Nothing beats the desktop set and the ecosystem of tools each designer has carefully chosen for their work. Despite how flexible and powerful desktop apps are, more and more often, we need to go mobile for various reasons. We might need to access files remotely, design on the go, plan projects, and quickly design a post for our social media accounts. What matters is, that mobile apps have become essential. This is why we made a deep dive into GooglePlay and Apple App Store, to select 25 extremely convenient mobile apps for graphic designers that will make your life easier.
The following list includes tools for creating vectors, photo manipulation, collages, social media posts, finding fonts, picking and saving color palettes, finding inspiration, remote access for your documents, PDF scanner, magazines, and, in short, everything. It’s like a survival kit for graphic designers on the go. So why not jump right in.
1. Adobe Photoshop Mix
Available for: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Let’s start with the classics by adding some serious Photoshop editing for mobile devices. Photoshop Mix is good for its wide range of capabilities such as cutting out and combining elements from different images and polish the result with blending options and enhancement options. It’s not a substitute for your chosen Adobe software tools you use for your desktop, but it’s a pretty decent mobile tool you can use on the go and get great results. Moreover, it’s extremely easy to use and it integrates with other Adobe tools.
Highlights:
Cut our and remove sections from images
Combing images
Colors adjustment and presets
Image enhancement
Non-destructive editing
Social Media direct sharing options
Adobe Creative Cloud Integration
2. Adobe Capture
Available for: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Adobe Capture is another great auxiliary tool from the series that can transform your images into building blocks. What this tool does is look through your camera to see patterns, vectors, and even fonts, turning them into design materials for you to later use in your preferred Adobe Creative Cloud programs. This way from a single photo, you create your own production-ready color themes, patterns, vector shapes, custom brushes, and even 3D materials.
Highlights:
Turns images into clean vectors with 1-32 colors
Identifies fonts
Creates color palettes
Captures gradients
Builds custom brushes from elements
Generates 3D textures
Captures light and color
Adobe Creative Cloud integration
3. Autodesk Sketchbook
Available for: Android and iOS
Price: Free
This is probably one of the cleanest and easiest to use drawing tools I’ve ever worked with both for desktop and iPad. It’s very intuitive and you can immediately start using it by yourself without the need for additional tutorials. There are a lot of convenient tools such as perspective guides, a curved ruler, symmetry tools, and other pleasant surprises. My only pain with the mobile version is the lack of an actual crop tool which is definitely something to be desired in a newer version.
Highlights:
Perspective Guides
Customize, Infinite, and Constrained Grid tools
Curve ruler, for drawing curves you can’t get with the Ellipse tool
Support for the new Apple Pencil
Support for Scan Sketch for the new iPad
4. Adobe Spark Post: Poster & Graphic Design Editor
Available for: Android and iOS
Price: Free
The app packs a library of modern and professionally-looking templates you can customize as you wish. You can tweak by adding filters, fonts, shapes, icons, typography styles, new color palettes and ultimately create flyers, collages, and other promo material for your social media accounts.
Highlights:
Animated Video Posts
Design Filters
Auto Resize
Auto Recolor
Magic Text
Text Effects
Magic Layout
Text Cutouts
5. Find My Font
Available for: Android and iOS
Price: Free
This app will help you identify any font in an image no matter free or commercial. It often happens to see a poster, a flyer, or a t-shirt and simply love the font and want to have it in our library. If you’re in such a situation, all you have to do is take a picture with your camera and let the tool do its magic.
Highlights:
You can take a photo or use an existing gallery image
Identifies any Latin letter using an online database of 150.000+ fonts
Includes 60.000 freemium and free fonts
It shows you both an exact match and a list of similar fonts to choose from
6. Color Reference
Available for: Android
Price: Free
Colors, palettes, and wallpapers for fellow color lovers to discover new color schemes and get inspiration for designs.
Highlights:
You can browse colors by RGB, HEX, and HSL
Create and save new colors
Find harmonic and complementary colors
Create your own color palettes of up to 5 colors
Pick colors from images
Create awesome wallpapers
7. Pantone Connect
Available for: Android and iOS
Price: Free
The essential app for graphic designers is plain and simple. This is the color inspiration for your design in one place making it easy for you to measure and match physical materials to Pantone Color. Also, you can share your inspirational color palettes to your social accounts, or navigate any updated Pantone Color System to find the perfect hue.
Highlights:
All Pantone Colors are always up to date
sRGB and Hex values for all colors
Measurement with the Pantone Color Match Card
Color extraction from images
Sharing to social media
Color library search
Pantone system X-Ref
Trending color palettes from Pantone
8. Behance: Photography Graphic Design, Illustration
Available for: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Behance needs no introduction. Most importantly, the place for the world’s most talented designers has an app for your mobile pla
of choice. Similar to the platform in your browser, the app offers account creation, sharing your work, browsing the work of other creators, creating emotional boards, watching live streaming, and more.
Best photos:
Browse the work by the creators you follow
Build emotional boards from inspiring projects
Share your projects
Watch live streaming
Get notifications
Send and receive private messages and job opportunities.
9. The Light room
Available: Android and iOS
Price: $ 2.99
A simple minimalist app to quickly color samples on your photos or create random colors.
Best photos:
Hex Codes
Color compatibility algorithms
1000 Random Colors
Matching colors in camera mode
Add swatches to favorites
Creating an image-based palette
Creating pallets randomly
10. Vectornator
Available: iOS
Price: Free
Vectonator for iPad and iPhone (PadOS13 and iOS13 and later) comes for free with no additional hidden costs. The product is currently in the process of being built and the development team is looking for a response to further development. The tool is an AIO product with vector tools, advanced features, and an intuitive interface.
Best photos:
Pen, Node, Brush, and detailed vector positioning tools
Align, Group, Mask, Alignment, Scale, Rotate, and Recurrence options
Corner radius, Boolean, integration, separation, descriptive methods
A typing tool with full control over line length, kerning, tracking, font import, ability to decipher text, and position it.
Auto Trace for converting bitmap images into vectors
Art boards
Iconator Library
Color Picker supported by Gradients, Palettes, Hex input, HSB, RGB, Color blending, and Wide color gamut
11. Earn a Pac
Available: iOS
Price: $ 4.99
Procreate is designed for the iPhone under the name Procreate Pocket. Of course, it is not the same thing you would expect from an iPad version. However, it is still very powerful in terms of features, especially on a small screen. It still offers hundreds of brushes, an advanced layer system, and a new Valkyre image engine.
Best photos:
Up to 16k by 4k cans
black mode
Quick shape feature
Smooth and responsive smudge sample
Responds to shortcuts from a connected keyboard
automatic saving
250 reversal levels
100 Brushes have default settings
A full layout system
12. Retrospects
Available: iOS
Price: Free
Retro computer pixel art art for all you 70s, 80s, and 90s aesthetics lovers. This app brings your photos and videos to view from a wide variety of home computers and consoles from then on. And when I say big, I mean more than forty versions, including one, the original 1984 Apple Macintosh.
Best photos:
Style for more than 40 programs including Commodore 64, IBM PC (DOS, CGA, EGA, and VGA), Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive, Nintendo Game Boy, and 1984 Apple Macintosh
Create your own custom modes based on four different image engines
13. Assembly: Graphic Design & Art
Available: iOS
Price: Free
Assembly is an excellent package design app on the go from finished vector art to logos and icons. You can combine designs by combining elements and textures, and then move on to complex groups of images from there. The interface is very simple and intuitive, too.
Best photos:
Bezier curves for setting points
Assemble, cut and cut shapes
Import SVG, PNG, and JPG. Download SVG, PNG, PDF, and JPG to 8192 x 8192
More selection and collection of teams
Copy, scroll and rotate situations and groups
Save groups and projects in the custom package
Fill, side, and shadow options
35 pre-made color palettes
14. Font Candy Image & Text Editor
Available: iOS
Price: Free
Another great tool for your social media accounts. Font candy is a simple app that you can use to add quotes, artwork, colors, filters, and a multi-layered image. Great for your inspiring posts, news, and even design iPhone cases, T-shirts, and magnets. It is very fun to use and make art about it.
Best photos:
More than 45 art fonts, hand-picked.
Text rotation, blind control, and shadow.
Lots of captions
Built-in artwork and Quotes
Exciting pictures
Scale & Final Options
15. CREATE: Graphic Design + Fonts
Available: iOS
Price: Free
Photo design and drawing app for iPhone and iPad. You can use images, fonts, shapes, lines. You can create logos, UI elements, vectors, collages for your social media, status boards, and everything else.
Best photos:
Layers, group layers
Edit text, typing, fonts
Edit side / fill
Change circumstances
The corners are round
Custom color gradients
Make Snapchat Geofilters
Set canvas size, grid space
Continue on the grid / object
Enter fonts
Supports Apple Pencil
16. DesignLab - Graphic Design
Available: iOS
Price: Free
There is another simple but effective package app for creating complex designs with a rich gallery of images, fonts, templates, and everything else you may need to be present on social media.
Outstanding / Usage:
Instagram news + highlights
Social media graphics
Writing design
`Event promotion
Birthday cards and invitations
Sales offers
Promotion of real estate
Pinterest Post
Business cards
Encouraging quotes
Memes
17. Trademark Maker - Logo Foundry
Available: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Recommended professional logo design projects with an entire library of built-in tools. If you are in a hurry and have to create your own logos on the go or you just came up with this amazing idea and you need to put it down. Instead of drawing, you can use this tool to quickly and easily bring life to your imagination. It is very easy to use not only by professional designers but also by people who have no prior knowledge of design software.
Best photos:
3000+ symbols, shapes, and images
Search for a job
Advanced text editing tools
Advanced text structures such as Round Text and Wavy Text
Background
Advanced text editing tools
Advanced text structures such as Round Text and Wavy Text
Layer management functions
Export to Transparent PNG or Flat JPG files
Save, Restore and Reuse logo templates
Mirror-Making Tools, Turn Horizontal / Vertical
Undo and do it again
Monograms support
18. Obscura 2
Available: iOS
Price: $ 4.99
This app enhances the camera capabilities you already have on your iPhone / iPad. It does this by adding pro features, a good control wheel for your waist circumference, good filters, and a variety of formats.
Best photos:
Formats: RAW, HEIC, JPEG
Live Photo, Depth
19 filters (Sepia, Black and White package, analog filter package)
Flash control
Grids
Shutter Timer
Air Level
19. Trello
Available: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Trello is a visual editor that uses boards, lists, and cards to use when planning your projects. Whether you have a good idea for a specific project that you need to write down, or you just want to plan your to-do list, it is easy to do so. You can also add checklists, labels, deadlines, locations, and switch to calendar views.
Best photos:
Drag and drop
Simple boards, lists, and card creation
Checklists, dates
Calendar view
Map View
Offline activity
20. Same Access
Available: Android and iOS
Price: Free
You can't fail to add a remote access application to the list. It is very important to access your files at all times, especially in emergencies, so this is a very useful thing to have. The tool allows you to access your Windows and Mac applications and files from your mobile device and edit complex documents.
Best photos:
The Premium version ($ 2.99) allows you to access up to 5 computers
Requires a free Parallels Access Agent for your Mac / PC installation
You can install Parallels access to Macs with M1 chip
Compatible with iPad 2 and later, including iPad mini, and iPhone 4S and later
21. Think FX
Available: iOS
Price: Free (in-app purchases)
This is the only magazine thought by digital artists at SciFi. These issues include in-depth workshops from major international artists of the genre, galleries, chats, social media, and reviews. If you are an artist who loves fairy tale with SciFi, this is something you want to check out. Just note that the digital system is not printable.
Best photos:
Free trial offer for new subscribers
Registration will include current and future releases at the time of your registration
22. 3D Earth
Available: iOS
Price: Free (in-app purchases)
An interactive online magazine with video tutorials, slide shows, free art work, animation, and VFX. Every version includes tutorials for active artists, and video training hours and tutorial files that you can download.
Best photos:
Installation of 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, After Effects, Cinema 4D, and Houdini
Back issues, specials, and upcoming issues are available for purchase within the app
Behind the scenes of new movies, commercials, and animated shorts
Tutorial on working artists
New content
23. Encourage Pro
Available: iOS
Price: $ 19.99
Another Procreate method, this tool is for real painting, drawing, and drawing. There is an amazing and complete fun to use brushes, all divided into 15 sets. These include oil paint, brushes, splatter, graphite pencils, spray paint, wax crayons, markers, charcoal, patterns, and texture. Slightly slippery in experience.
Best photos:
Witchcraft 64-bit drawing engine
150 brushes, including double texture
Apple Pencil Support
20 keyboard shortcuts
1000 retranslation / retrieval levels
Touch and slide hot spots
Canvas Playback Video Recording
Full Color Picker
24. Concepts
Available: iOS
Price: Free (in-app purchases)
In short, this is a white packet board. It is an endless canvas to write notes, doodles, draw news boards, and programs, create emotional boards and share with your friends and clients.
Best photos:
An endless canvas with paper and grid types
Real pencils, pencils, and pencils with pressure
Custom tool wheel
COPIC color wheel
Vector-based drawing
Drag + drop images + PDF files
Unlimited layers / adjustable light
Vector object libraries are synced across devices
Guidelines, scale, and measurement tools
25. Simple Scanner
Available: Android
Price: Free
And our last recommendation on the list is a handy little app for android devices that plays the role of a package scanner. Scan a PDF of your portable documents, photos, receipts, reports, and whatever you need to put in a digital file.
Best photos:
Automatically removes background clutter
Scan color, gray, or black and white
Automatically detects page edges
5 levels of brightness
Set the PDF page size
Save and restore sync files between multiple devices
Automatically upload JPG and PDF files to cloud disk
Final Words
Towards the end of this list, we hope you have collected a handful of mobile tools that will make your life as a photographer easier. From logo design software to editing and scanning tools, there is an app for everything.
In the meantime, if you want to expand your set of tools and integrate the rest of your workflow, you can also check out some great software recommendations in the site.
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