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VahePogossian
Inspiring
December 16, 2019
Question

Lightroom App on Android Play Store vs Microsoft Store

  • December 16, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 2667 views

Hi!

I've had the Adobe Lightroom app for Mobile and Tablets on my Android phone for a couple of years now and always liked editing my hobbyist photos with it. The interesting thing is, that after the initial 7 day trial the app was still functioning. I was still able to edit and color-correct my photos and save them in their original resolution on my phone. (Syncing and other pro-features were naturally disabled after the trial period expired.)

I have just discovered that the same app is available on the Microsoft Store. I expected to have the equivalent of my Android app on my Windows device. I thought it would be the same experience, albeit on a much larger touchscreen than the phone. After downloading it, however, it seems it forces me to sign up for a subscription and won't even let me use the 7 day trial period without adding a payment method.

How is this possible that the Android version basically allows you to still use that app after the trial period without subscribing, while the Windows 10 app won't let you do the same?

Am I doing something wrong? Would be thankful for any input.

Thanks in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Theresa J
Community Expert
Theresa JCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 17, 2019

You still aren't completely understanding how it works. Lightroom uploads your images to a cloud. Your subsciption pays for the cloud storage. I don't expect you will be able to use the Windows version when the trial is over because you won't have access to the cloud.

Lightroom on a browser is another way of accessing the images in the cloud. You have to sign into your account to see them. It's not really free. It's just part of the subscription.

Free Lightroom on a mobile device works without the cloud services because it stores the images on your device. The computer version of the application will not do this. You can't blame Adobe for setting it up this way though. They are hoping that users like yourself will like the free app so much that eventually they will upgrade to the paid subscription. 

The power of the Lightroom ecosystem from Learning the Lightroom Ecosystem by Theresa Jackson

I have a course on LinkedIn Learning that explains how the whole Lightroom ecosystem works. You can get a trial subscription at LinkedIn and watch it for free.

 

 

Theresa J
Community Expert
Theresa JCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 17, 2019

You aren't doing anything wrong. The apps are intended to work this way. Lightroom is a photo editor and a cloud service for your photos. You need an Adobe Creative Cloud subsciption to use Lightroom and all of it's cloud services on your computer. You can use the same subscription with Lightroom on a mobile device. The services are provided through the subscription, not the application itself. The Apple store and the Google store offer the Lightroom mobile app for free, or you can pay for a premium version. The free version does not include any of the cloud services. The premium mobile version includes some cloud storage, but I don't know how much. The premium mobile version is purchased from Apple or Google, not Adobe.

In my opinion if you want to use Lightroom cloud services, you are much better off purchasing the adobe subscription, not the mobile premium version, because it includes the desktop version of Lightroom (and Photoshop depending on the plan). The mobile premium versions don't.

And yes this is confusing and not obvious to new users.

Purchase a Creative Cloud plan here. Look carefully at the Photography Plan to determine what is best for you.

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html

    V
    VahePogossianAuthor
    Inspiring
    December 17, 2019

    Hey Theresa!

    Thank you very much for your kind reply. I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who feels confused from this. It's just unfair that Apple and Android users can practically still have the software for free after the trial (minus the cloud storage and special features) while Windows users are pushed to a corner.

    I actually went ahead and activated a 7 day trial on the app I downloaded from the Microsoft Store on my Windows 10 PC. I hope when the trial runs out, I will still be able to use the app like on Android. There is another very interesting thing I just discovered. It turns out Lightroom also has a free online browser version I had no idea.

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