Adobe Brings Generative AI to Mobile with Firefly
Adobe is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for generative content and is not limiting creators to its own AI models.
Adobe, long known as the leader in media editing software, is adapting to a creative world increasingly shaped by generative AI. Tools like Photoshop and Premiere once defined professional content creation, but today, powerful AI models can generate images and videos from just a few words.
Adobe isn’t resisting that shift; it’s leaning into it, aiming to become the go-to platform for AI-powered creativity across mobile and PC devices.
Its latest move is the launch of the Firefly mobile app for iPhone and Android, putting generative tools like Text to Image, Text to Video, and Generative Fill in your pocket—no desktop required.
This builds on Adobe’s broader mobile strategy, which already includes apps like Photoshop Express, Lightroom Mobile, Illustrator, and, more recently, its Photoshop app. Firefly now adds natural language generation to the lineup, offering Creative Cloud users the flexibility to create wherever they are.
Emmanuel Oyedeji
This expansion comes at a time when more people are editing on mobile than ever. Adobe’s own data shows that over 55% of creators now use their smartphones as their main content creation tool. That number climbs even higher among younger users, especially those making content for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. By meeting users on mobile, Adobe is opening the door to a broader base, including non-experts who may never have used its desktop software.
But much more than that, Adobe is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for generative content and is not limiting creators to its own AI models. Instead, the Firefly app partnered with third-party options for image and video generation, providing models from OpenAI, Google (Imagen and Veo), Runway, Luma, Ideogram, and Pika within the same app. That model-agnostic approach is aimed at giving users more flexibility and creative range. Now, this functionality will be available on mobile apps too.
Louis Eriakha
Adobe also adds metadata to all generated content that shows which model was used—part of a push for transparency in AI media creation. The company has said it won’t use user-generated content to train its models.
Adobe already serves more than 34 million Creative Cloud subscribers. With Firefly on mobile, it’s hoping to grow that number by reaching creators who want powerful tools without the steep learning curve. The Firefly app is free to download, though full access requires a subscription, starting at $4.99/month. Some features depend on the plan level, and third-party model access may cost additional credits.
Rather than competing with every new AI model that emerges, Adobe is building a platform where all of them can plug in. Whether that’s enough to continue to keep it at the centre of creative tech as the landscape keeps shifting remains to be seen.
