Skip to main content

Lightroom Mobile’s sync functionality offers powerful editing on the go

In this day and age, editing images are something usually left to a computer. Sure, people add filters to their mobile phone photos all the time, but we are talking about the more involved editing of images taken from a standalone camera.

Many of you likely already know, or have heard of, Lightroom Mobile, Adobe’s Creative Cloud-connected mobile app that allows for some surprising editing capabilities of your mobile phone images. But did you know that you can actually sync the images on your Lightroom Mobile devices with the collections that you have set up on your computer? In its latest video on the official Adobe Lightroom channel on YouTube, Benjamin Ward takes us through a 60-second coffee break to show you how to set it up.

It’s important to note that you do need to have an Adobe Creative Cloud account in order to take advantage of this functionality. But the process of getting it setup is simple enough. You simply log into your Adobe Creative Cloud account on both your computer and your mobile device, and then on the computer you select which collection(s) you want to sync. After that, you just wait for the files to sync from your computer to your mobile.

Depending on your connection speed this can be quick or it can take a while. In our experience when connected over Wi-Fi, home images transferred fairly quickly, but when relying on a 3G/4G connection the sync could take quite a bit longer depending on how many images are involved. The good news is that you don’t have to wait for all of the images to sync before getting started, you can actually work on them as they sync across.

Little-known tools like this are just examples of ways that Adobe is trying to help photographers save time and get more work done on the go. For more information about Adobe Lightroom or the Mobile Sync functionality, you can check out Adobe’s website.

Editors' Recommendations

Anthony Thurston
Anthony is an internationally published photographer based in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Specializing primarily in…
Tapped out? Edit faster with 5 gesture shortcuts in Lightroom CC on mobile
Adobe Lightroom CC phone

With Lightroom CC, photo editing fits right in the palm of your hands -- but a keyboard (with its many shortcuts) doesn’t. While Lightroom CC on a mobile device may be missing keyboard shortcuts, the editing app still has several shortcuts built in. The problem? The gesture-based controls are often hidden, requiring a happy accident or a tutorial to find them. 

Just like mastering the keyboard shortcuts on the desktop version of Lightroom lets you work faster, learning Lightroom's gesture shortcuts on an iPad or phone will make you more efficient. We sat down with Adobe to uncover some of the hidden shortcuts inside Lightroom CC on mobile.
Swipe to rate and review (iPad only)
On the iPad, enter the "rate and review” mode by tapping the star icon. From here, swipe up or down on the left side of the photo to increase or decrease the rating, or on the right side of the photo to add or a remove a flag. Swiping side-to-side still scrolls to the next or previous image in the catalog.
Use two fingers to access ALT/Option shortcuts (iPad and mobile)
On desktop versions of Lightroom, holding down the ALT or Option key while dragging a slider alters the display to show what you are adjusting. For example, when used on the highlights slider, holding ALT/Option will show a clipping map that displays where the highlights are blowing out, with similar options for blacks, shadows, whites, and exposure.

Read more
How to remove location data from your iPhone photos
How to transfer photos from an iPhone to an iPhone

We all love making memories, and a great way to collect those memories is to take a quick snap of a gorgeous landscape, a party in full swing, or a particularly incredible meal. The Apple iPhone now also adds a location to your pictures, meaning it can collate those images together into a location-themed album, or show you all the shots you've taken in a specific location. It's a fun little addition, and it's one that adds a lot of personality to the Photos app.

Read more
‘Photoshopped’ royal photo causes a stir
The Princess of Wales with her children.

[UPDATE: In a message posted on social media on Monday morning, Princess Kate said that she herself edited the image, and apologized for the fuss that the picture had caused. “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she wrote, adding, "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."]

Major press agencies have pulled a photo of the U.K.’s Princess of Wales and her children amid concerns that it has been digitally manipulated.

Read more