Get started with Lightroom for mobile (iOS)

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Visit the Adobe Lightroom for mobile getting started page to get the app.

I have Adobe Lightroom for mobile (iOS). How do I get started?

Get to know the workspace

Device view

Opening the Lightroom app instantly gives access to edit your device's photos in the Device view. To view the Albums on your device, tap the dropdown menu and select an album to populate the corresponding files to the Device view. You can tap on any photo to start editing, the edited photo will appear in the Lightroom view and a ( ) icon will appear on the top left corner of the photo in the Device view.

Filter and Sort photos in device view

You can sort ( ) the files by newest to oldest or vice versa. You can also filter the files in Device view by tapping the filter ( ) icon and selecting any one or multiple Filters.

• Videos
• Photos
• Raw
• Screenshots
• Panoramas

Lightroom View

Tap Lightroom to navigate to the Lightroom view, which lists all the files you've created in Lightroom for mobile (iOS) or synced from Lightroom desktop or Lightroom Classic. You can select the drop-down menu to view and select the Lightroom albums or Create new.

You can specify the order of how the files appear in the Lightroom view. Tap ( ) icon in the screen's upper-right corner, and select one of the following Sort by options from the pop-up menu.

• Capture Date
• Import Date
• Modified Date 
• File Name
• Star rating

Once the order is selected, you may also choose Reverse order for ascending or descending order of the sorted list.

To filter the files in Lightroom view, tap ( ) icon and select from the following Filter by options:

• Star rating
• By Flag
• Type
• Camera
• People
• Location
• Keyword
• Edited

All Photos view (all Lightroom photos)

All Photos view for subscribed users is a collection of all your edited and imported Lightroom photos across devices. To access the All Photos view, tap Lightroom on the bottom panel of the screen and tap All Photos from the drop-down menu.

People view

The People View in Lightroom for mobile (iOS) recognizes and groups photos of the same person in a cluster. You can easily browse through the photos of any particular person using the People View. To access People view, tap Lightroom > Drop-down menu > People.

Show & Hide People

Merge People

Sort options in People View

Name a people cluster

Rename a people cluster

To rename a people cluster, tap a people cluster in the People view and do any of the following:

• Directly edit the name at the top of the named cluster. Once you have edited the name, tap OK at the bottom of the Rename Person dialog box.
• Tap () icon at the upper-right corner of the screen and select Rename Person. You can then edit the name at the top of the cluster and tap OK at the bottom of the Rename Person dialog box.

Tap Cancel to exit the Rename Person dialog box.

Remove photos from a people cluster

Set cover photo in a people cluster

To set any photo in a people cluster as its cover photo, do the following:

Disable People View

To disable People view, follow these steps:

Shared Albums view

In the Lightroom view, from the drop-down menu, tap the Shared album to navigate to the My shared albums, which lists all the albums you've shared publicly.

Community view

The Community view provides photos by fellow photography members. You can browse through different categories of photos and tap them to view how the photo was edited, step-by-step. You can also save the edits as a preset. For more information, view Discover inspirational photos.

Grid view (viewing photos in an Album)

The Grid view is available when you are looking at the photos within an album. In the Albums view, tap an album to open the Grid view.

Segmentation options

In the Grid view, you can choose to view a flat grid or segment photos in the grid. Further, you can sort the photos by capture date, import date, modified date, and more.

Tap the three-dots icon () located at the upper right of the Grid view. From the context menu that appears, choose any of the following options:

Lightroom View:

Segmentation > None, By Year, By Month, By Day, By Hour, File type, Flag and  Star rating.

When you enable this option, Lightroom for mobile (iOS) segments the grid photos accordingly.

View Options

In the grid view, tap the () icon at the upper-right corner and tap Info overlays under View Options. Toggle the button to enable Info overlays and select from an option to show up as an info overlay in grid view.

• Contributors
• File Type
• Flags and Ratings
• Photo Info
• EXIF Info

Loupe view (preparing to edit a photo)

The Loupe view is available when you tap a photo in the Grid view. Only one photo is visible at a time. In this view, you get all the options and tools to apply edits to your photo.  

The Loupe view is the window where you will perform most of your actions on a photo. In addition to modifying the photo, you can share by mail or messages, copy, move, print, and more.

Contextual Help

Starting from Lightroom for mobile (iOS) version 5.0, you can access Contextual Help from the Help icon menu in the Loupe view. You can find guided tutorials to learn about tools and features, and explore new and more advanced photo editing techniques - right within the app.

To access Contextual Help, follow these steps:

Set app preferences

To access the settings menu, tap the () icon at the upper right corner of the screen and tap App settings () from the pop-up menu.

Learn essential photography workflows

Once you've signed in and acquainted yourself with the workspace in Lightroom for mobile (iOS), here's what all you can do with your photos:

• Capture photos - You can use Depth capture mode to shoot photos in HEIC format or use HDR mode to capture high-contrast scenes. You can use Lightroom's in-app camera to adjust settings like shutter speed, focus, flash, and others, in the Pro mode.
• Import photos - You can import photos in the Lightroom view from your device's library, files or directly from a DSLR camera. You can further set up albums and folders, and organize your photos in order by applying ratings or flags.
• Search and organize photos - You can create albums and further organize them into folders. You can also arrange photos in order using filter options. You can search for photos within an album or in the All Photos view using metadata, keywords, and facets.
• Edit photos - You can edit photos with custom presets, apply radial and graduated filters, make local adjustments, edit copyright info of photos and albums, and more. You can also retouch, remove haze, and enhance your photos.
• Save, share, and export photos - You can save your photos from Lightroom to your computer, mobile device, or hard drive. You can add watermarks before you export and share photos and albums with their metadata.