Adobe is bringing real Photoshop to the iPad, possibly in 2019

Although plenty of Photoshop alternatives already exist on the iPad, photo editors may finally be able to use the real thing next year. Adobe Creative Cloud chief product officer Scott Belsky confirmed to Bloomberg that the company is working on a cross-platform version of Photoshop that supports Apple’s tablet. While he did not discuss timing, sources say Adobe is shooting for a 2019 launch.

Bringing full Photoshop to the iPad won’t be easy. Adobe’s desktop Creative Cloud apps are based on an “aging” architecture, Bloomberg notes, and the upcoming cross-platform version may still not satisfy all use cases. On desktops, the plan is to continue offering the legacy version alongside the newer cross-platform one when it launches.

Still, Adobe is likely feeling some pressure from other layer-based photo editing apps such as Affinity Photo and Pixelmator, which do a better job of approximating Photoshop than Adobe’s basic Photoshop Express app. And as Apple continues pushing the iPad as a true computer for professionals, Photoshop’s absence becomes all the more conspicuous.