work, you're likely going to notice and hit the limitations of the mobile app quickly. Using Photoshop on iPad might be a happy medium between the mobile and desktop apps, in terms of screen size and editing tools available. The biggest thing the app has going for it is its convenience, which, in my opinion, is the sole reason to use it. If you need to quickly adjust a color scheme, add text to an image, or resize your project to be social media friendly, they're all easily done in the app. But don't expect to be a nitpicky Nancy while editing on a plane because you'll just end up hunched over, mentally yelling at your iPhone (at least, that was my experience).
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Yahoo
We Got an Early Look at the First Real Photoshop iPhone App. Here's What's Inside
It's 2025, Adobe's iconic photo editor Photoshop just celebrated its 35th birthday and we finally have a true Photoshop mobile app. Based on what we saw at Adobe's preview in New York this week, the new Photoshop iPhone app is something new altogether -- not a shrunken version of the industry-standard desktop app, nor a basic upgrade from the current Photoshop Express. It's a surprising evolution of the program that thousands of creators use every day. Adobe has been working on Photoshop-branded mobile apps for over 15 years, launching and dropping products like Photoshop Express and Photoshop Touch along the way. There have been other Adobe mobile apps that've picked up steam and fulfilled different needs, too. Raw camera photographers got Lightroom's mobile app back in 2017. Two years later in 2019, Adobe launched Fresco, its mobile painting and drawing app which started on iPad and subsequently expanded to the iPhone. But for creators who favor Photoshop above all else, there's been something of a Photoshop-sized hole that none of these other mobile apps have been able to fill, until now. The iOS Photoshop app is available globally today, free with a basic feature set or with full features through the new $8 a month app-plus-Photoshop-web subscription ($70 a year). An Android app is coming later this year, the company said in its press release. The app will also be included with other Photoshop-inclusive plans, such as the Photography plan or Creative Cloud All Apps. The files are supported across all the platforms. While many of the features you know and love about Photoshop are present in the app, the iOS app is still a radical break from what longtime users will think of as traditional Photoshop, offering a more Photoshop Elements-like vibe. That makes sense, as Adobe says the app is designed for the "next generation of creators" who find the phone a more convenient device for work. Some research points to younger folks, like Gen Z and Alpha, as being more mobile-inclined, but the professionals that make up the majority of Photoshop's users might not enjoy the pared-down experience. On the flip side, the app could also offer a less intimidating pathway into Photoshop for creators who might be overwhelmed by the desktop or web's feature-packed interface. As with any mobile app, its shortcomings may be overlooked due to convenience. Adobe views the app as a bridge to other Photoshop versions, with more advanced features on the web and an even greater step up on desktop. Here's everything you can expect to see with the new Photoshop iPhone app. Veteran Photoshop users will see a lot of familiar territory when they first open the app, from layers to masking and all the usual retouching tools. But the built-for-mobile UI will still put professional users on a learning curve. One of the biggest new features in the Photoshop app is the Tap Select tool. Photoshop may not seem to need yet another selection tool (remember the joke in the Barbie movie about having too many?), but it's a useful addition for working on a smaller screen and workspace. Tap Select works just like it sounds -- it analyzes your project, then identifies and highlights all the distinct objects in the image. You can then tap to select multiple objects from the thumbnails displayed in a row at the bottom, masking and editing them as needed. Your iPhone app is synced with your Adobe account so you can pull photos from Lightroom or paintings and sketches from Fresco to edit in the mobile app. If you're starting a brand new project, you can also use Adobe's Firefly AI models to generate AI images or pull from the Adobe Stock free collection (no need to sign in, manually download and license). And like every other version of Photoshop, the mobile app is loaded with Adobe's generative AI-powered tools, including the popular Photoshop Generative Fill. The paid version unlocks additional editing tools like the magic wand and spot healing, along with advanced web features such as AI-based Generate Similar, Reference Image, a more precise Object Select tool and more. The launch of the Photoshop mobile app comes at a time when photo editing software and mobile devices are all getting AI makeovers. Over the past few years, Adobe has gone all in on AI, to the dismay of some wary creators. Most of Adobe's creative products have gotten major AI-powered upgrades, whether it's tools to extend video clips in Premiere Pro or help erasing wires and cables in Photoshop. Adobe shows no signs of slowing down; the public beta of its AI video generator debuted earlier this month. At the same time, smartphone makers like Apple, Samsung and Google have loaded up their newest devices with all kinds of AI. Some of these mobile AI programs include photo editing tools, like Apple Intelligence's image playground and clean-up tool. Plus, photo editing has plenty of competition. Apps like Canva and Photopea may not match Adobe's full feature set, but they offer enough that switching may not be worth it unless you're already invested in Adobe's ecosystem. The Photoshop iPhone app is certainly overdue, fills a niche in Adobe's product line and gives its usual users a more convenient option. But it'll be interesting to see whether the "next generation" of creators Adobe is chasing will gravitate toward the new Photoshop app, one of its many competitors or try their hand at their on-device, AI-upgraded photo editing tools.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A new Adobe Photoshop app is coming to iPhones
Adobe has launched a brand new Photoshop app for iPhones, which it's also releasing for Android later this year. While there's already a Photoshop Express for mobile, the company says the new app was "designed from the ground up" with more features and has an easy-to-use mobile interface. The app, which is free to download and use, comes with Photoshop's core imaging and design tools. Users can make selections, layers and masks in the app to combine or blend images. They can also replace parts of an image with the Tap Select tool, remove elements from a photo with the Spot Healing Brush and add new elements by using its generative AI tools, such as Generative Fill and Generative Expand. Users will have access to free Adobe Stock assets and can link their apps with other Adobe applications, including Express, Lightroom and Fresco. Adobe is, as expected, offering premium upgrades to the app's capabilities for those willing to pay for the new Photoshop Mobile and Web plan. The $8-a-month service will add features to the app on mobile and iPad and will also include access to Photoshop on the web. Users who already have an existing Photoshop subscription, however, will also be able to enjoy the new Photoshop app's premium features. The premium features included with the new plan include the ability to transition editing from Photoshop mobile to the web if a user needs a bigger screen or more precise controls. Users are also getting extra generative AI features, including Adobe Firefly's Generate Similar, which allows users to create new variations of an existing image. Subscribers will get access to 20,000 fonts, be able to make precise selections of people and objects with the Object Select too, isolate objects with the Magic Wand, erase elements with the Remove Tool, copy and clone certain elements with the Clone Stamp and fill portions of an image with Content-Aware Fill. They will also be able to control an image's transparency and lighten or darken certain areas of an image. The new app for iPhones is already available from the App Store worldwide.
