Liquify tool stops working after changing brush size on iPad

[Vanessa Photography]

Hi everyone,

since the latest Photoshop for iPad update, I’ve been having a persistent issue with the Liquify tool. It works perfectly fine when I open it and use the default brush size (100) — but as soon as I change the brush size, the tool completely stops responding.

It doesn’t crash the app, but it just stops applying any distortion — no matter how I move my Apple Pencil or finger. If I reset the brush size back to 100, it still doesn’t work anymore until I restart Photoshop.

Here’s what I’ve already tried:

– Restarted the iPad

– Reinstalled Photoshop

– Cleared cache / checked storage

– Tried different files and formats (8-bit, 16-bit, different resolutions)

– Checked Pencil pressure and smoothing settings

Nothing fixed the issue. It happens every time the brush size is changed.

My setup:

– iPad Pro (M4)

– iPadOS (18.7.1)

– Photoshop for iPad (6.6.2)

– Apple Pencil Pro

Would really appreciate if the Adobe team could confirm whether this is a known issue and if a fix is in progress.

It’s one of my most-used tools, and it currently makes Liquify unusable for detailed retouching.

Thanks a lot for your time —

Vanessa

[Vanessa Photography]

Just updated to iPadOS 26.0.1 – unfortunately no improvement. Liquify still stops responding right after changing the brush size.

[Vanessa Photography]

Also updated Photoshop to 7.0  –  still not working.

[Jim_Rick6879]

Hey @Vanessa Photography, thanks for the detailed breakdown — super helpful report.

What you’re describing sounds like a reproducible input bug introduced in the recent 7.0 update. I’ve seen similar behavior with Liquify and Smudge tools right after adjusting brush size — it seems the tool engine stops registering touch/pen input until the session is reloaded.

A few temporary workarounds you might try while Adobe patches it:

• After changing brush size, switch to another tool (like the Move tool), then jump back into Liquify — this sometimes reinitializes the brush engine without restarting the app.

• Try turning off “Brush Pressure” in Liquify settings before adjusting size, then re-enable it once you’re done. That’s helped a few users on M-series iPads.

• If you’re using Stage Manager or Split View, test Liquify in full-screen mode only — iPadOS sometimes limits GPU handoff in multitasking.

Given you’ve already reinstalled and updated, it’s definitely not on your end. I’d recommend filing it through “App Settings → Help → Report a Bug” as well — that routes logs directly to the iPad team.

Hopefully Adobe confirms it’s logged soon — it’s clearly affecting multiple users after the recent update.

[Vanessa Photography]

Update:

I noticed something interesting about the Liquify issue. When I change the brush size and zoom in very closely, I can actually see that the tool is still working — just extremely small.

It seems that after adjusting the brush size, Liquify automatically resets to a brush size of 1, no matter what size was selected.

When I switch to another tool and back to Liquify, the size value always shows 1.

So the tool doesn’t completely stop working — it just registers the wrong brush size after any adjustment, which makes it look like it’s not responding.

Thanks @Jim_Rick6879 for the suggestions — unfortunately they didn’t solve the issue, but I appreciate the help!

Hope this update helps the team identify what’s going on.