iPhone and Android: Adobe's free Photoshop Camera app gives you ton of new effects

Adobe has launched Photoshop Camera, a free app iOS and Android that offers a range of AI-powered filters and live effects to turn your snaps into artwork and impress friends on social-media apps. 

The app lets users convert photos into dark and dreamy scenes with minimal effort via filters like Studio Light, Bloom, Pop Art and Spectrum, and there are also controls to improve portrait shots, such as bokeh and face relighting. 

It lets you easily turn a mundane shot of an empty glass into a piece of art, perfectly resized for sharing on Instagram or other screen dimensions.  

The app is built for sharing spruced-up photos on social media, and even offers filters from social-media stars like musician, Billie Eilish. Adobe promises the app will help you “blow up your social feed”. 

Adobe Photoshop Camera works on iOS 12 and above and Android 9 and higher. However, Adobe notes supported Android devices include Pixel 3 and Pixel 4, Samsung’s high-end Galaxy phones such as the S10/S10+/S10 5G and newer Samsung Notes, as well as One Plus 6 and above. 

Adobe argues the feature that makes the app stand apart from native phone cameras is its Sensei feature, which uses machine learning to automatically fix photos. The company also plans to add more magic lenses and effects over time. 

The app aims to lower the bar for non-professional photographers to use the same techniques that creative pros have available in the full version of Photoshop. But it’s also just another alternative to social-media app filters from the likes of Instagram and Snapchat.  

Adobe launched the beta in November, holding it up an example of its efforts to “democratize creativity” with artificial intelligence. The idea is to accustom consumers who might be future creatives with Photoshop’s more powerful editing capabilities.  

Adobe CTO Abhay Parasnis told The Verge that it doesn’t see the app as competition to social-media or built-in camera apps and suggested Adobe’s filters could find their way into some phones’ native cameras in future.