Mobile Photo Editing Apps on the Move

Solid alternatives to Lightroom Mobile

Apple iPads have evolved from fun devices for consuming content into robust tablets for creating it. Photography is a standout example of this.

The two mobile software giants on the iPad are Photos for iOS and Lightroom. Each application features a robust set of editing tools, file management, and direct Cloud connectivity.

But they also force enthusiast photographers to face a fork in the road, making them choose between two distinct ecosystems. For most hobbyists, paying both Apple and Adobe for enough Cloud connectivity to house their work isn’t practical.

And the choice gets even more complicated when comparing features. Lightroom Mobile is sophisticated with cutting-edge tools such as Generative AI Remove, Lens Blur, Masking, perspective correction, noise reduction, color grading, and more. But it’s not cheap. Rent for the software and 1TB of storage runs photographers $19.99 a month.

Compared to Apple, where Photos for iOS is free, and Cloud storage can be purchased as low as 99 cents a month for 50 GBs, $2.99 for 200 GBs, or $10.99 for 2 TBs, the tradeoff is that Photos for iOS doesn’t have as many tools for enthusiast photographers as Lightroom does.