Important points
- Affinity Photo and Photoshop have similar interfaces and tools, with Affinity offering a more organized tool arrangement.
- Affinity Photo is a one-time purchase for $19, while Photoshop is part of a more expensive monthly Creative Cloud subscription.
- Affinity and Photoshop on the iPad offer touch gestures, but Affinity is more customizable and can potentially speed up your workflow.
Adobe’s Photoshop tool is one of the most popular image editing tools on the market. Until Affinity Photo arrived in 2015, there was little competition. There is a strong comparison between Photoshop and Affinity Photos Although intended for desktop apps, both tools are also available on the iPad. iPad and Apple Pencil integration lets you edit on the go, but which iPad app is best for image editing?
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Affinity Photo and Photoshop on iPad: Interface
Photoshop on the iPad has a similar interface to the desktop version. If you’ve been using Photoshop for years, it’s easy to transition to editing on the go. Standard toolbars are arranged vertically on the left, and panels and palettes are arranged vertically in the icon list on the right. Tapping on one of these icons will open the panel you want to use. Long press the icon with a small arrow to open nested tools for selection. Photoshop’s iPad interface is familiar and easy to use.
Although the Affinity workspace looks different than the Photoshop workspace, it follows a similar overall pattern in terms of where and how you find tools. Affinity offers something called Personas, which provides different tool views for different editing types. This is not provided by Photoshop.
Personas include:
- person in photo
- Fluidize your persona
- Non-destructive persona development
- tone mapping persona
- Exporting personas
Affinity’s tools are organized and organized. It’s well labeled so you won’t have trouble finding the tools you need. Panels for layers, effects, colors, etc. are located below the icons in the toolbar. You can tap the icon to open the panel for use, and use the same method to close the panel to free up space. It has the same design as Photoshop, with built-in tools and panels that are hidden when not in use.
Affinity Photo and Photoshop on iPad: Pricing
Price is one of the biggest considerations when choosing between different editing tools. Photoshop on the iPad is available under the same Creative Cloud subscription plans as Photoshop on the desktop, starting at $20 per month for an annual plan. Creative Cloud All Apps subscribers can get it in app bundles starting at $60 per month.
Affinity Photo 2 for iPad is separate software from the desktop version. Therefore, it comes with a separate price tag. If Photoshop subscription prices make your eyes swell, you’ll be happy to know that Affinity Photo for iPad costs just $19. There are no subscriptions, just a one-time fee. You get the entire app for that price forever.
The iPad version is available for purchase as part of Affinity’s universal bundle package. This package includes all three Affinity software (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) available for both desktop and iPad. Universal license is $83. You will fully own all your software, and other than occasional (and optional) upgrades every few years, you won’t have to worry about putting any more money into Affinity Photo.
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Affinity Photo and Photoshop on iPad: Text tools
Photoshop’s iPad text tools aren’t as efficient as the desktop version. This is mainly due to the lack of space on the iPad screen compared to a computer. I don’t use an external keyboard with my iPad, so when I need to type, the keyboard takes up almost half of the iPad screen. Because of this, there is limited space to move the text within the image to where you want it to be applied, and it can be difficult to customize the text tools and options. It’s a little too troublesome.
Affinity’s text tools allow you to tap and drag where you want your text to go. Like the other tools, everything stays nested until you specifically select it, so even if the iPad keyboard takes up half the screen, the rest of the screen is still available for placing and editing text. If you need to edit using text tools such as font, style, size, alignment, or other text features, tap the icon to display a small menu from which you can select options. This is less intimidating than Photoshop’s text tool, which tries to show you all the features and options at once.
Affinity Photo and Photoshop on iPad: Gestures and shortcuts
Many Photoshop desktop users use its famous keyboard shortcuts. The benefit of using Photoshop from your iPad is that it has integrated touch gestures using your finger or Apple Pencil. Photoshop on the iPad also provides keyboard shortcuts, but they may not be efficient shortcut options unless you connect an external iPad keyboard. iPad keyboard shortcuts are the same as Apple desktop shortcuts.
There are seven touch gestures embedded into Photoshop from the iPad.
- Undo: Two-finger tap
- Redo: 3 finger tap
- Move: hold and drag
- More: long press on icon
- Zoom, rotate, or pan: Pinch, twist, or drag with two fingers.
- Fit to view: Quickly pinch two fingers together.
- View at 100%: Double tap with one finger
Affinity on iPad uses some of the same gestures as Photoshop, such as two-finger tap to undo, three-finger tap to redo, and pinch to zoom in or out. However, we also have a handy guide to additional touch gestures in Affinity Photo 2. Additional gestures include long press to reveal color, directional drag to swap or scrub items, double tap to set fill, and many other gesture options.
Affinity gestures are more complex and may take longer to learn. However, the large selection of gestures will greatly speed up your workflow once you learn them.
Affinity Photo and Photoshop on iPad: Cloud and storage
If you’re a Photoshop user, you likely already have a Creative Cloud account, in which case opening Photoshop from your iPad will appear to open your cloud document directly. These can be documents created within various Adobe software, such as Adobe Fresco (iPad drawing tools) or Photoshop on the web. Similarly, Photoshop on iPad automatically saves your work as a cloud document, so you can easily open it in other Adobe software you subscribe to on other devices.
Adobe Photoshop on iPad includes options to share your projects via email or Creative Cloud. Sharing for review allows others to comment on and view your project, regardless of whether they have a Creative Cloud membership or not.
Images created with Affinity on the iPad are not automatically saved anywhere. When you open the app, you’ll see an option to open recent projects, even if they’re not saved locally or in the cloud. There is no Affinity cloud storage option. You can export your images in different formats and also have options to share them in different ways. The sharing options are more traditional, such as AirDrop and Messages and Email, compared to Photoshop’s built-in sharing tools.
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Affinity Photo and Photoshop on iPad both have power
There’s no doubting the power of the tools in both these iPad apps. There’s a reason Affinity Photo is a powerful adversary to Adobe Photoshop. The layout and interface of the tools available in Affinity Photo 2 is more streamlined compared to Photoshop’s iPad interface, giving you more space to work with. However, Photoshop’s interface is more traditional and should be easier to work with if you are a previous Photoshop desktop user.
