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Adobe Lightroom is a free photo editor for Android that gives you the photo library, crop tools and the full set of light and colour sliders without paying, while healing, masking, raw editing and cloud sync need a subscription.
Lightroom is free to install on Android, and the confusing part is working out where the free part stops.
The short version: you get the camera, the photo library and the whole set of light and colour sliders for nothing.
Healing, masking, raw editing and cloud sync sit behind a subscription.
What You Get Without Paying
You need a free Adobe account to sign in, and after that the app opens the photos already on your phone, edits them and exports at full resolution. Nothing is watermarked and nothing stops working after a trial period.
- Light. Exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks, plus the tone curve.
- Colour. White balance, vibrance, saturation and the colour mixer for individual hues.
- Crop and rotate. Straighten a horizon, change the aspect ratio, flip the image.
- Effects. Clarity, dehaze, vignette, grain and sharpening.
- Presets. The free preset sets, and any preset you build yourself on the device.
- The in-app camera, so you can shoot and edit in the same place.
- Albums and sharing. Group photos into albums and export to your gallery or another app.
For most phone photos that is the whole job. If all you do is brighten a picture, warm it up and crop it, you will never hit the paywall.
What Adobe Charges For
The paid half is bigger than most articles admit, and it holds several tools people assume are part of any photo editor.
| Premium tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Healing brush | Removes spots, power lines, objects and people from a photo |
| Selective adjustments | Masking - editing only the sky, the subject or an area you brush in |
| Geometry tools | Fixes leaning buildings and perspective with the Upright modes |
| Raw editing | Importing raw files from a camera and editing them on the phone |
| Batch editing | Applying the same changes to a whole set of photos at once |
| People view and search | Grouping photos by who is in them, and finding photos by content |
| Preset and profile sync | Carrying presets you made or bought across your devices |
| Web galleries | Publishing an album as a shareable online gallery |
| Cloud storage | Backing up originals and syncing edits between phone and desktop |
The current list is on Adobe's own Lightroom premium features page, which is worth a look before you commit to anything.
The Two Subscriptions People Mix Up
There are two different things you can buy, and they are not the same product.
- Lightroom Premium, bought inside the app through Google Play. It unlocks the premium tools and cloud storage for the mobile app.
- An Adobe photography plan, bought from Adobe. It covers Lightroom on a computer and Photoshop as well, with more storage.
Prices differ by country and change often, so read the figure inside the app or on Adobe's site rather than trusting a number in an article. If you cancel, the app keeps working on the free tier.
Watch the free trial. If you take the free trial offered inside the app, it rolls into a paid subscription unless you cancel it in the Play Store first. Cancelling in the Lightroom app alone is not enough.
Which File to Download
| File | Pick it if |
|---|---|
Lightroom_11.5.22.xapk
|
You want the current release on a 64-bit phone running Android 8.0 or newer |
Lightroom_11.3.1.xapk
|
The newest build misbehaves on your device and you want to step back |
Lightroom_10.0.2_arm64-v8a.apk
|
You have an older Samsung phone that the newer builds struggle on |
Lightroom_10.0.2_universal.apk
|
You are not sure which chip your older phone has |
XAPK is not an APK. The two newest files are XAPK bundles, which hold the app plus its extra parts. Tapping one does nothing, because Android will not install it directly - you need a split-APK installer app to open it. The two 10.0.2 files are ordinary APKs and install the normal way.
Whichever file you take, it is worth checking before you install it. Drop it into our APK and XAPK Analyzer to see the permissions and the Android version it needs, all in your browser.
If you have never sideloaded an app, our guide on how to install an APK safely walks through the permission prompts and what to turn back off afterwards.
Free Android Editors Worth Trying First
If the paywall is where you stop, three free apps cover most of what Lightroom charges for.
Snapseed is the closest thing to a free Lightroom. Its healing tool and selective brush are free, which is exactly the pair Adobe keeps behind the subscription.
Hypic leans on AI for background removal, retouching and one-tap filters, and suits quick social edits more than careful colour work.
Remini does one narrow job well: sharpening old, blurry or low-resolution photos, especially faces.
For posters, collages and social layouts rather than photo correction, Adobe Express is Adobe's own free option. For video, CapCut for Android is the usual answer.
There is also a browser route. Our guide on running Photopea in an Android browser covers layer-based editing with no app to install at all.
If You Would Rather Edit Raw on a PC
Raw editing is the premium feature people most often bump into, and on a computer you can have it for free.
darktable is the closest free match to desktop Lightroom, with the same non-destructive approach and a proper photo library. RawTherapee goes deeper on detail and demosaicing, at the cost of a steeper start.
RapidRAW is the lightweight option if those two feel heavy.
For layers and retouching rather than raw processing, GIMP and Paint.NET are the free standbys.
If Windows will not preview your camera files, install the Raw Image Extension for thumbnails, or turn the files into DNG with the free Adobe DNG Converter.
New to the format? Start with our guide to what a raw file actually is, and use PicView if you just want to look through a folder of them quickly.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
The tell is simple: if the edits you keep wanting are the ones with a padlock on them, Lightroom is not a free app for you.
- You remove objects and blemishes constantly. Snapseed's healing tool is free.
- You edit the sky or the subject separately. Masking is premium here, free in Snapseed.
- You shoot raw on a real camera. Do that work on a computer with darktable or RawTherapee.
- You want your edits on several devices. Sync is the paid half of the deal, with no free workaround.
Browse more options in our Android APK section and the wider Graphics Tools category.
Quick questions
Is Adobe Lightroom for Android free?
The app is free to download and use with a free Adobe account. Crop, light, colour, curves, effects and presets cost nothing, while healing, masking, geometry, raw editing and cloud sync need a subscription.
Can I edit raw photos in the free version?
No. Adobe lists raw editing among its premium features, so importing raw files from a camera and working on them needs the paid tier.
Does the free version add a watermark?
No. Exports from the free tier are full resolution and carry no watermark.
What is an XAPK file and how do I install it?
An XAPK is a bundle holding the main app plus extra parts. Android cannot install one by itself, so you need a split-APK installer app to open it. The older 10.0.2 files on this page are ordinary APKs if you would rather avoid the extra step.
Do I need an Adobe account?
Yes, but a free one is enough. You can sign in with an email address, or with a Google or Apple account.
What is the best free alternative?
Snapseed, because the healing tool and selective brush that Lightroom charges for are free in it.
Will it run on my phone?
You need a 64-bit phone running Android 8.0 or newer. Very old or 32-bit devices are no longer supported by the current builds.
Download Adobe Lightroom 11.5.22 and see how far the free tier takes you, or tell us how it went if you have already tried it.
