Last updated on November 18th, 2025 at 03:42 am
Well I have heard the AI hype. Any app is guaranteed to be a revolution in editing, yet most of them apply filters to things and call it magic. When Adobe released Firefly mobile with Photoshop functionality, I did not believe. Is it possible that your phone can beat desert editing? I had a week to trial it–this is what I discovered.
Table of Contents
What Adobe Firefly Mobile Actually Does
To begin with, the Adobe Firefly mobile platform is not any photo editor. It is Adobe powered up in your phone plus it basically integrates with your account in your Creative Cloud. It implies that you can begin something on your phone at lunch and complete it in Photoshop later without having to move in or out anything.
The core features? Text to Image allows you to write whatever you desire and will create it. Generative Fill erases and generates objects with the help of basic prompts. Expand Generative The Generative Expand is the ability to expand your pictures past their original boundaries.
In addition, it has Text to Video, Image to Video, which I tried half the time with mixed success.
The Reality checking: What Worked.
I will tell you, some of it really impressed me. There was a background of power lines in my photo. I flicked over them on my phone, and pressed remove power lines. Three seconds afterwards they were disappearing. Owing to no cloning device, no one hour editing time. Just done.
The Generative Expand option came in my rescue at the time when I had to modify an Instagram post and fit it into other formats. I had captured one in a vertical format, which I had to use in a horizontal format as a LinkedIn banner. The application not only stretched the sides but also had to fill the background by making sure that no one was aware it was not a natural shot.
Initial ideas about mobile on commutes turned out to be a success. I would create ideas, which are roughly painted, sync to Creative Cloud and refined in Photoshop desktop. Such workflow was smooth–something AI-based technologies fail to get 100 percent right.
Where Adobe firefly mobile fails.
The thing is herein the catch: video creation is crude. I attempted to make a basic B-roll video using a landscape picture. The result? Odd morphing Streaks, unnatural motion. Complaints about this are full through Adobe community forums. It is still under beta, and you are still wasting credits in unproductive output.
By the way about credits- here is where things become irritating. The fee of the video generation is 100 credits. The total credits provided to free users are 100/month. In effect, an experiment with videos and you carve it, in a month. Premium members are given much more, and it feels like Adobe is pushing you into upgrades, instead of allowing you to adequately test capabilities.
The limit of the resolution is 2048 x 2048 pixels. Useable on social media, not on anything you would print up and work on at larger scale. Adobe explains it by the need to avoid damaging server load, but when you already pay to use the service, such a reason does not have a solid ground.
Can It Replace Photoshop? Not Quite
My opinion at the end of week one is as follows: Adobe Firefly mobile is a great tool when one needs to make a fast edit and to come up with an idea, yet it is not yet ready to take the place of the desktop Photoshop. Amend it to a potent sidekick, and not replacement.
What it is rightfully good to do:
- Eliminating distractions on photos.
- Fast social media production.
- imagine ideas on your brain before you get to your desk.
- Scaling pictures to various format platforms.
What it’s not ready for:
- Professional video work (its quality is too uneven)
- Big projects (resolution limits are detrimental in this type of work)
- Anything that needs fine-tuning (desktop prevails)
It has the possibility of integrating mobile with Photoshop and that is the real strength. You are not toggling between unconnected applications, but rather you are using the same system that just turns out to be device compatible.
Should You Try It?
When you are already on the ecosystem of Adobe, do give it a test. The free plan will earn you 100 credits per month, just to test its applicability to your workflow. Do not go expecting miracles in video yet and control your expectations on levels of resolution.
It is actually helpful to the photographers who require a few minutes of touch-up between shots. It makes it fast to content creators who produce a stream of social graphics. Need serious control by designers? You still will open desktop Photoshop.
The technology is getting better, though Adobe has recently introduced Firefly Image Model 5 which is more quality and they are about to introduce such functions as Generative Upscale. However, the phone you have cannot completely supersede Photoshop at this moment. It can help to turn the distance between your phone and your computer much more productive, however.
In fact, that is the question: whether it replaces Photoshop, or it means you work differently. For me? It did. Not, just, in the manner that the marketing at Adobe was promising.
Also Read: AI Tools for Content Creation & Design
I’m a technology writer with a passion for AI and digital marketing. I create engaging and useful content that bridges the gap between complex technology concepts and digital technologies. My writing makes the process easy and curious. and encourage participation I continue to research innovation and technology. Let’s connect and talk technology! LinkedIn for more insights and collaboration opportunities: