Look, let’s be real. Most "pro" apps on the iPad feel like watered-down toys. You download them, get excited about the Apple Pencil, and then realize you're missing half the keyboard shortcuts and three-quarters of the actual power features you need to get work done. But Affinity Photo on iPad is different. It’s weirdly powerful.
Serif didn't just port a mobile version of their software; they basically shoved the entire desktop engine into a tablet. It's heavy. It’s dense. Honestly, it has a bit of a learning curve that can feel like running face-first into a brick wall if you're used to simple sliders. But once you get it? It changes how you think about mobile editing.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours in the trenches with this app, from the early V1 days to the current V2.2 and V2.3 iterations. If you're wondering if this can actually replace your MacBook for high-end retouching or complex compositing, the answer isn't a simple yes or no. It's a "yes, but you better be ready to change your workflow."
The V2 Overhaul and Why It Actually Matters
When Serif released Affinity Photo 2, people were skeptical. Why pay for a new version? Well, the UI refresh alone saved the app from becoming a cluttered mess. On a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, screen real estate is precious. The new "Quick Menu" is a godsend. You just long-press, and suddenly you have your most-used commands right under your thumb. It feels natural.
The layers panel also got a massive upgrade. It’s no longer a chore to manage a document with 50+ layers. You can now do non-destructive Live Masking. This is huge. You can mask by hue, luminosity, or even a band-pass filter without permanently baking those changes into your pixels. It’s the kind of high-level stuff you usually only see in Photoshop on a desktop with 32GB of RAM.
But it's not all sunshine. The file management can still be a bit of a pain. Dealing with the iPadOS Files app feels like trying to organize a library through a mail slot. You’ll find yourself saving "Live" documents within the app and then occasionally forgetting to export them to an external drive or iCloud. It’s a quirk you have to live with.
Hardware Reality Check: Does Your iPad Have Enough Guts?
You can't just run this on any old iPad and expect it to fly. Well, you can, but you’ll regret it.
If you’re using a base-model iPad from three years ago, you’re going to see the "spinning beach ball" equivalent more often than you'd like. Affinity Photo is incredibly memory-hungry. This is because it uses a non-destructive workflow. Every adjustment layer, every live filter, and every mask is being calculated in real-time.
For the best experience, you really want an M1 or M2 (or the newer M4) chip. Why? Unified memory. When you’re working on a 100-megapixel panorama—which Affinity handles surprisingly well—the app needs to swap data fast. On the M-series chips, the performance is basically indistinguishable from a mid-range desktop. It’s snappy. Brushes don't lag. The Liquify persona—which is arguably the best liquify tool on any mobile platform—feels buttery smooth.
If you have an older iPad with only 3GB or 4GB of RAM, you’ll notice the app "checkerboarding." That’s when the screen tiles haven't rendered yet because the processor is sweating. It’s usable for light social media edits, but don't try to do a 40-layer composite on it. You'll just get frustrated.
Stop Comparing It to Photoshop (Seriously)
Everyone asks the same thing: "Is it better than Photoshop on iPad?"
🔗 Read more: 75 inch tv 4k: What Most People Get Wrong About These Giant Screens
The short answer: Yes. By a mile.
Adobe’s iPad offering has improved, sure. But Affinity Photo on iPad is a full-featured photo editor, while Photoshop for iPad still feels like it's catching up to its own shadow. In Affinity, you get the full frequency separation setup. You get macro support (though you still can't record them on iPad yet, you can import and run them). You get the full Develop Persona for RAW files.
Speaking of RAW, Serif’s RAW engine is solid, but it's different. It doesn't use Adobe Camera Raw logic. If you're coming from Lightroom, the colors might look a bit "flatter" initially. That’s because Affinity gives you a truly linear starting point. You have to work the file.
The Hidden Gem: The Personas
Affinity uses "Personas" to divide tasks. It sounds gimmicky until you use it.
- Photo Persona: Your main workspace.
- Liquify Persona: A dedicated space for warping and reshaping.
- Develop Persona: For your initial RAW processing.
- Export Persona: This is where the app wins. You can set up slices and export multiple formats/sizes simultaneously.
It keeps the interface from getting too crowded. If you're retouching a face, you don't need the export settings taking up space. It’s a smart way to handle the limited screen size of a tablet.
👉 See also: How to Rebuild Our World: The Practical Science of Starting Over from Scratch
The Learning Curve Is a Real Hurdle
I’m not going to lie to you. You will get lost. You’ll look for a tool that’s hidden behind a long-press menu and think it’s missing. You’ll accidentally trigger a gesture that hides your UI.
The lack of a physical keyboard by default changes the muscle memory. Yes, you should use a Magic Keyboard or a Bluetooth one. It brings back the "Shift," "CMD," and "Option" modifiers that make selection tools actually functional. Without a keyboard, you’re stuck using the "Command Controller"—a little on-screen joystick that mimics those keys. It works, but it’s sort of like playing a piano with oven mitts. It’s just slower.
Real-World Use Cases: Where It Shines
Where does Affinity Photo on iPad actually earn its keep?
- On-location tethering and quick turnarounds. If you're a wedding photographer, you can dump a few RAW files onto your iPad via a USB-C card reader, run a pre-made macro to apply your "look," and have a professional-grade preview ready for the client in minutes.
- Focus Merging and Astrophotography. This is wild. You can actually do full focus stacking on an iPad. The alignment algorithm is shockingly good. I’ve seen it handle handheld macro shots that Photoshop desktop struggled to align.
- Complex Selections. The Refine Edge tool in Affinity is world-class. If you're cutting out hair or complex fur, the Apple Pencil gives you a level of precision that a mouse just can't match. It feels like you're actually painting the selection.
What's Still Missing?
It's not perfect. No software is.
We still don't have a dedicated "Bridge" style browser. Navigating through thousands of photos is a nightmare. You really need to cull your photos in an app like Darkroom or Narrative Select before you bring them into Affinity.
Also, the AI features. While Adobe is leaning hard into Firefly and Generative Fill, Serif is staying more "traditional." You won't find a "generate a dragon in the background" button here. Affinity focuses on computational photography tools—better denoising, better sharpening, and smarter inpainting—rather than generative AI. Depending on your stance on AI, that’s either a huge relief or a dealbreaker.
Actionable Steps for New Users
If you just bought the app or you're thinking about it, don't just dive in and try to make a masterpiece. You’ll get annoyed. Do this instead:
👉 See also: Reverse number search free: What Most People Get Wrong
- Master the Gestures First. Two-finger tap for undo. Three-finger tap for redo. Two-finger pinch to zoom. These need to be second nature.
- Import Your Desktop Brushes. If you have .abr files from Photoshop, they work here. Just import them via the Brushes studio. It makes the transition feel much more like home.
- Use the Command Controller. If you don't have a keyboard, turn this on in the settings. It allows you to constrain proportions when resizing—something that is infuriating to do without it.
- Check Your Color Space. By default, the iPad might try to work in ProDisplay P3. If you’re exporting for the web, make sure you're converting to sRGB, or your colors will look "off" when you post them to Instagram.
- Invest in an Apple Pencil. Honestly, don't even bother with this app if you're only using your fingers. It's like trying to perform surgery with a bratwurst. You need the pressure sensitivity and the fine point.
Affinity Photo on iPad is currently a one-time purchase. No subscriptions. That alone makes it worth the $18–$20 (depending on sales). It’s a professional tool that happens to live on a tablet. It requires patience, but the payoff is a mobile workstation that actually deserves the name.
Key Technical Specs for Reference
- File Support: PSD, TIFF, JPG, PNG, EPS, PDF, SVG.
- Color Support: 16-bit and 32-bit (HDR), CMYK, Greyscale, Lab.
- iPad Compatibility: iPad Air (2 or later), iPad Pro (all models), iPad (5th Gen or later), iPad mini (5 or later). M-series recommended for professional work.
- Version: V2.x requires iPadOS 15 or later.
The reality is that Affinity Photo has set the bar. It’s the benchmark for what "Pro" software on iPadOS should look like. It doesn't treat you like a casual user; it treats you like a creator who has a job to do. That’s a rare and beautiful thing in the App Store today.