Adobe finally added direct photo import to Lightroom for iPhone and iPad

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Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Lightroom now supports direct photo import.
  • Photos don't need to be imported via Files or Photos anymore.
  • The feature was first announced in June.

Adobe's December Photography Releases are here and as part of that Lightroom for iPhone and iPad finally supports direct photo import (via 9to5Mac).

That means that anyone wanting to import photos into Lightroom from a camera or external storage device no longer has to import them into Files or Photos first. Now, it's all handled via the app without images having to be duplicated first. Adobe says that RAW import is supported and the new mechanism should also make imports more speedy as well.

Ever since Lightroom for iOS was released, photographers have been asking us for a way to allow them to import their photos from their cameras and memory cards directly into Lightroom, making it possible to have a truly mobile photography experience. In July of 2016, we made it possible to import your raw photos directly into your Lightroom library on your mobile device without a laptop or desktop and now, thanks to new capabilities added into iOS and iPadOS 13.2, you can import and bypass the iOS camera roll. By connecting a lightning to SD or lightning to USB 3.0 adapter on iPhone or USB C card reader on iPad, you can now directly import your raw files into Lightroom, without making an extra copy in your camera roll. Imports happen faster and don't require the extra space taken up by having a duplicate copy placed in your Camera Roll.

Adobe says that the feature is rolling out to users now.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.