Adobe announced on Tuesday that it is bringing Photoshop to mobile phones for the first time, offering both a free version and a lower-cost subscription plan at $7.99 per month.
Long considered the gold standard in digital image editing since its launch in 1990, Photoshop has traditionally been a paid service. Until now, the most affordable version was a $9.99 per month subscription for Apple’s iPad.
Adobe has now introduced a free version for Apple’s iPhone, with an Android release expected soon, company executives told Reuters. A premium version, available for $7.99 per month, will offer additional features, expanded cloud storage, and access to Photoshop’s web-based editor for use on larger screens.
The move comes as smartphone operating systems from Apple and Google have increasingly incorporated features that Photoshop once dominated, such as color adjustments and object removal, at no additional cost.
Despite these challenges, Adobe’s creative software remains a core revenue driver, even as the company’s 2025 sales forecast fell short of Wall Street expectations in December.
Adobe is positioning the mobile version of Photoshop as a tool for younger users who rely on their phones as their primary camera and editing device.
“We spent a lot of time and energy testing directly with our target user base, which is the next-generation creator who does a lot on their phone,” said Deepa Subramaniam, Adobe’s vice president of product marketing for creative professional apps. “It is the way that they express personal creativity, and the application is really built for them.”
Even in its free version, the mobile Photoshop app will offer advanced editing features such as layer splitting, masking, and text overlays—tools commonly used to create content for podcasts, streaming music playlists, and YouTube videos.
