Adobe Express for iPad is finally here

Will we be getting a road map or time line for developments and improvements? That latest version of Adobe Express is a mess to say the least! 

I have used Adobe Express everyday for hours at a time for several years now, and 100% regret agreeing to migrate over to the new version. If I could press a button and go back to the previous version I would with no hesitation. As a small business it has completely devastated our Christmas marketing and content at a critical time. The file migration process has broken most of our templates! The amount of design elements that have been omitted or changed as the new version of Adobe Express does not support or contain these features is ridiculous. Our logo has been changed so much it looks like someone has tried to make a bad fake copy of it.

We have had:

- Fonts changed to something that doesn't match the old one.

- Custom colours replaced.

- Animations removed.

- Text reformatted, as rounded text or T shape text is not possible any more.

- Emojis removed, as they too are not supported.

- Layouts of pages changed, it appears the ability to have several pictures in a collage has gone.

- Transparent layers removed.

- Files resized to seemingly random sizes, we have a design that use to be be 3808x5712px, after migrating the file it's now 800x1200px.

- Images omitted from designs as there file formats are no longer supported, Tiff & Heif.

The list honestly goes on! We as a business have spend the last 4 days now trying to repair our templates and get them back to a useable state.

Furthermore more to all the missing features we have found during the file migration process. The new UI is cluttered, unintuitive and slow. The old UI was way simpler and easy to navigate on an iPad. The new UI features to many pop ups and windows to navigate throughout to change the most simple of things. Take something as simple as changing a font. Now I have to navigate through 3 separate pop up windows. Then I still can only see 1 font name at a time and have to scroll through 2 rotary lists. 1st to select the font category. The 2nd to select the font from that category. Where as before it was just shown as a simple clean long list I could scroll across. You are presented with too much information and choices. The old version allowed you to do just as much editing if not more on face value as this new version, it was just presented in a much cleaner and more concise manner. If I double tap on design element I am confronted with a large pop up more common place on a desktop application than a IPad application. With recommendations on keyboard shortcuts to use instead of tapping copy & paste. I'm using an IPad, I don't have a physical keyboard with the ability to use short cuts. I imagine most user of Adobe Express on a iPad probably don't either.

You can no longer make fine adjustments to the position of images or text by simply, selecting the object, going to the adjust table and selecting nudge. This whole feature appears to have been removed. Now you have to try and very carefully drag a design element with your finger or a stylus into it's exact position. Something that is not easy especially with the seemingly increased sensitivity that is present. The slightest of movement turns into a huge movement across the screen and sometimes off the work space.

The new remove background tool is not an improvement. Removing the background seem easy enough, but then fine tuning what it has removed in the latest version is not. I'm not getting anywhere near as clean and effective results as before. 1st trying to find where to do this adjustments is not clear. It's no longer called Edit Cutout, but Cutout and it's always shown as an option. Then nice you find it, the tool for doing this editing is far to harsh. Having it set to Quick Selection creates a very harsh cut out and I have found often leads to parts being cut out or kept that I didn't want. The Circle Brush option is closer to the old version. But again you are faced with too many options to change, I've not yet managed to find the perfect set up to give me the clean cut out lines I use to be able to achieve. No matter what I choose I get quite a heavy pixelated cut line.

Offline working is also no longer a possible. I often work on projects whilst on the move, such as when I'm on a train or flying. That is one of the reasons I decided to start using Adobe Express several years ago, because of it offline working ability. It is also something I see as a key feature, it's even a feature you still list as being possible on the Apple app store page for Adobe Express. The old version allowed me to keep working on a project even if I did not have access to the internet. Yes I might not have been able to access curtain features like Adobe Stock Images, but I could continue using localy saved images and other elements to work on projects. The latest version requires you to have a constant internet connection, something that just is not always possible when you traveling. It appears the latest version of Adobe Express is a cloud based application rather than a local application.

If I was to summarises this latest update into a few words, it would be that. This latest update feel like a lazy port of the web based version or desktop version than an actual IPad specific application. It needs serious improvements! Please release an update that will allow users to migrate back a version whilst you work on making the latest version as practical as the last version to use. That in my opinion would honestly keep many users from leaving to rivals such as Canva.