Adobe has tried to compress some of the features of the long-standing editing standard Photoshop into smartphone apps before, but apps like Photoshop Express never really felt like the real thing. But that changed when Adobe launched Photoshop for iPhone, along with sharing that an Android version is in the works. Even more intriguing is that the pricey editing app comes with a free version on mobile. But, of course Adobe’s announcement begs a few key questions. Is the Photoshop iPhone app any good? What does the desktop Photoshop have that the mobile app doesn’t? Can you really get Photoshop for free?
I’ve been using Photoshop for around 20 years now, so I decided to try out the new Photoshop for iPhone and see how the mobile app compares to the real thing. The new Photoshop mobile app feels far closer to the real thing than earlier attempts like Photoshop Express. But, mobile photographers should note some key features that are missing from the mobile app, and others that are available but require a subscription.
Here’s what features remain intact on the free Photoshop for iPhone, the features you need to pay for, and the reasons many will still stick to the desktop version.
What's free on the Photoshop iPhone app?
The number of features inside the Photoshop iPhone app is impressive compared to other mobile editors, despite having a significant gap between the desktop version. These are the Photoshop-y things that you can still do on an iPhone.
- Work with Layers. Layers are a key feature of the full version of Photoshop. Many of the layer-based features remain intact on the mobile app. This includes non-desctructive adjustment layers as well as empty layers, fill layers, type layers, and image layers. However, this does not include most of the layer blend modes. Only the normal, screen and multiple blend modes are intact on the free version, the other options remain locked behind that subscription.
- Making selections to edit a specific part of the image. Photoshop for iPhone allows mobile users to adjust only a specific part of the image by selecting only part of the image. Free app features include tap to select, a quick select brush, a lasso, and a rectangular and ellipse shape tools.
- Limited retouching. The free version of the Photoshop mobile app is limited in retouching tools. Spot healing, which can be used to do things like remove acne or a distracting garbage can from the background, is temporarily free as a teaser and all other retouching tools require a paid subscription.
- Painting. Most of the tools for painting or hand drawing on an image appear to be intact without requiring a paid plan. You can doodle on the app, including adjusting the brush. The free version also includes the eyedropper, which allows you to match the color of your paintbrush to another color in the image.
- Crop and rotate. The crop and rotate tools are free, including the ability to choose an aspect ratio or even choose a social network so you can choose the right ratio for where the image is headed.
- Generative expand and generate image. Surprisingly, some AI is included. Generative Expand is part of the free version of Photoshop for iPhone. This tool essentially “uncrops” the photo, using AI to fill in the blanks and get a wider shot. However, the free version only includes 10 generative credits per month, which means you can use that Generative Expand only ten times a month. (And yes, regenerating when the first attempt didn’t look right counts against those credits too).
- A mobile Camera RAW. The desktop Photoshop uses an accompanying software called Adobe Camera RAW to process RAW images. But, I used the RAW photography mode on my iPhone 15 Pro and I was still able to open it on the mobile Photoshop app, including the sliders and tools that I expect from Adobe Camera RAW.
- 5 GB of cloud storage. While limited, this space allows you to save your works in progress in the cloud.
- Quick export as a PNG. The free version of Photoshop for iPhone only supports the PNG file type. For more formats, a subscription is required.
What do you get with a Photoshop mobile subscription?
Several features on the mobile Photoshop app require a subscription. Naturally, subscribers gain access to some of the biggest features, which includes:
- Layer blend modes. The free version only includes three blend modes, which customizes how your layers blend together and are a necessary tool for many types of composites. A subscription will unlock the dissolve, darken, color burn, linear burn, darker color, lighten, color dodge, linear dodge, lighter color, overlay, soft light, hard light, vivid light, linear light, pin light, hard mix, difference, exclusion, subtract, divide, hue, saturation, color, and luminosity blend modes.
- Some selection tools. While the free version allows users to make selections, the object select tool and magic wand both require the subscription.
- Retouching. If you were hoping to retouch a photo with the free version, you’ll probably be disappointed. The retouching tools to tackle tasks like zapping zits or cleaning up distractions largely require the subscription. The spot heal tool is free temporarily to give users a taste of what it can do. But longstanding desktop tool favorites like the clone stamp needs a subscription. Light and dark is included in mobile for subscribers (although on the desktop version, it’s actually called dodge and burn).
- More than 10 generative AI tasks. Using anything that involves generative AI requires what Adobe calls generative credits. With the free version, you can only use the AI tools ten times in one month. With a subscription, that limit is upped to 100 per month with the Photoshop Mobile subscription, or 500 with the Creative Cloud Photography 1TB plan.
- Cloud storage. The free version only includes 5 GB of cloud storage. The paid storage increases far beyond that, but this depends on what plan you choose. For example, Photography Plan subscribers, which includes the desktop version of Photoshop as well as the mobile, get 1TB while the Creative Cloud All Apps plan includes 100GB.
- Auto save and exporting multiple file types. The free version only exports PNG files, so if you want more file options, you’ll need a subscription to save JPEG, PSD, and TIFF files, as well as choosing the file size. Subscribers also get a save now button.
What features are exclusive to the desktop version of Photoshop?
If you don’t see the feature you are looking for listed above, the odds are that it’s not part of the mobile app at launch. Adobe is working with a much smaller screen and more limited hardware to bring the longstanding desktop tool to an iPhone screen and longtime desktop users will likely be miffed by more than just the tiny screen size.
Listing everything that’s in the real Photoshop would be a nearly impossible task, so I will list a few of my personal favorite tools that I can’t find in the app with the warning that this isn’t a complete list of what’s missing.
- Content Aware. Content Aware is a tool that fills in spaces based on the pixels around it. It’s an excellent tool for removing something from a photo. Content Aware technology winds up in a few desktop tools, including Content Aware Move and Content Aware Fill.
- Filters. The mobile Photoshop app doesn’t have that toolbar at the top, which is where many of the missing features are. That means the mobile Photoshop doesn’t have that filters menu, which includes tools like neural filters, blur, sharpen, and more.
- Liquify. Another victim of the lacking filters menu is Liquify, the Photoshop tool that can be used to change the shape of something in an image, including fixing clothing wrinkles and double chins.
- Most of those side workspaces, like history and histogram. On that small screen, there’s no space for the side workspaces that have long been standard in the desktop Photoshop. That means that, while there’s an undo and redo button, there’s no history panel. A layer panel is included, but it’s one of the few of these extra workspaces that are part of the mobile app.
- Features like Select Subject and Select Sky. The mobile Photoshop app actually has a number of impressive selection tools, but while you can select objects automatically with features like tap select, there’s no option like Select Sky or Select and Mask.
- Many graphic design tools. I’m a photographer, not a graphic designer, so I’m not the best person to point out the design tools missing from the mobile app. But the list includes things like the pen and path selection tools, and the CMYK Color Mode.
- Working with many different file types. Even the paid version of Photoshop mobile only has JPEG, PNG, PSD and TIFF. If you want the long list of different graphic files, you'll need the desktop version.
Is the Photoshop for iPhone app worth it?
I have to admit, while you won’t pry my laptop out of my fingers anytime soon, I was a bit impressed with everything that Adobe managed to fit onto my tiny iPhone screen. Am I dropping my subscription for the free iPhone app? No way. But I could see myself using the app while away from home when I have some time to kill, like in a waiting room.
I can also see the iPhone Photoshop app being the so-called “gateway drug” to the real Photoshop. It’s a hearty mobile editing app. But editing on a tiny screen is limited – not to mention probably poor for posture – so I can see new users falling in love with it and migrating to the desktop app, or at least the iPad version.
The most annoying aspect of the Photoshop mobile app for me personally is that, if I sit my phone down for a moment, I’m back to the start screen of Photoshop when I reopen the app. The app’s cloud nature also means that there may be delays when working in an area with slower connectivity speeds.
Either way, the Photoshop for iPhone is the only way to legally get Photoshop for free outside of Adobe’s week-long free trial.
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Hate the idea of a subscription? Browse the best Photoshop alternatives which, yes, include software that offers a one-time payment option. Or, dig into the different subscription options in the guide to the cost of Photoshop.
