FEBRUARY 2020 MACWORLD 53included files limited to recent projects.
We haven’t spent a lot of time with
Photoshop on the iPad, but it’s clear the
interface is familiar enough that Photoshop
veterans should have no trouble finding their
way around. The tool palette is on the left—
and it includes familiar tools like the clone
stamp and healing brush—while on the right
you’ll find menus for layers and adjustments
for levels, gradients, and blends.
Unfortunately, as Adobe made clear
not long after its initial announcement, it’s
also missing popular (and arguably
essential) features like the pen tool. As
Adobe explains in a blog post (go.
macworld.com/bl0g) announcing the
release, this mobile version currently
emphasizes “workflows, compositing,
masking, and retouching.” To give you an
idea of just how much is missing, Adobe’s
landing page says that a coming
feature is the ability to rotate
canvases. If you’re a serious artist,
you’ll probably still end up doing the
majority of your work on the desktop.
But considering that you can
easily switch back over to desktop
Photoshop, Photoshop on iPad still
comes off as a good option for
lightweight edits on the couch or in
coffee shops. This version even
supports the Apple Pencil, and if
Adobe Photoshop for iPad gets
robust enough, some artists may even
grow comfortable using their iPads over
Wacom Cintiq tablets. This arrangement
should become even more attractive once
Adobe Illustrator also makes it to the iPad
sometime next year.
You can start using Adobe Photoshop
for free right now if you already have a
Creative Cloud subscription from Adobe.
The iPad version also supports the new
“Sign In with Apple” feature, and we
discovered it only takes a couple of
seconds to tie it to a Creative Cloud
subscription.
Alternatively, you can try it out for free
for 30 days and then pass the cheapest
$9.99 monthly subscription that grants
access to both Adobe Photoshop and
Adobe Lightroom (go.macworld.com/ltip)—
the latter of which has been available on
the iPad for a while now. ■“Sign In with Apple” hasn’t been on the radar much,
but it does exist!