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

Lightroom for iOS Now Available to All Users, No Longer Requires Creative Cloud Subscription

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,142
38,917



Adobe updated its lineup of mobile apps earlier this week, and among those updates was a new version of Lightroom, the company's iOS-based photo editing app. As part of the recent update to Lightroom, Adobe quietly made the app available to all users, removing the need for a subscription to Creative Cloud.

Prior to this week, the free Lightroom app was dependent on the desktop version of Lightroom and it required users to have one of Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription plans. Signing up first on Lightroom used to activate a trial Creative Cloud account, giving iOS users only a limited amount of time to use the app. Now restriction free, Lightroom can be downloaded by all iOS users at no cost and used to manage and edit photos on iOS indefinitely.

adobelightroom-800x704.jpg

The Next Web was the first to highlight the change to Lightroom, and the site spoke to Adobe's director of product management for digital imaging Tom Hogarty who said Lightroom has been a popular choice for mobile users. Adobe is likely hoping the change will draw potential subscribers to Adobe's other apps.
We're seeing alot of people come in first on Lightroom mobile, so now we're allowing people to use it locally on their local assets, their local photos and videos on their phone and tablet for as long as they like.

More and more people are adopting the phone as their primary camera, taking the DSLR out less and less, and we're seeing the same thing with the use of Lightroom. Some users are creative pros who are aiming for efficiency, but many others are just consumers who love photography.
Click to expand...
Lightroom for mobile devices has many of the same capabilities that are available for the desktop and it's a powerful editing tool on iOS devices. It includes one-touch improvement tools and more advanced adjustments for fixing problems like insufficient lighting or unwanted objects.

The recent update to the app adds a new haze removal feature that's useful for removing haze in landscaping photos, and it includes a targeted adjustment to that allows colors in a specific area to be tuned. It also offers an in-app Adobe camera, integration with Photoshop Fix, and better organizational tools.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for iPhone is available for free from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for iPad is available for free from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Lightroom for iOS Now Available to All Users, No Longer Requires Creative Cloud Subscription
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/08/lightroom-for-ios-update-now-free/
As a photographer and desktop Lightroom user, I welcome this change! Lightroom is very powerful. I tested it out on my 6+ this morning and it's very good with editing. Anyone know if the iOS version can handle RAW format? Not too important, but would be neat.
 
This is potentially amazing. I'll have to dig deeper but...
I can basically get all the awesome Lightroom editing capabilities (maybe even raw processing?) and have it synced up to my iCloud Photo Library and to Apple photos? This is a perfect match. I have 750gb of raw images on iCloud Photo Library, love the organization features 10 times more than Lightroom, but find the editing tools to be so so.
 
nunes013 said:
Hmmmm I downloaded it and it prompted me to sign in. Once signing in with my Adobe ID it started a 30 day free trial of creative cloud. There was no option to bypass sign in...
Click to expand...
The way I understood is that you still need to sign in, but you don't need the subscription for basic use.

If you want to sync to a Mac's or PC's Lightroom library, you need the subscription, which is ridiculous, but that's the way it is.
So still a pass for me.

Glassed Silver:mac
 
nunes013 said:
Hmmmm I downloaded it and it prompted me to sign in. Once signing in with my Adobe ID it started a 30 day free trial of creative cloud. There was no option to bypass sign in...
Click to expand...
You chose to sign up for their 30 day free trial of CC. I suggest tapping "get started" instead for anyone else not wanting a Creative Cloud trial...
 
  • Like
Reactions: QuarterSwede
Noticing that a banner message stating "Trail - 30 days remaining."

I've had installed Lightroom a few weeks ago and thought my original trail had run out. Wondering if after the "trail" runs out then we'll be on a free plan?
 
dearfriendx said:
False. No need for ANY sign in or subscription fees like this article states.
Click to expand...
Beg to differ. U cannot use the app if you don't sign up or sign in. The app is unusable as that's as far as you get without signing in.

And yes I have the trial at the top of my page as well and I downloaded Lightroom the day of the announcements.
 

Attachments

  • image.png
    image.png
    1,022.5 KB · Views: 225
jmantn said:
Beg to differ. U cannot use the app if you don't sign up or sign in. The app is unusable as that's as far as you get without signing in.

And yes I have the trial at the top of my page as well and I downloaded Lightroom the day of the announcements.
Click to expand...

So, is it free or not?
 
I think what will clear up some confusion here is the explanation should read "It is now free for everyone to edit photos in Lightroom for iOS"

Not

"All the features of Lightroom iOS are now free for everyone"
 
nutmac said:
Yes, it can handle RAW images just fine.
Click to expand...
??? No, Lightroom for IOS does not even recognize RAW files.
Which actually makes it useless for me.

My ideal workflow would be: import RAWs from shooting into iPad, do some quick adjustments and rate them in Lightroom IOS, then later import the good ones onto my Macbook. Does not work, as Lightroom does not import the RAWs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zaqfalcon and sananda
Love this app. It's way more useful for people who sync RAW files from the Mac version, but it can do a pretty good job with non-RAW iPhone stills as well. But for those who sync it's pretty incredible. I've got over 30,000 photos synced and it's really handy to be able to kick back and rate them, do some quick edits that usually get them 90% of the way to print ready quality, and easily share lower res versions for the web. I really hope future updates will enable loading RAW files straight off the camera into the iPad, adjustment brushes (which seems like a natural fit for touch input), HDR stacking (and no I don't do gross HDR, just subtle, tasteful increases to dynamic range), and more settings for noise, sharpness, camera corrections, etc. But the most important thing is local imports for RAW. Please Adobe!
 
jmantn said:
Assume it's free but at same time it's using a trail I'm not ready to use so I do feel cheated. What if I wanted to do the trial on my desktop next month? I won't be able too
Click to expand...

I should also note in the screenshot I posted there is no get started button which people keep saying they used. IDK. My apps are up to date so not sure what I missed unless it was something they implemented AFTER photoshop fix and etc were released as I downloaded Lightroom for the first time the same time I downloaded fix.
 
How would you guys compare this to Snapseed? Its what I use on a regular basis, but should I look at this too?
 
odedia said:
This is potentially amazing. I'll have to dig deeper but...
I can basically get all the awesome Lightroom editing capabilities (maybe even raw processing?) and have it synced up to my iCloud Photo Library and to Apple photos? This is a perfect match. I have 750gb of raw images on iCloud Photo Library, love the organization features 10 times more than Lightroom, but find the editing tools to be so so.
Click to expand...

Totally confused here. Photos has about 10 times fewer organization features than Lightroom.
 
jmantn said:
Beg to differ. U cannot use the app if you don't sign up or sign in. The app is unusable as that's as far as you get without signing in.

And yes I have the trial at the top of my page as well and I downloaded Lightroom the day of the announcements.
Click to expand...

I didn't have to sign it. I just hit Get Started and I could import photos from my Camera Roll or any other album from my Phone. You need to sign in and have a CC account for syncing with Lightroom desktop. I Just deleted the app and redownloaded to test again and all you have to choose "Get Started" when you launch the app for the first time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmantn
jmantn said:
Assume it's free but at same time it's using a trail I'm not ready to use so I do feel cheated. What if I wanted to do the trial on my desktop next month? I won't be able too
Click to expand...

It's a trial for Creative Cloud syncing. If you never sign in, the editing features are free to use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back