Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,633
38,053


Adobe this week reminded customers that its Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw apps will no longer be available for download on iOS and Android starting July 19. Adobe plans to stop supporting the apps for existing users on January 10, 2022.

adobe-photoshop-sketch-ipad.jpeg

In a support document, Adobe said users can easily migrate to its Fresco app, which combines many Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw drawing and painting tools. All projects created in Illustrator Draw and Photoshop Sketch will be automatically migrated to Fresco after a user signs into the app with their Adobe ID email address.

Existing users can continue to use Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw after July 19, with all artwork and projects remaining available, but Adobe said it will not add any new features or updates to the apps once they are discontinued.

Adobe Fresco first launched on the iPad in 2019 and expanded to the iPhone last year. The app is free on the App Store, with premium features available for $9.99.

Article Link: Adobe Removing Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw From App Store in July
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
Adobe is even worse than Microsoft when it comes to having an inscrutable lineup of applications, services, and odd bundles of both.
Cant stand either company but use both on a daily basis.

Autodesk stands head and shoulders above them all though in terms of rorting their customer.

I am trying to escape MS, Adobe and Autodesk, and can see the way, but it is very difficult in a professional world where these companies dominate.
 
Cant stand either company but use both on a daily basis.

Autodesk stands head and shoulders above them all though in terms of rorting their customer.

I am trying to escape MS, Adobe and Autodesk, and can see the way, but it is very difficult in a professional world where these companies dominate.

I learned something new today thanks: Rort HD to look that up.

AutoDesk will be tough - especially for more than one platform or working with teams and customers/suppliers that rely heavily on it.

discussion of alternatives, collaboration to find workarounds with existing documents or reaching out to software teams that make alternatives to work with you for improvements may be the best way - if they’re up to it
 
Wow! A new way to create revenue. Discontinue an old app people paid for and release a new one that they have to buy if they want to do the same thing.

Huh? Hardly a new way. It happens all the time with both software and hardware. If you want to do the same thing, keep using the same software or hardware.

For example, even though the iPhone 8+ has been long discontinued, my wife continues to use it because she only needs to keep doing the same things with it. Another... Even though Adobe discontinued standalone (non-subscription) Lightroom, it still runs fine on a couple of my computers. Ditto with older versions of Omnigraffle, Curio, MATLAB, etc.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: -DMN-
Huh? Hardly a new way. It happens all the time with both software and hardware. If you want to do the same thing, keep using the same software or hardware.

For example, even though the iPhone 8+ has been long discontinued, my wife continues to use it because she only needs to keep doing the same things with it. Another... Even though Adobe discontinued standalone (non-subscription) Lightroom, it still runs fine on a couple of my computers. Ditto with older versions of Omnigraffle, Curio, MATLAB, etc.
Not exactly, as they all save to the Adobe creative cloud, and just don't work the same once discontinued.

The all time best one is Autodesk Revit.

no older version can open a new version model. EG a person using Revit 2020 cannot open a model completed in 2021. They have been doing this for years, hence my previous comment of Autodesk being the biggest rort of all software. To use full Revit it is about $4k a year, and you have to keep paying this, as you cannot run the app without the subscription.
Add on top the super minor incremental changes they make per release, but force you into the upgrade pattern.

I also know for a fact they used to give away the licences to get users hooked.

Sounds like a drug and now we are all hooked and slaves to the Autodesk dealers.
 
Why people continue to pay Adobe money when Pixelmator exists I’ll never know. As soon as the original came out for 10.4 Tiger I ditched Photoshop. I find it much more intuitive.

Now if only I could find a good grid-based vector drawing app for iPad so I can build laser cutting plans….
 
I’m down to my last seat of Adobe CC and I will NOT be renewing it when my annual subscription comes due. I’m finally at a point with existing projects and clients where I can finally move away from it. With Pixelmator, Affinity‘s apps and Amadine, I have no more use for Adobe. I do all my video editing / finishing with FCPX & Resolve. Adobe is going to need to rethink their business model if they want me back and I know lots of pros who have been jumping ship the same way. They lost me when they forced the subscription model several years back and I know all the promises were hollow. I just couldn’t ditch them until now. Finally. I have legit not loaded an Adobe app since November. Good riddance.
 
Why people continue to pay Adobe money when Pixelmator exists I’ll never know. As soon as the original came out for 10.4 Tiger I ditched Photoshop. I find it much more intuitive.

Now if only I could find a good grid-based vector drawing app for iPad so I can build laser cutting plans….
Yup. I've used PS since the late nineties, but have now switched over to Pixelmator Pro om the computer and Procreate on the iPad.
 
Wow! A new way to create revenue. Discontinue an old app people paid for and release a new one that they have to buy if they want to do the same thing.
It is even "better" in the gaming or entertainment world.

You need to buy the same game again and again or at least play for the service (Xbox Game Pass, PS Now, Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now etc.)

Same can be said for movies. It doesn't matter if you own the movie on VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, VideoCD, DVD, Bluray... you will pay for the same movie over and over again also on VOD (video on demand) services.
 
Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer are far better than Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
No subscription is required. Good on Mac and Windows. And have versions you can use on iPad.
If you want to ditch Adobe but you can’t because you need Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and Illustrator,
Well I have the solution; I’m using DaVinci Resolve for video editing along with Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. DaVinci Resolve has no subscription either, just a one time purchase.
 
Long time ago, when most of the readers here were not yet a dream, there was Canvas on the MacIntosh. Is it the same mix of painting and vector drawing finally available again ?

For many years I used Canvas extensively for engineering and other purposes, though rarely used the non-vector painting tools. Today I use Omni's OmniGraffle app for vector-based drawing (but lacks Canvas' painting tools, which I don't need). It's solid, well-supported, and just works. It's a little pricey, but well worth it.
 
Last edited:
Not exactly, as they all save to the Adobe creative cloud, and just don't work the same once discontinued.

The all time best one is Autodesk Revit.

no older version can open a new version model. EG a person using Revit 2020 cannot open a model completed in 2021. They have been doing this for years, hence my previous comment of Autodesk being the biggest rort of all software. To use full Revit it is about $4k a year, and you have to keep paying this, as you cannot run the app without the subscription.
Add on top the super minor incremental changes they make per release, but force you into the upgrade pattern.

I also know for a fact they used to give away the licences to get users hooked.

Sounds like a drug and now we are all hooked and slaves to the Autodesk dealers.

Huh? Adobe Lightroom standalone does not save to the "Adobe creative cloud." Ditto with the other programs I mentioned.

As an aside, a year or so ago I did subscribe to Adobe Lightroom Classic. Having a large LR library that goes back to when LR was released 15 years ago, there is no decent substitute. For me, the yearly fee is worth it as improvements are frequent and the difference I'd be paying for yearly upgrades is not bad.
 
For many years I used Canvas extensively for engineering and other purposes, though rarely used the non-vector painting tools. Today I use Omni's OmniGraffle app for vector-based drawing (but lacks Canvas' painting tools, which I don't need). It's solid, well-supported, and just works. It's a little pricey, but well worth it.
I too very much loved Canvas (I still have their T-shirt from MacWorld in Boston when they were selling version 1 or 2 on floppy discs for $20)! Canvas, now CanvasDraw and CanvasX - canvasgfx.com, is back from the ashes, but after just a few years they changed course and went right down the same greedy and convoluted path as Adobe and I now refuse to use their product. It's all subscription based, per-seat licensing (i.e. can't use it at home and work without gymnastics) and confusing. The whole model for purchasing software has fundamentally changed since my younger days, and (although I might be wrong) Adobe were pretty much responsible for bringing that about to the masses.
 
Wow! A new way to create revenue. Discontinue an old app people paid for and release a new one that they have to buy if they want to do the same thing.
In fact, you can do even better: discontinue the old app people paid for and release a new one with subscription plan only. Just because you can and because it is trendy (or your shareholders suggested you make it so).

This is what Adobe did some years ago for their Raw processing software. On that day, they lost me as a customer. Forever.
 
Huh? Hardly a new way. It happens all the time with both software and hardware. If you want to do the same thing, keep using the same software or hardware.

For example, even though the iPhone 8+ has been long discontinued, my wife continues to use it because she only needs to keep doing the same things with it. Another... Even though Adobe discontinued standalone (non-subscription) Lightroom, it still runs fine on a couple of my computers. Ditto with older versions of Omnigraffle, Curio, MATLAB, etc.
It's true. If you can stand to "freeze" your system and stop updating the OS every year, there's actually software you can keep using more or less forever. When I was working more with printers and graphics service bureaus, they always had some old machines that ran working versions of stuff they just never updated because, well, it worked -- and by not changing stuff they didn't have to keep troubleshooting (and paying for) new combinations of software.
 
  • Like
Reactions: motulist
Not exactly, as they all save to the Adobe creative cloud, and just don't work the same once discontinued.

The all time best one is Autodesk Revit.

no older version can open a new version model. EG a person using Revit 2020 cannot open a model completed in 2021. They have been doing this for years, hence my previous comment of Autodesk being the biggest rort of all software. To use full Revit it is about $4k a year, and you have to keep paying this, as you cannot run the app without the subscription.
Add on top the super minor incremental changes they make per release, but force you into the upgrade pattern.

I also know for a fact they used to give away the licences to get users hooked.

Sounds like a drug and now we are all hooked and slaves to the Autodesk dealers.

Autodesk is really generous with student licenses.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlumaMac
On the slight chance this is off-topic; VectorStyler is a beast - one payment and it's yours - I was set aback when opening it and seeing all the vector tools there. To my untrained eye it looks and perhaps even has the same feature set as Adobe Illustrator on the Mac and PC platform.

VectorStyler website with a trial too, Mac and PC with M1 and Universal options for the Mac or buy via Mac App Store

It would appear that the purchase options directly from the vendor is $124 and the Mac App Store is $74,99 - I am curious to why that is
Mac App Store page
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: motulist
Huh? Adobe Lightroom standalone does not save to the "Adobe creative cloud." Ditto with the other programs I mentioned.

As an aside, a year or so ago I did subscribe to Adobe Lightroom Classic. Having a large LR library that goes back to when LR was released 15 years ago, there is no decent substitute. For me, the yearly fee is worth it as improvements are frequent and the difference I'd be paying for yearly upgrades is not bad.

Agreed - I have 15 years (60,000 photos) in Lightroom. It is worth the CC subscription.

Early last year I migrated to the new Lightroom and moved my whole workflow to using Adobe cloud. Sure - there are still a few features missing (especially for exporting) - but I don’t miss being tethered to my external HD that holds my LR catalogue. Every time I need an old photo and have to go hook up the external HD and load Lightroom Classic I remember how great my new workflow is.

I know everyone works differently… but for what I do LR is awesome and well worth the $$.
 
  • Like
Reactions: citysnaps
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.