Adobe's Chief Product Officer defends Photoshop for iPad from early criticism

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iPad Photoshop
iPad Photoshop (Image credit: Adobe)

What you need to know

  • Adobe's Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky has taken to Twitter to defend the launch of Photoshop for iPad.
  • The highly touted app has fallen foul of poor early ratings and criticism.
  • Belsky acknowledged they couldn't please everyone, claims there's an amazing roadmap of features ahead.

Adobe's Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky has taken to Twitter to defend the launch of Photoshop for iPad in the wake of poor App Store ratings and criticism.

Photoshop for iPad was launched on November 4 to much fanfare and rejoicing. However, since its launch, the app has slumped to an App Store rating of just 2.1 out of 5. By far the most popular choice of rating is 1 star. Likewise, Twitter is awash with poor reviews, with criticism mostly concerning lack of features from the full desktop version.

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Although not everyone hated it...

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As noted by Bloomberg In response to early criticism, Scott Belsky has taken to Twitter, acknowledging that releasing a juggernaut like Photoshop on a new platform was bound to be a painful experience at first:

a real-time v1 lesson: you've gotta ship an MVP to start the journey, but it will be painful at first. by definition, it won't please everyone (and if it's a reimagination of a 30yr old popular/global product, will displease many)in the case of photoshop on ipad v1, it was the team's judgment to nail perfect PSD support, a few workflows and rethink features / UI, and NOT just port 30 yrs of stuff (and baggage) on day 1. and it's our burden to prove the value and exceed expectations.

Belsky clearly acknowledged the initially poor ratings, but promised that the Photoshop team had an "amazing roadmap of features." Belsky even engaged with comments on the thread, when one user asked what Adobe could have done differently, Belsky replied:

we didn't do a good enough job distinguishing between "real" (the actual real codebase, so any PSDs can be managed with any # of layers and ppl can use between ipad and desktop) and "full" (every feature that's on the desktop version on day 1). messaging of strategy always tough

You can read the full thread below! Have you downloaded Photoshop for iPad? Tell us how about your early experience with the app! Or if you haven't, tell us why not!

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Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple.
1 Comment
  • At least Adobe tried!
    (To successfully port one of their professional apps to iPadOS)
    Unfortunately, the same can't even be said for Apple! With that being said, I'm very OK what it is in version 1. Keywords being "Same Code Base". That might not mean much to a non-developer, but its basically the Adobe core engine (plus the PS essentials). It's all about adaptive UIs for APPS (Not OSes). Same code base, but different UI elements depending on what OS the app is installed on. Now, Apple needs to show professionals it actually respects iPadOS as a professional OS, and port Logic, Final Cut, and most importantly Xcode.
    Oh, and move the entire desktop/macOS line to AMD already!