Adobe Photoshop is now on iPhone – and it's free!

Adobe has just announced Photoshop for iPhone, and it's free to try right now. While a Premium version is available with more advanced features, the free edition comes with Adobe's powerful generative AI tools such as Generative Fill and Generative Expand, which let's face it, are what you need on your smartphone for cropping out and deleting photo-fails.

While you can already do some similar photo editing on iPhone 15 Pro, Max and up, the results are a little scratchy compared to Adobe's Firefly gen AI tools found in Photoshop. This release, which brings the best digital art software to mobile, has also been designed for the best iPhones for photography, with an easy-to-use mobile interface (an Android version is also in the works). Despite some negativity, many of Adobe's AI tools are useful and some impress, for example Project Concept and Adobe's 'creator-first' AI features are worth exploring.

Ultimately, the desktop version of Photoshop is one of the best photo editing softwares out there, so this move is pretty cool. “We’re excited to bring the limitless creative possibilities of Photoshop to mobile, making the app’s iconic image editing and design capabilities accessible for everyone from professional artists and designers to a whole new generation of creators trying Photoshop for the first time,” said Ashley Still, senior vice president, digital media at Adobe. “Photoshop’s new mobile and web apps unlock next generation creativity, empowering creators to bring to life gorgeous photos, rich graphics and incredible art anytime, anywhere."

Photoshop on iPhone is free, and exciting news

Obviously Adobe is hoping people will go beyond the free features and dip into the Premium version; and if you're a designer or artist who likes to capture the moment or create on the go, Photoshop on iPhone could be very handy. You can use the same non-destructive workflow used in desktop Photoshop, with layers, editing tools and more at your finger-tips to edit textures, adjust lighting, define styles, and more.

The pitch is Photoshop on iPhone will become useful to anyone who creates podcasts, blogs and art; loves to scrapbook, makes moodboards and craft ideas in the moment. While we have been here before, with Adobe Express on iPhone, this new release is full-fat Photoshop on a mobile. You can read more use-cases on the Adobe blog. We'll have a full review later this week to offer a deeper take on whether Photoshop on iPhone is a revolution or another app to waste time with, for now the top-line features are listed below.

Photoshop for iPhone features

• Use selections, layers and masks to combine, composite and blend photos and images as you're used to in Photoshop.
• The new Tap Select tool enables you to remove, recolour or replace parts of an image with little fuss.
• The Spot Healing Brush is used to 'brush away distractions'.
• AI tools used in desktop Photoshop are available, so Generative Fill and Generative Expand can be used to make easy edits.
• Photoshop on iPhone can integrate into other Adobe apps, such as Adobe Express, Adobe Fresco and Adobe Lightroom.
• Even the free version comes with connectivity to Adobe Stock, the brand's vast library of commercial images.

The 'premium' Photoshop for iPhone details

The Premium version comes under the Photoshop Mobile and Web plan and costs $7.99 / month or $69.99 / annually, and also offers access to the Cloud version of Photoshop on the web, Photoshop on iPad, as well as the Photoshop iPhone app. This includes more advanced tools and features, such as Generate Similar and Reference Image, as well as access to 20,000 fonts and more familiar Photoshop tools such as Object Select, Clone Stamp and Magic Wand.

What are your first impressions of Photoshop for iPhone? Let us know in the comments below.