Adobe refutes reports that Photoshop for iPad is 'rudimentary'

AppleInsider

Photoshop for iPad is still expected before the end of this year, but beta testers are complaining that it is lacking. Adobe says the beta doesn't include many features that will be in the shipping version, and that the company plans to continuously develop the app.

Adobe demonstrating Photoshop for iPad at Apple's October 2018 event

It's a year since Apple and Adobe announced that Photoshop would be coming to the iPad, and it's six months since the latter began accepting beta testers. Now, while the official release is reportedly still on schedule for before the end of 2019, some beta testers are saying that the software is 'rudimentary,' and lacks key features.

According Bloomberg, testers are claiming that despite Adobe saying it would be a full version of Photoshop instead of its previous scaled-down iPad apps, certain core functions are missing.

"Feature-wise, it feels like a beefed-up cloud-based version of their existing iPad apps and not 'real Photoshop' as advertised," said an unnamed tester. "I understand it is based on desktop Photoshop code, but it doesn't feel like it right now."

In response, Adobe has told Bloomberg that the beta test version does lack many features that couldn't be deployed yet. A need to produce them in collaboration with Apple means many are "coming in hot," according to Scott Belsky, chief product officer of Adobe Creative Cloud.

Adobe demonstrated Photoshop on iPad in October 2018

He added that while the first official release would contain these unspecified features, it would still not be a complete duplicate of the desktop Photoshop.

"Launching every single feature that was accumulated over 25 years on the iPad on day one would not best serve our customers and the needs they have," he said. He added that Adobe sees this as very much a version 1 and would develop it further.

"I want to say it's the best product in the world for specific workflows and not have to apologize that it's not full because that's not what the customer needs," he said. "I couldn't be more proud of where we landed. People will see for themselves."

cy_starkman

I seriously hope that unlike the article states it is not based on the same code as the desktop Photoshop. That thing is a giant bloated mass of slowness and ancient times, not as bad s some of their other apps to be sure.

i use it, a lot, and have done since 1993. so i love it and am not being rude, but it could do with a full rebuild with actual mac support.

lightroom and photoshop do not even run properly on 10.15, with limited functions still being 32bit. no metal support, no egpu support. do any of their apps properly support amd gpus yet? last i checked it was nope.

going catalina i decided to format and start a new story. i then after close to 30yrs decided not to install PS or AI or INdesign or Lightroom. i was on the verge of replacing my 2015 loaded MBP15” because of how slow it ran with adobe and... on a whim bought Affinity Publisher, looked pretty solid and OMG i am moving whole books around with full page images and text like 60fps silk, a month ago it was clunking so bad it was depressing.

Make that iPad PS amaze us Adobe and Apple, time to enter the present again.

(note: i obs only mean 30yrs of PS. Indesign was 2001-2ish for me i think. lightroom was 07-08ish perhaps)

jbdragon

This was announced a year ago. Sounded like it was almost read for release. Here it is a year later and it's half baked? They're going to launch it like that?

anonymouse

I'm not sure 'refutes' is the correct word here, unless Adobe demonstrated a version with all the "missing" functionality. In fact, they essentially conceded that, at this time, it is lacking in functionality and claim they intend to add it before the official release. Perhaps 'disputes' might have been a better choice, particularly if you change 'is' to 'will be'.

melgross

My company was one of the very first Adobe shops with PS 1. It’s been a really long time. I’m looking forward to this. Everybody should understand that Adobe is correct when it says that it can’t have every feature working in the first version. It will take a few years. It’s still mid October, so we can be sure that they’re continuing to validate functionality. PS is a modular app, and has been for a very long time. That began way back with PS 5.

Still, as professionals in areas that Adobe didn’t think would want the app began to use it in numbers, they added features to accommodate them. So some people think it’s bloated. But it’s not. You don’t have to use the features you don’t want, or need. Just don’t select it from the menus. Is it a large app, with a large footprint? Yes, so what?

dysamoria

This was entirely predictable; from the incompleteness to the excuses.

And yes, Photoshop is bloated.

But I don’t care; once adobe went subscription model, I quit Adobe.

Eric_WVGG

cy_starkman said:

I seriously hope that unlike the article states it is not based on the same code as the desktop Photoshop. That thing is a giant bloated mass of slowness and ancient times, not as bad s some of their other apps to be sure.

i use it, a lot, and have done since 1993. so i love it and am not being rude, but it could do with a full rebuild with actual mac support.

I'd sure hate to be the jerk whose job it was to port that mess to iPad… I have heard that the UI (toolbars, palettes, modals) were all re-written in Adobe Air for cross-platform ease, back when they thought Air had a future, and that is one reason why the Mac version is such a kludge.

spice-boy

I've been in a "relationship" with Adobe since 1994. As a visual artist PS gave a tool that I could only dream about having. Through the years though Adobe's wrong turns made it one of those companies you love to hate though, they purchased companies who had software they believe they needed then as most corporations do, destroyed what made those apps good and ultimately killed them off leaving a lot of angry customers. I as many have weened myself off Adobe with Photoshop being the last useful app for my purposes. I don't believe Adobe ever really took the Mac platform seriously and it shows to this day. I don't expect this to change with their iOS version. 

Dontmentionthewar

On the positive side...almost end of the year, come on Adobe, deliver quality for the iPad!

wizard69

melgross said:

My company was one of the very first Adobe shops with PS 1. It’s been a really long time. I’m looking forward to this. Everybody should understand that Adobe is correct when it says that it can’t have every feature working in the first version. It will take a few years. It’s still mid October, so we can be sure that they’re continuing to validate functionality. PS is a modular app, and has been for a very long time. That began way back with PS 5.

Still, as professionals in areas that Adobe didn’t think would want the app began to use it in numbers, they added features to accommodate them. So some people think it’s bloated. But it’s not. You don’t have to use the features you don’t want, or need. Just don’t select it from the menus. Is it a large app, with a large footprint? Yes, so what?

This is the thing, any body expecting a 100% copy day one is just foolish!    A well written iOS app by its nature has to do things differently.  By the way I’m defending Adobe here even if I’m not a big fan if the company and its practices.  

What might be worrisome here is the comment about waiting on Apple.  That could mean an app written in Swift and using SwiftUI.   Or it could mean something worse.  Either way I could see Apple and Adobe working out a lot of bugs on this first release.   If the development is honestly being gated by Apple it does make me wonder what else could be at issue.  

ericthehalfbee

Now would be a good time to remind people of the demo Adobe did on the iPad last year.

They opened a large 3GB (not MB) 12,000x12,000 pixel file with 157 layers and editing operations ran pretty good. It was already far beyond a “lite” version back then.

Sounds to me like people are (for whatever reason) upset that the iPad is getting such a complex and powerful piece of software. I bet if Adobe said they were making an ARM version for the Surface tablet nobody would complain about it taking time. But because Apple.....

melgross

ericthehalfbee said:

Now would be a good time to remind people of the demo Adobe did on the iPad last year.

They opened a large 3GB (not MB) 12,000x12,000 pixel file with 157 layers and editing operations ran pretty good. It was already far beyond a “lite” version back then.

Sounds to me like people are (for whatever reason) upset that the iPad is getting such a complex and powerful piece of software. I bet if Adobe said they were making an ARM version for the Surface tablet nobody would complain about it taking time. But because Apple.....

There are companies that people like to beat up. Adobe is one of them. It’s irrational, but that’s what it is. No matter what Adobe does, people are going to find fault—even those who have never used their product. We get people who are rank amateurs, not even amateur in the way the word is meant, but just snap shooters, angry at Adobe because Photoshop is too hard for them. They forget that Adobe has apps for them. Or they know, but using PS is so prestigious, that they just HAVE to tell people they use it. But then they come here, and on other sites, and complain about how bloated it is. Sorry, but those people shouldn’t be using it at all.

SpamSandwich

wizard69 said:

melgross said:

My company was one of the very first Adobe shops with PS 1. It’s been a really long time. I’m looking forward to this. Everybody should understand that Adobe is correct when it says that it can’t have every feature working in the first version. It will take a few years. It’s still mid October, so we can be sure that they’re continuing to validate functionality. PS is a modular app, and has been for a very long time. That began way back with PS 5.

Still, as professionals in areas that Adobe didn’t think would want the app began to use it in numbers, they added features to accommodate them. So some people think it’s bloated. But it’s not. You don’t have to use the features you don’t want, or need. Just don’t select it from the menus. Is it a large app, with a large footprint? Yes, so what?

This is the thing, any body expecting a 100% copy day one is just foolish!    A well written iOS app by its nature has to do things differently.  By the way I’m defending Adobe here even if I’m not a big fan if the company and its practices.  

What might be worrisome here is the comment about waiting on Apple.  That could mean an app written in Swift and using SwiftUI.   Or it could mean something worse.  Either way I could see Apple and Adobe working out a lot of bugs on this first release.   If the development is honestly being gated by Apple it does make me wonder what else could be at issue.  

According to some developers (Marco Arment being one), Swift is in a constant state of revision and the documentation is woefully lacking, so I can see how Adobe could be stuck in mud right now.

chasm

Dear imbeciles: this is indeed full Photoshop for iPad. But it is full Photoshop for iPad ***1.0***. Did you really think the product would ship with every single feature ever added to the desktop version, you know the one that has taken 25 years to get where it is? Seriously?

The important thing is that the structure is there and the non-core stuff will arrive in due course. Unclench your sphincter for a change and check back in a year.