Adobe Photoshop Express Mobile Review

Adobe's Photoshop Express Mobile is a simple photo app that delivers on image quality and ease of use, but it doesn't offer as many tools and controls as other apps.

Tom's Guide Verdict

Adobe's Photoshop Express Mobile is a simple photo app that delivers on image quality and ease of use, but it doesn't offer as many tools and controls as other apps.

Pros

  • +

    Easy to use

  • +

    Supports RAW file formats as well as JPEG and PNG

  • +

    Comprehensive sharing options

  • +

    Integrated with other Adobe applications via Creative Cloud

Cons

  • -

    Thin feature set

  • -

    Sacrifices creativity and versatility for simplicity

  • -

    Crashes during our Android testing

Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.

Photoshop (PS) Express Mobile's strength is its Adobe heritage that comes with a clear understanding of imaging science wrapped up in a highly accessible interface. But if you're looking for Photoshop-like functionality, creative control and versatility, PS Express Mobile isn't the best choice.

Photo Taking and Importing

The main page of Photoshop Express Mobile gives you an unambiguous starting point: an uncluttered screen with only three (or four) large icons to choose your photo source. You can use your device's camera to take photos from within the interface. (Since PS Express Mobile doesn't support video, the movie icon is grayed out in the camera.) In addition, you can import still images from Adobe Revel, your device's Gallery, or, if you're an Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) subscriber, from your online CC storage. 

MORE: Best Photo Editing Software Review

PS Express Mobile is the only app we've reviewed that supports RAW files, as well as JPEG and PNG. The RAW support (plus the connection to Adobe Creative Cloud) makes it more useful for professional and advanced photographers who need a tool for quick and dirty edits while on the road.

Editing

The Editing window has six icons on the bottom of the screen: Looks, Crop, Corrections, Redeye, Borders and Healing Brush. Like several other photo-editing apps, such as Instagram, when you tap on an icon the options for that tool or category of tools is displayed under your picture.

Looks are predefined filters that may not knock your socks off in terms of special effects, but they tend to produce good quality images. For instance, the Aquatic filter creates an attractive monochrome image with a very slight blue cast. A slider controls the strength of the Look from very subtle to full power.

PS Express includes only 23 Looks (which is fewer than most of the other apps we've reviewed), but Premium Looks are available for $5. Similarly, the Adobe Advanced Pack (for another $5) offers Adobe quality noise-reduction and defogging (which ups the contrast). The seamless integration of the add-ons could be frustrating to users who aren't interested in spending money on the app, but are pulled in by the smooth marketing of having them in the interface as an extra tab.

MORE: Instragram Review

The Crop section includes a straighten slider, rotate and flip, in addition to the crop tool. You can constrain your crop to device size (great for screen savers), to a square (for Instagram) or to other popular aspect ratios, such as 4 x 6 and 5 x 7.

The Corrections module is where PS Express Mobile reveals its Photoshop heritage for quality image editing, with sliders controlling clarity, tint, sharpness, contrast, highlights and more. On the other hand, the Healing Brush, which is one of desktop Photoshop's highly useful tools, doesn't quite cut it in the mobile app. We found Facetune's Patch tool and PicsArt's Clone much more effective, because they allowed us to define the source within our picture that would be used to hide blemishes and wrinkles.

Sharing

Sharing options are comprehensive and include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Adobe Revel, text messaging and email. On Android, you can share on Google+ and other applications installed on your device. In addition, if you have a CC subscription, you can save your picture to your Adobe Creative Cloud storage, where your pictures are available to your other Adobe applications from any other device or computer. However, you can share only one image to a single site at a time.

What Users Are Saying

iTunes users are very keen on the Photoshop Express app, rating it 4.5 stars by more than 600 users of this version. Nearly 400,000 Google Play users have given it 4 stars. Complaints from Android users seem to be a general disappointment that this app is not more full featured and full Photoshop-like in its features. The iOS users' comments are more likely to indicate that a user had bought the additional editing packs.

Bottom Line

Just because an app sports the Photoshop name doesn't guarantee you're going to have a Photoshop-like experience. Instead, Photoshop Express Mobile is a purposely limited app that delivers on image quality and accessibility, but offers only a handful of tools and comparatively few creative controls. For Photoshop-like mobile editing, we recommend PicsArt or Pixlr, over Photoshop Express.

Specs

Version: 3.5.2 (iOS), 2.4.509 (Android)
Devices:
iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8
File Type Supported:
JPEG, PNG, RAW
Social Sharing Options:
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Adobe Revel, Adobe Creative Cloud; Google+ on Android
Number of Filters:
23

Sally Wiener Grotta

Sally Wiener Grotta is the president and lead analyst of DigitalBenchmarks test lab (www.DigitalBenchmarks.com). The scripts she created for various tech publications for testing and evaluating digital cameras, image quality, software and related technologies have become industry standards. Among her numerous books is the first major volume on image processing “Digital Imaging for Visual Artists” (McGraw-Hill), co-authored with Daniel Grotta. Her hundreds of reviews, stories and columns have appeared in scores of magazines, journals and online publications.

Latest in Mobile Apps
The Signal app logo displayed on an iPhone, with a screenshot of the Signal app in use displayed on a monitor in the background.
Signal — everything you need to know about the app at the center of the group chat scandal
Google wallet app on screen
Google Wallet now lets kids to make supervised contactless payments and use digital passes — what you need to know
How to tour the Super Bowl stadium virtually with Google Maps
Google Maps glitch is purging Timeline data — what we know
Gboard app logo on mobile phone resting on a keyboard
Google Gboard redesign has already angered users — and I can see why
Waze app on iPhone in car
Forget Google Maps — Waze just got a huge upgrade that will help millions of drivers
A photo of the Apple Maps app tile displayed on an iPhone screen
Apple Maps may soon get ads, letting businesses pay to boost visibility
Latest in Reviews
Focal Bathys MG
I just tested these $1,099 headphones with magnesium drivers — and they could be your next pair of premium ANC cans
Ooni Koda 2 Max
Forget Domino's — I cooked everything in Ooni's biggest pizza oven, and I'm never ordering delivery again
The Dnsys X1 Exoskeleton being worn
I tested an AI exoskeleton to help treat my immune arthritis — here’s what happened
EarFun OpenJump open-ear earbuds photographed in front of a blue background.
EarFun OpenJump review: I couldn’t take these earbuds off quick enough
A pink and teal Cooler Master CH351 wireless gaming headset
This Cooler Master PS5 gaming headset works best when wired — so why call it wireless?
the breville dose control pro, called sage dose control pro in the uk, a silver coffee grinder with 60 grind settings and labeled grind size adjustment
The Breville Dose Control Pro is one of the most divisive coffee grinders — here’s why I disagree with the haters