13 Absolutely Free Adobe Products: Apps & Software Without Subscription

By Ann Young 19 days ago, Photo Editing Tips

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Regardless of whether you’re an aspiring artist, a content creator, or a regular user interested in learning graphic design, this overview of free Adobe products will acquaint you with all the available software that are available without subscription and explain how you can use them to unleash your creativity without going broke.

Warning: If you want to download all free Adobe Creative Cloud software, then you can take advantage of the 7-day free trial of the CC Apps plan, which is a completely safe and legal way to access everything Adobe has to offer.

Top 13 Free Adobe Programs & Apps

  1. Adobe Photoshop for iPad - Classic Photoshop with a sensor interface
  2. Photoshop Express - For basic editing
  3. Lightroom Mobile - Advanced tool for color correction
  4. Adobe Express - Ideal for basic graphic design projects
  5. Adobe Premiere Rush - For editing videos on the go
  6. Adobe Fresco - Realistic brush, pen, and pencil physics
  7. Adobe Illustrator for iPad - For drawing on tablets
  8. Adobe Photoshop Camera - Expansive filter library
  9. Adobe Color - For determining complementary color schemes
  10. Adobe Acrobat Reader - For working with PDFs
  11. Adobe Aero - For making AR scenes
  12. Adobe Scan - For scanning documents in the highest quality
  13. Adobe Fill & Sign - Advanced e-signature feature

When you think about Adobe products, you are likely to remember: Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, and Premiere Pro CC, right? But the company has many other useful software packages and standalone apps that you can get for free, or even as a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud Free plan. This is a great option for beginner users or those, who have previously used other software.

1. Adobe Photoshop Version for iPad

Classic Photoshop with a sensor interface
  • Very responsive
  • Excellent syncing with CC
  • Perfect for photo retouching
  • Allows adjusting the opacity and employing various blending modes
  • Lacks RAW and CMYK support
  • Compatible with iPad only

Verdict: This free Adobe software can be successfully used as the main photo editor on your iPad. This application is an attempt to make a portable version of the classic desktop Photoshop for iPad with a new interface. The attempt was successful to some extent.

You can still enjoy a large part of the layer management functionality as well as blending options.

Like the desktop version, Adobe Photoshop for iPad allows you to change the order, names, and size of the layers, while also moving and transforming them.

Set opacity, employ blending modes, and take advantage of the blending mode pop-up menu with preview thumbnails. The latter feature is new and is missing from the desktop version.

If you prefer a compact mode of the layers panel, you can choose to display only the thumbnails without layer names. This helps maximize the screen space while allowing you to access features with the help of gestures.

adobe photoshop for ipad interface

2. Photoshop Express

For basic color correction
  • User-friendly
  • RAW, JPEG, and PNG files are supported
  • Lots of sharing options
  • Completely free for all users
  • Very few features
  • Intuitive workflow at the expense of creativity
  • Lags on Android devices

Verdict: Photoshop Express can be used as a standalone application or a so-called plug-in for your camera. You can open it directly from your device.

This offering from the Adobe free software package supports RAW and PNG files, which makes it more effective than any other comparable solution.

With the help of the available tools and features, you can crop, rotate, and display a photo, fix perspective distortions, adjust exposure, contrast, glare, and shadows, and tweak the color tone, saturation, and brightness for individual sections of an image. Express also offers a professional Dehaze Tool. Besides, you can use free Photoshop actions to speed up your image editing workflow.

A distinctive feature of this free Adobe software is the Text Tool. Photoshop Express offers over 50 different fonts as well as the capability to customize the color, style, size, and transparency of the text. You can create not only a beautiful inscription for your advertisement but also add a watermark.

photoshop express interface

3. Lightroom Mobile

Advanced tool for color correction
  • Minimalistic UI
  • RAW support
  • In-depth color correction
  • Part of the Creative Cloud family
  • Premium content
  • Lacks batch photo editing support

Verdict: Lightroom Mobile is a great example of free Adobe products for amateur photographers who want to make changes to several vacation photos or pictures taken with a smartphone/iPad. You can get Lightroom for free if you want to use it on your desktop or laptop.

The application differs a lot from its older version: functionality has been cut, it doesn’t have batch photo processing, and more. On the other hand, the most useful features are still available, including features like split toning, tone curve, noise reduction, radial/gradient filters, etc.

In Adobe Lightroom Mobile, you can undo every change that you make to a photo, even after you close the app and reopen it or even after switching devices – all thanks to the included non-destructive image editing technique. This application supports presets that you can create manually or download from the web.

lightroom cc mobile interface

4. Adobe Express

Ideal for basic graphic design projects
  • Web-based
  • Many templates
  • Design assets
  • Animation options
  • Lacks advanced editing features
  • Free functionality is limited

Verdict: Adobe Express is a user-friendly, straightforward solution. It has a lot of automatic features and basic editing tools, so users can create beautiful designs even without extensive knowledge in this field.

The program offers pre-made templates for banners, social media projects, flyers, etc. You can choose a suitable option and customize it for your current needs. For example, you can add branding infographics, logos, fonts, colors, and other elements. If you want a more bespoke design, you can start working from scratch.

By utilizing the provided toolset, you can remove the background, animate texts, change text blocks, experiment with fonts, and more.

The resizing tool is amazing, as you can resize content for social networks and add Adobe Ps quality effects in virtually no time.

adobe creative cloud express free adobe software interface

5. Adobe Premiere Rush

For editing videos on the go
  • Easy learning curve
  • Full control over the video
  • Supports off-screen voice recording
  • Can be seamlessly integrated with Adobe Stock
  • Paid content
  • Possible lagging

Verdict: Unlike some other free Adobe apps, Adobe Premiere Rush has an easy learning curve, and is suitable even for novice users. The editor grants full control over your videos, offering motion graphics templates, audio editing features, and the ability to access your Creative Cloud library and Adobe Stock.

Speaking of tools, Premiere Rush allows you to capture footage, rearrange clips, adjust colors, record off-screen voiceovers, add text, crop videos, adjust color filters, and more. You can embed up to 4 videos and 3 audio tracks. You can also create or add animated, smooth, or any other type of creative transitions.

By the way, if you want to edit videos at a professional level, you should buy Adobe Premiere for a good price or even take advantage of one of the available Adobe discounts.

adobe premiere rush interface

6. Adobe Fresco

Realistic brush, pen, and pencil physics
  • Supports iPad, iPhone, and Windows tablets
  • Raster, vector, and live brushes
  • Straightforward animation functionality
  • Plenty of useful tutorials and dependable support
  • Doesn’t allow adding new brushes or opening Illustrator brushes
  • Isn’t available on Chrome OS

Verdict: Miquido develops web and mobile products for different platforms, designs effective strategies and AI solutions for various types of business. Its toolkit includes the best Artificial Intelligence software.

The specialists completed more than 150 projects for companies that specialize in e-commerce, healthcare, entertainment, etc. Besides, almost all the company’s projects come from referrals.

You receive access to a huge selection of raster and vector brushes as well as over 1000 other tools, which include a set from the collection of the famous illustrator Kyle T. Webster.

You can use watercolor and oil paints while mixing and combining different colors until you get the result you want. The AI technology implemented in the application creates a completely authentic feeling of working with a real canvas and brushes.

adobe fresco free adobe software interface

7. Adobe Illustrator for iPad

For drawing on tablets
  • Fast and efficient workflow
  • Expansive, user-friendly toolset
  • Bundled with the Creative Cloud plan
  • Convenient integration with other Adobe software
  • Incompatible with plugins
  • Several key tools still need to be developed

Verdict: Adobe Illustrator for iPad allows you to design logos, illustrations, and various graphical elements. You can use it with an Apple Pencil, which is both convenient and perfect if you like to work on your creations on the fly even when you don’t have an internet connection.

You can get highly precise results as if you were working with a pen and paper. You can also take advantage of the available effects, more than 18,000 fonts, over 20 color palettes, regular helpful livestreams, and detailed tutorials.

The provided integration options allow you to seamlessly work on a project using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Fresco, and other free Adobe products. Moreover, your Illustrator files are automatically synchronized with Adobe’s cloud storage, meaning you can open them from any device you want.

adobe illustrator for ipad free adobe product interface

8. Adobe Photoshop Camera

Expansive filter library
  • Intuitive controls
  • Impressive editing features
  • Filters aimed at Instagrammers
  • AI can achieve some great things
  • Several finicky filters
  • Poor low-light and night image results
  • Can only utilize the smartphone’s primary lens

Verdict: Adobe Photoshop Camera offers a new innovative method for snapping pictures. Usually, you would take a photo and then enhance it with a filter.

However, with this solution, you can preview how different filters will affect the image before you hit the shutter button. As such, this app allows you to get Photoshop for free, just a version with a smaller number of features and exclusive to mobile devices.

The offered functionality is possible thanks to the inclusion of Adobe Sensei AI, which is a rare addition to Adobe free apps. This artificial technology excels at analyzing the scene and instantly tweaking the camera’s settings. Remember that you need a working internet connection to take advantage of this feature.

Sensei and Photoshop Camera are also paired to provide another great feature called AI-recommended image editing. It allows you to swap backgrounds, add objects to your images, create mirrors and model clones, etc.

adobe photoshop camera free adobe product interface

9. Adobe Color

For determining complementary color schemes
  • Easy to master
  • Many additional tools
  • Fast workflow
  • For exploring various creative color themes
  • Requires a stable Internet connection
  • Sharing functionality is rather limited

Verdict: This is the best option among free Adobe products if you need to enhance the coloring of your projects. Finding the perfect color can be a daunting task, as you need to understand and differentiate colors, triads, and shades.

If you are not a professional retoucher/designer or want to significantly reduce the time spent on color correction, just use Adobe Color. You can manually drag the color wheel to create new colors, view other people's color schemes, create color combinations from the downloaded image, and more.

There are hundreds of schemes including every color, mood, tone, and depth. If you see a scheme that you like, you can hover over it and select "Information" to see its larger version and get additional data.

adobe color interface

10. Adobe Acrobat Reader

For working with PDFs
  • Intuitive tabbed interface
  • Straightforward PDF editing features
  • Streamlined sharing
  • Allows adding annotations and comments to PDF documents
  • Steep learning curve
  • Needs to be installed on your device

Verdict: Adobe Acrobat Reader is one of the most convenient and efficient tools to work with PDF files. This Adobe software offers an impressive set of features for working with digital documents, changing their formats, and even allowing multiple users to edit a document at the same time.

One of its standout features is the capability to annotate and comment on PDFs, fostering collaboration by allowing users to highlight text, add comments, and draw on documents. The fill-and-sign feature streamlines paperwork, making it a practical tool for those seeking a paperless workflow.

Adobe Acrobat Reader doesn't compromise on security, incorporating measures like password protection, encryption, and digital signatures to ensure the integrity of sensitive documents. The emphasis on accessibility features, including text-to-speech and screen reader compatibility, showcases Adobe's commitment to inclusivity.

adobe acrobat reader interface best software

11. Adobe Aero

For making AR scenes
  • Custom 3D characters
  • Allows resetting or adjusting the type of snap to image
  • Useful object duplication and deletion
  • Highly efficient surface snapping feature
  • Unintuitive functionality
  • Desktop version is still in beta
  • No Android version

Verdict: Adobe Aero is the best option out of all Adobe free products if you’re interested in creating AR scenes with the help of 2D and 3D assets, animations, character behaviors, etc. This application allows you to record real-world scenery and infuse it with your AR assets before testing the results, or you can employ one of the premade templates and beginner elements if you’re just learning how to use such technology.

All AR projects can be saved in .reality format, which you can open on iOS devices or embed into sites. Alternatively, you can export the file in .usdz format, which is perfect for sharing via iMessage or Mail.

Lastly, Aero scenes can be posted on Behance, Adobe's web portfolio platform, or the software's dedicated online gallery.

adobe aero free adobe product interface

12. Adobe Scan

For scanning documents in the highest quality
  • Minimalist and user-friendly interface
  • Automated document detection
  • Allows scanning all kinds of document types
  • Shareable files
  • Needs a high-quality camera to work properly
  • Might demand an Adobe account

Verdict: If you’re looking for Adobe free tools that would allow you to convert physical documents into digital files on your iOS or Android phone, then this option has you covered. It employs your smartphone’s camera to take a high-resolution photo of your document before utilizing cutting-edge technology to improve its quality and create a readable scanned file.

This application is suitable for scanning all popular document types like contracts, receipts, business cards, and so on. Moreover, all results can be exported and shared in different formats including PDF and JPG.

Lastly, Adobe Scan comes with dedicated features for enhancing the brightness, contrast, and other parameters of the scanned file to ensure it’s as readable as possible.

adobe scan free adobe product interface

13. Adobe Fill & Sign

Advanced e-signature feature
  • Intuitive UI
  • Broad range of file import options
  • Convenient form-filling
  • Cross-platform file synchronization
  • Small number of advanced editing features
  • Requires your Adobe account

Verdict: Adobe Fill and Sign is a smartphone application, created for filling and signing digital documents, that is accessible for all Android and iPhone users. It makes the process of signing documents feel more modern and convenient than ever before.

You can use this Adobe product to fill, sign, and share files and forms, as well as take photos of physical documents and then fill them on your smartphone or tablet. Afterward, you can add an e-signature and either send, print out, or fax the result.

Another benefit of this application is its intuitive and user-friendly UI. When you launch it on your phone, you’ll be greeted by a blank workspace used for opening or scanning the documents that you want to sign or fill.

adobe fill sign free adobe product interface

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