Imagine you’re a creative on the go—maybe a photographer tweaking a shot between gigs or a designer sketching out an idea on your commute. For years, Adobe’s mobile offerings have been handy but never quite felt like the full Photoshop experience. That’s changing now. Adobe just dropped a new Photoshop app for iPhone that’s less of a watered-down sidekick and more of a pint-sized powerhouse, packing in tools that’ll feel familiar to anyone who’s spent hours hunched over the desktop version. It’s out today globally for iPhone users, with Android folks told to hang tight until “later this year.”
This isn’t Photoshop Express, the simplified mobile editor that’s been kicking around since 2010. That app—think of it as Photoshop’s chill cousin—has been great for quick fixes, slapping filters on selfies, or resizing pics for Instagram. It’s got a vibe similar to apps like Picsart or Facetune: approachable, casual, and fine for most everyday edits. But Adobe’s new app? It’s aiming higher. The company says it’s built to bridge the gap to the desktop version, bringing over a hefty chunk of the tools pros know and love.
So, what’s in the box? The free version alone is pretty stacked. You’ve got the Spot Healing Brush for zapping blemishes, Tap Select for grabbing pieces of an image, and full-on layers—yes, layers!—plus selections and masks for that meticulous control Photoshop diehards crave. There’s even compositing and blending options to mash images together like a digital collage artist. It hooks up with Adobe Stock for high-quality assets and plays nice with Creative Cloud buddies like Lightroom, Fresco, and Adobe Express. Oh, and here’s the kicker: it’s got Firefly-powered AI tricks up its sleeve, like Generative Fill (think “add a sunset here”) and Generative Expand (stretch that canvas without breaking a sweat).
Want more? Pony up for the premium tier—$7.99 a month or $69.99 a year—and you unlock a treasure trove of extras: Object Select, Magic Wand, Content Aware Fill, Clone Stamp, and the Remove Tool, to name a few. That subscription (branded as the Photoshop Mobile and Web Plan) also tosses in light and dark adjustments, advanced blend modes for tweaking transparency, color effects, styles, and deeper integration with Photoshop on the web. Web users get bonus perks like Generate Similar and Reference Image, too. If you’re already paying for a Photoshop plan, the good news: premium access to the mobile app comes with it, at no extra charge.
Adobe’s playing it coy about the future of Photoshop Express, which still exists as a separate app with its own $4.99 monthly premium tier. No word on whether it’ll stick around or get phased out. Frankly, it’s a little messy—Adobe’s got Photoshop Express, Adobe Express (a different mobile editing platform), and now this new Photoshop app is all floating around. Keeping them straight might give casual users a headache. But for anyone who’s wanted a mobile Photoshop that feels legit, this is a no-brainer move by Adobe. Photoshop Express was cool for fast edits or social media hacks, but it never scratched that deeper creative itch.
The new app’s interface is still mobile-friendly—drag, tap, swipe, you know the drill—but it’s built with pros in mind. This isn’t just for slapping a filter on your dog’s photo; it’s for labor-intensive stuff like mocking up a poster or refining a composite. And while it’s not exactly like wrestling with the desktop beast, it’s close enough to feel legit. The layers stack up smoothly, the AI tools hum along without much lag, and the controls don’t make you want to chuck your phone out a window.
Will it replace your desktop setup? Probably not if you’re doing heavy lifting—there’s still something about a big screen and a mouse that mobile can’t touch. But for creatives who need to keep the ball rolling wherever they are, this feels like Adobe saying, “We get it, you don’t stop moving, so neither should your tools.” It’s a bold step up from Express, and with competitors circling, it’s a smart one, too. Now, if they could just sort out that naming mess…
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