Adobe Photoshop for iPad is here!

Well, kind of...

Just before we get started, let me introduce myself. I'm Toby, the new Creative Designer here at Inkthreadable. I joined the team a little over 2 weeks ago at the time of writing this. I'll be around in the Inkthreadable Hub if you fancy a chat, and hopefully I can help out where needed. 

If you’re looking for a quick, on-the-go solution to getting your designs ready then look no further. As an Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator user for almost 10 years now, the new Photoshop app is definitely a lightweight version, and maybe not what you’d want for creating new designs from scratch.

But that’s just me. Adobe’s new app is probably the kind of thing that is a great step into the world of the creative suite for those using alternative programs. If you’re currently using something like Canva, Affinity or Photopea you probably have more tools available to you than what’s included in this touchscreen based Adobe offering. That doesn’t mean that this product is lost in a saturated market. I think the weight that Adobe has behind its flagship product name is enough for this to still succeed whilst being a lower powered app. Think of it as Ferrari releasing a hatchback; people would still buy it, and love it!

With all of this being said, I would urge anyone with a few spare hours a month to download it now! If you’re completely new to Photoshop, think of it like having stabilisers on a bike. The fact a lot of the options aren’t available on the new platform is almost a blessing - it pretty much just means there are less things that can go wrong for you. Learn your way around, explore the tools on offer, then move over to the desktop version and you’ll be surprised at just how easy the transition will be. Plus, if you’re really struggling, have a look online. There are literally thousands of Photoshop for iPad tutorials already.

I’ve been so excited for 2 years now. The Adobe Max 2018 keynote promised us that the new app is ‘not a watered down version of Photoshop, this is real Photoshop’. I’m a bit disappointed, but to be honest I think this is just the start of something big. The ability to keep making more powerful software on smaller and smaller devices is promising, and there’s so much more to come that I still can’t help but be excited. But at the moment, I think if you’re already a Photoshop user, this is just a good way to add the finishing touches to designs or have a fine tune edit of some old photographs while watching TV.

The new iPad additions comes free with a Creative Cloud Subscription or if you’re looking to try it out, the cheapest I’ve been able to find is to use the ‘Photography’ package (we're not affiliated with Adobe!) which gets you the desktop and iPad versions of Photoshop and Lightroom, plus 20gb of cloud storage for £9.98 a month.

First post by Toby, Creative Designer. How'd I do? Let me know below!