Potential fresco bug or quirk: can’t turn off multiple layers with Erase as Brush selected

Report · Oct 25, 2020

I've either found a bug or a quirk I don't understand: if I'm using the vector brush in Erase as Brush mode by activating the little hotspot (forget its name), it turns on Select Multiple Layers. Steps to replicate:

choose Vector Brush
create multiple layers
tap the "hotspot" to change to Erase with brush
attempt to change layers- instead it will select multiple layers and there appears to be no way to stop it other than changing back to regular brush mode

this behavior does not occur with the vector brush in brush mode or with the eraser tool. This happens to be tedious with my personal workflow (creating many vector layers and then switching between them and erasing to neaten them)

thanks, I'm enjoying fresco! The Blob Brush is my #1 tool in Illustrator for desktop, so it was nice to have many of my favorite features enabled and expanded upon on the iPad!

Report · Oct 26, 2020

Hi Allison.

Glad you're liking Fresco so much. I completely understand why it might seem like a little bit of both (a quirk and/or a bug).

The Touch Shortcut is a quick way to select multiple layers, so when it is locked in an active state (while you're erasing with a brush) if you go to select a layer, it will enable you to select multiple layers. To just select one layer the Touch Shortcut needs to be in an inactive state.

Hope that helps clarify what's happening. (Let me know if something else is going on.)

Sue.

Report · Dec 06, 2025

I know this is old - but just throwing my solution in here since this was the only relevant post I could find on the issue, in case anyone else is looking for it. This happens to me regarless of the tool I'm using.

I found this only happens if the If Touch Shortcut has the center circle filled. The trick here is that after you either double-tap to turn off the shortcut, or single-tap to change it to fill the outer circle, you need to make sure to tap the small 'x' above your layers to turn off the multi-select.

I do wish that this was something you could toggle on or off, but I can't find a way to do that for that specific function. Please let me know if this is an option already and I maybe missed it ❤️

Report · Jan 03, 2026

Thank you! One day I was trying to select multiple layers and couldn't see how to do it, and the next I kept getting in a situation where it was selecting multiple layers, and I wasn't even wanting to! Funny/not funny. Your workflow makes sense, to just click the x to get out of that mode. Thanks.