Adobe's Indigo camera app adds generative AI editing tools

Adobe's Indigo camera app, which debuted last year as a focus-rich mobile photography tool with computational enhancements and manual SLR-like controls, has been substantially reimagined with the release of version 1.1. The update introduces the "AI Playground," a suite of four generative AI editing modules that users can access directly within the app.

The Styles section applies AI-generated filter presets that transform photos into illustrations, adjust lighting, and apply other aesthetic effects. Object Editing removes unwanted people, objects, and background distractions, then uses generative AI to fill the resulting blank spaces — a capability similar to Google's Magic Eraser feature. Photo Guidance analyzes a user's photos and offers AI-driven suggestions for reshoots and edits. Custom Edit is a broader prompting tool that lets users describe desired image changes in natural language, giving them more granular control than preset options allow. Each tool includes multiple buttons or toggles that trigger pre-engineered generative AI prompts; if a user dislikes the result, they can press the button again to typically get something slightly different.

Adobe is powering these tools with Google's Nano Banana AI model "to start," but has indicated it may switch or introduce additional models over time. The company is testing free access to the AI Playground with a small percentage of Indigo users over the next few weeks, with no sign-on requirement. Users can opt out and continue using the app in its pre-AI form. Marc Levoy, an Adobe fellow, framed the rollout as an experiment: "Our goal is to learn how people use GenAI-powered editing. Depending on its success we may extend the experiment, or expand the user pool, or run follow-on experiments." If the feature gains traction, Adobe plans to eventually offer a paid version.

The addition of generative AI editing marks a substantial departure from Indigo's original positioning as a computational-photography and manual-control tool for mobile photographers seeking SLR-quality results. However, Levoy suggested at the app's launch that this evolution was always envisioned, describing Indigo as "the beginning of a journey towards an integrated mobile camera and editing experience that takes advantage of the latest advances in computational photography and AI." One notable gap is Adobe's typically rigorous approach to AI transparency. The company is still working toward adding C2PA Content Credentials — the metadata standard it already uses widely with Firefly — to Indigo's AI-edited images, though Nano Banana already applies Google's invisible SynthID watermark. Levoy emphasized that responsibility for ethical use ultimately rests with the user: "Whether the edits you apply are 'fair' or 'misleading' depend on what you do, who you share the images with, and how you present them."

Indigo launched last year as a computational-photography camera app aimed at mobile photographers who wanted manual controls — focus, shutter speed, ISO, white balance — and the algorithmic enhancements of a dedicated camera tool rather than a standard iPhone camera. The initial positioning was narrow: a camera app built by and for camera enthusiasts. With the 1.1 update, Adobe is broadening that scope dramatically by embedding generative AI editing directly into the workflow, moving Indigo from capture-focused to capture-and-edit-integrated. This shift aligns with Levoy's statement at the app's launch that Indigo represented "the beginning of a journey" toward leveraging both computational photography and AI.

The choice to use Google's Nano Banana model rather than Adobe's own Firefly is noteworthy and suggests Adobe is prioritizing the right tool for the task over brand consolidation. Nano Banana is positioned as a lightweight model suited to on-device or fast inference, which fits a mobile editing workflow. Adobe's approach to AI transparency here is notably lighter than its usual posture — the company is still working toward adding C2PA Content Credentials to AI-edited images, whereas Firefly already carries those standards widely. This gap may reflect the experimental nature of the Indigo rollout or the constraints of using a third-party model.

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