Introducing Darkroom's Community Preset Discovery — a powerful new tool that lets you easily explore the many new presets created by the talented photographers that edit in Darkroom. Whether you're an amateur or professional, you'll find a treasure trove of presets to elevate your photography and expand your creative expression. With seamless integration, everything you need is available in Darkroom, making it even more efficient and fun.

In the preset tool you can discover community presets by tapping the new compass icon, which will open up Community Presets Discovery on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. And it’s also available on the web if you go to darkroom.co/presets, making sure that finding new presets is accessible inside and outside of Darkroom.

Community Preset Discovery builds upon the previously released Preset Sharing feature, which allows everybody to create and share their custom presets using simple sharable web links. Now, we've put all those shared presets right at your fingertips.

To help discover, we created several dynamic preset collections to help you find a look that best fits your shots.

• Top Exported: Discover the popular presets that photographers worldwide are frequently applying and exporting.
• Fresh Arrivals: Be the first to access shared creative community presets. It's been exciting to see all of the amazing new presets being shared.
• Most Installed: Explore the presets that have been installed and tried the most. Many of us don't always share or export our photos, so it's interesting to see the differences compared to the Top Exported category.

We've also have two hand-curated collections of presets:

• Analog Film Favorites: Quickly access the best vintage look with these carefully crafted presets that replicate the look of analog film.
• Independent Favorites: Discover unique and distinctive styles that will make your shots stand out.

Create and share your custom presets

In Darkroom you can craft your unique look, by making adjustments in any tool, and with the help of creating a preset in the preset tool have your look ready to apply consistently in a snap. You can even share your presets with your friends and the world, by simply sharing your custom presets with anyone quickly and easily using a simple web link.

Select the preset you want to share, tap on it again (•••) to view its options and you’ll find the “Share” button. From the share sheet, you’ll be able to share a web link to anyone, whether they have Darkroom installed or not.

Anyone with your link can preview and install your presets with a tap. At the same time your shared preset will also become available for display in Community Presets. That’s pretty much it! There are no files to manage, host, download or import. It couldn’t be simpler or more flexible.

Manage your preset list

As your preset list will likely grow by installing some of the new community presets, and your own creations, being able to curate your list becomes a necessity in order manage it, and clean it up. The preset tool provides easy ways to favorite, hide, reorder, and rename your preset list. To learn more head here to read the “Manage Presets” release post.

If there’s something you’d like to see in the future please let us know by leaving it on our suggestion board, or by sending us an email or tweet at us. For a full detailed list of all changes please visit our updates page.

As always, we’re very thankful for your continued loyalty and support, and look forward to sharing everything else we have in store for you soon.

The Darkroom Team

This update makes managing, browsing, sorting, and searching for albums 📕 and folders 📁 in iCloud Photo Library across all your devices a breeze. No more endlessly scrolling through alphabetically sorted albums without any folder structure.

Albums and folders are a fundamental tool of any organizational and editing workflow. They can dramatically speed up your work whether you’re working on large projects, maintaining an ongoing photography series, or sharing stories of a trip, vacation or event.

Folders and Albums

Managing your neatly organized folders on all your devices enables you to group and categorize your albums in any way that makes sense to your workflow They make jumping around efficient, and give you a way to add structure to an otherwise unstructured stream of images. We make it easy to browse,create, and delete a nested folder hierarchy, including the ability to select multiple albums and quickly group them in a folder using a newly added context menu option.

Search for Albums and Folders

Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of albums you've amassed over time? That's where our brand-new search functionality comes in. You can now easily find specific albums within your folders, even if you have an extensive collection and deep hierarchy. No more endless scrolling or frustration – finding that special album is now as simple as typing a few characters. Finding and rediscovering your favorite memories has never been easier in Darkroom.

Sort & Order

Now you can also drag-and-drop your folders and albums in any manual order that suits you. Additionally you can also select multiple albums and folders, or contents of a folder, and have Darkroom do the sorting for you, either alphabetically or chronologically. You name it, we will sort it.

Multi-selection for convenience

Managing albums and folders can be a bit of a daunting task, especially when dealing with a large collection. That's why Multi-selection capabilities are also available for albums and folders in all the relevant places. With this powerful addition, you can effortlessly select multiple albums or folders at once, allowing you to perform bulk actions like re-ordering, sorting, moving, deleting, and even grouping several albums and folder into a new folder. We worked hard to say goodbye to tedious, one-by-one management and enjoy the convenience of bulk management on all your devices.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigating your photo collection is now just as easy with your iPad or Mac keyboard as it is with your finger or trackpad. You can use the Tab ⇥ key to switch views, use your arrow ↑ ↓ keys to navigate between your albums and folders, use the new Command ⌘ + F shortcut to start a search for you albums and folders. Once you've started a search, you can use the arrow keys to select the desired result. Enabling you to navigate, select, and search your entire photo collection without having to touch your screen or trackpad.

On Mac we also made sure to redesign the album list to match the new look and feel, with thinner icons and rows. And you can now also collapse Media Types and Shared Albums categories to keep your list shorter and tidy. We hope you enjoy the attention to details as much as we do.

Known issues

Unfortunately, due to constraints in iCloud Photo Library, the sort order of the albums in Darkroom will not match what you see in the Photos app, nor in other 3rd-party applications.

Furthermore, changes made outside of Darkroom won't be reflected in Darkroom until you restart the app. We hope these issues can get sorted in a future update of the operating systems.

If there’s something you’d like to see in the future please let us know by leaving it on our suggestion board, or by sending us an email or tweet at us. For a full detailed list of all changes please visit our updates page.

As always, we’re very thankful for your continued loyalty and support, and look forward to sharing everything else we have in store for you soon.

The Darkroom Team

We are excited to offer you an incredible 50% discount on your first-year subscription to Darkroom+. Instead of paying $32.99, you can get it for just $16.49 for the first year. Darkroom+ comes with a suite of premium features that will unlock a world of endless possibilities and elevate your creativity. Yes, you heard it right - all of this at half the price! This is by far our biggest offer ever, and we are not waiting for Black Friday to start. We are launching the sale a full week early because who likes to wait?

Friday November 17th until Monday November 27th

Our Black Friday Week sale will run for a limited 10 days only. Set a reminder, mark your calendar, and get ready to dive into a world of endless possibilities with Darkroom+. Trust us, you don't want to miss out on this and make sure to take advantage of this massive deal during our Black Friday Week before the turkey hits your table this Thanksgiving.

What do I have to do?

It's simple! Make sure to download the latest version of Darkroom (6.6.3) and follow the steps in the app to become a Darkroom+ member. No need to remember or apply any promo codes. We’ll also remind you about the Black Friday Week offer in the app. Alternatively, tap or click the button below to open the membership step in the app directly.

Spread the Word!

Don't keep this incredible deal to yourself! Share the news with your fellow mobile photographers, friends, and family. This is the perfect and very affordable opportunity to join our Darkroom+ membership.

Darkroom+

Darkroom+ is our membership that provides access to the growing bundle of already 9 premium features. Whether you want to add a distinct style, make precise adjustments, or manage your photo library efficiently, Darkroom+ has you covered with its collection of premium features.

With Color Grading, AI Powered Masks, Video Processing, Flag & Reject, Curves Tool, Selective Color, Premium Presets, Watermark, and Custom App Icon, you will have toolkit ready to transform your photos on the go without the hassle of complex legacy software.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to elevate your creativity and unlock endless possibilities with Darkroom+!

New to Darkroom?

Whether you're a seasoned shutterbug or just casually dipping your toes into the world of mobile photography, Darkroom offers a comprehensive suite of foundational tools beyond Darkroom+ that cater to all your photo management and editing needs.

1. Manage: Darkroom seamlessly integrates with Apple iCloud Photos, so all your memories are already there, waiting for you. So you can effortlessly import, browse, and organize your growing photo library. Plus, the intuitive interface means you can view, edit, and manage your photos, albums, and folders across iPhone, iPad and Mac with familiar ease.
2. Select: Dive into your photo library and the confidently curate. With Darkroom you can efficiently swipe and edit through your collection. Use the batch feature to speed up the process. Keep what captures your heart, and effortlessly discard what doesn't make the cut.
3. Adjust: Unleash your inner artist with Darkroom's professional, non-destructive adjustment tools and broad file format support. Embrace the power of state of the art tools like Clarity and Highlight & Shadow recovery, and the wealth of Community Presets to make your photos stand out. Even better, share your own unique presets with the world or apply your favorite edits to multiple photos with just a few taps. And for that extra flair, add colorful frames or conveniently export your shots for social media stories.
4. Export: Ready to show off your work? Darkroom makes it a breeze to share your beautifully crafted photos, videos, and even your custom presets with anyone, anywhere and any app. It's not just about editing; it's about sharing your vision and creativity with the world.

Darkroom is more than just a tool; it's a gateway to expressing your creativity and sharing your story with the world. Serious or amateur, every mobile photographer has a home here.

Frequently Asked Question

What does a Darkroom+ Yearly membership cost?

In the United States the Yearly membership costs $32.99 ($2.75 per month), and is currently being offered at a 50% discount for the first year. So instead of $32.99 it will be $16.49. After the first year the membership will automatically default back to the normal pricing.

Be aware that prices vary per country, listed below are the prices for the United States. We recommend going to our app store page to see the exact pricing for your specific country.

Can I use my Darkroom+ membership across my Apple devices?

Yes, as a Darkroom+ member, you can use it on multiple devices. There is no need to purchase or subscribe to Darkroom+ multiple times. However, please ensure that you log in on all devices using the same App Store account that you used to make the initial purchase.

Does this discount apply to Darkroom Legacy customers?

Yes, we learned from last year's mistakes and ensured that this discount is also available to our Legacy customers. Please make sure to update to the latest version of Darkroom (6.6.3) to access the Black Friday Week Offer. Considering the substantial discount offered in the first year, we didn't find it necessary to provide any additional special discounts. On average, Legacy customers paid approximately $8 for all their features. With this year's Black Friday Week discount, we are now offering a $16 discount on the first year.

Is the Darkroom+ Forever option discounted?

No. We are only offering this year's Black Friday Week discount for our annual membership. The one-time forever membership option already includes a substantial discount considering the length of time and loyalty our customers typically have towards our product.

Nine years ago, we launched Darkroom. We are grateful to the hundreds of thousands of photographers who have been using Darkroom to edit their photos on the go. Thank you to those who have been with us for almost a decade and to all those who have supported our business. It's inspiring to see the millions of installs, shared photos, and installed presets every month.

A couple of weeks back, we had this year's first team meeting during which we finalized our plan for the year. We are extremely excited about what we have in store for you! First, let's provide some context, and then we'll delve into our plans for the year.

A brief history

Darkroom, launched in 2015, gained attention in the iPhone photography community by seamlessly integrating with Apple iCloud Photo. It introduced mobile-friendly curves and color tools, enabling photographers to create personalized presets on the go. Darkroom's intuitive interface and workflow efficiency set it apart, making pro desktop tools accessible and intuitive for photographers worldwide.

As Darkroom's popularity grew, we continued to innovate and introduced unique features like frames, depth editing, and video processing. In 2018, Darkroom expanded to the iPad, and in 2020, it received the Apple Design Award in recognition of its outstanding design and innovation. This honor made for an incredible year.

In 2021, we were excited to announce the arrival of Darkroom on Mac, three years after its launch on iPad. Since then, our commitment has been to deliver powerful new tools, including AI-backed Masks, Color Grading, and Preset Sharing & Discovery. We have also enhanced foundational tools such as clarity, improved highlights and shadows.

As of two weeks ago, you can now also use Darkroom on Apple Vision Pro with our compatible iPad app. It's amazing to see Darkroom running at room-scale. We’re excited to continue optimizing and iterating on our Vision Pro experience to make sure you have the best experience possible on all the platforms we support.

Looking Ahead

We want to take this opportunity to provide more insight into what has been happening behind the scenes and, more importantly, our future plans.

Our journey has been defined by our ability to provide a fast, simple, and efficient photo editing workflow. That is our obsession. This has been, and continues to be true for us 9 years later. If anything, we are more committed and excited than ever to continue building Darkroom, while staying true to those same core principles.

Over the years, we have built Darkroom on multiple platforms, added innovative features, and continuously kept up with the growing expectations of photographers. This growth in complexity has at times conflicted with our limited resources, as a bootstrapped and independent business, though that has never prevented us from stepping up to the challenge. We’ve actually gone through this before, in 2019, when we spent the whole year working on a new rendering engine that enabled support for iPad, macOS, and efficient RAW image processing. The result of that work were two years of incredible growth and power.

2023, was defined by the same narrative.

A New Render Engine

Aimed at addressing most of the serious issues reported by our customers we started rebuilding our image processing engine well over a year ago. This is the third time we have done this, each time based on the invaluable feedback from everybody, each time built on the learnings from hitting our limits, and each time unlocking a new era of possibilities.

We have recently made significant progress internally, reaching two major milestones. Firstly, we have developed a fully functional standalone app to showcase the processing performance and stability. Currently, we are in the process of integrating this new engine back into the main Darkroom app.

This new engine addresses various issues and brings about quality enhancements. Its primary focus is to ensure seamless viewing and editing experiences, providing high image quality regardless of the image size, type, or device limitations. Additionally, it grants us greater control over the rendering process, enabling us to improve our editing algorithms and develop new tools more efficiently. In the past, releases took too long and were performance-compromised because of our infra. The goal is to release at a faster pace, with a more stable baseline.

Syncing

We're soon going to release Preset Sync, a major advancement to our preset tool. While it's not Edit Sync, which is the highly requested feature, making progress on one feature is making progress on the other. This release, along with last year’s Flag and Reject Sync established a syncing infrastructure for us. However, preset syncing took longer than anticipated since we had to rebuild the preset tool from the ground up to handle live updates when syncing presets in the background. This process provided valuable insights.

While preset syncing and backup are important, our goals go beyond that. We strive to offer comprehensive sync and backup support for all Darkroom data. This entails leveraging iCloud to improve photo management, editing, sharing, and the installation of presets across devices. We are proceeding with caution, thoroughly testing each phase to ensure the optimal implementation.

Brushed Masks

Last year we developed an internal version of Brushed Masks. It’s an important feature as it’s an important first step towards making retouching possible. However, Brushed Masks already strained our current render engine, affecting the app's performance and stability. To ensure a successful launch, we decided to postpone the final development of Brushed Masks until after releasing our new render engine. This delay will ensure a stable and high-performing launch.

Interface Improvements

We have made significant progress in this area, although you may not have noticed much of it as many of these changes were made behind the scenes.

• Last year, we completely rebuilt the Adjustments and Masks Tools to include Mask Previews.
• We also revamped our Album List, adding numerous new features and, most importantly, achieving consistency in the Album Lists across all your devices.
• Lastly, for Preset Sync, we completely overhauled the Preset Tool. However, as mentioned earlier, these changes may not be very noticeable to users as they were primarily made to support preset syncing.

By leveraging new technologies like Swift and SwiftUI to update our interface layer, we have established a solid foundation for a more intuitive and consistent user interface across all devices. These new tools are better tested and support the multi-platform reality of Darkroom.

And more…

We made investments last year that may not have shown external progress, but were necessary for future execution. We will keep adding value to Darkroom, especially for Darkroom+ members. Our goal is to ship more improvements, fixes, and smaller feature additions. We are also exploring new ideas for Darkroom features. While we can't promise anything now, we are committed to enhancing the app and providing a seamless editing experience. Thank you for your support and we'll keep you updated on any future developments.

Again, thank you!

Reflecting on Darkroom's journey, we appreciate the future. The next chapter brings plans and innovations for better editing and supporting creativity.

We sincerely thank our customers for their support and patience. Despite our mistakes and challenges, you have stayed with us, and we are grateful. Working on Darkroom is a privilege, and we are grateful to collaborate and create a tool that combines our passion for photography and an amazing app.

We are committed to delivering new features and staying in touch with you. We value your thoughts and feedback on our plans. Together, let's make 2024 a year of growth and creativity in Darkroom.

We also thank everyone who helped build Darkroom. Whether you were on the team or provided support as a family member, we appreciate the hard work and support. We wouldn't have come this far without you.

Thank you.

Friends, It’s been a while since we last talked. Darkroom 2.4 was released in mid-October of last year. A full explanation for the delay will come later, I’ll keep this post as concise as the update itself. Suffice it to say we’re busy working on the next big update, and early indications are that it’s going to be a very big and awesome update. Can’t wait to share more details with you!

Changes in 2.5:

• Fixes a bug where photos on 4" devices (iPhone 5, 5S, and 5SE) had the wrong aspect ratio
• Fixes a bug where the app won’t load on iOS 10 Beta 5
• Fixes a bug where photos won’t load on iPads
• Removes the filter sharing option (This was a seldom-used feature that was very expensive when starting up the app)
• Fixes bugs with loading of URLs in Settings

The Darkroom Team

We're excited to introduce automatic preset syncing and backup in Darkroom. Now all your custom and community presets will automatically synchronize across your devices, along with the favorites, arrangement, and even the sets you've chosen to hide. It's a significant step forward in enhancing your photo editing workflow, offering consistency and convenience on your iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Previously, Darkroom's preset management across multiple devices was a manual process that disrupted your creative workflow. Now all your presets are always accessible, eliminating the need for manual backing up, restoring, or manually sharing between devices. And because it's backed by iCloud, syncing works out of the box without a user account. It's as easy as that!

Presets in Darkroom

Presets are at the core of photo editing in Darkroom, helping you get consistent results quickly. With Darkroom presets, you can create your signature style, save it as a preset, and easily apply the whole look with one tap. You can also share your presets publicly, or install a preset shared by the Darkroom community. Select multiple photos and paste edits to swiftly edit an entire photo shoot. Over the years, we've been investing a lot into making Presets in Darkroom customizable, giving you tools to cureate what you see and where, and we're excited to finally take it cross-platform.

Built on Apple iCloud

Sync in Darkroom is built on the well-known and trusted Apple iCloud, ensuring the security and privacy of your data, similar to iCloud Photos. It uses fairly minimal space within your existing iCloud plan, which means doesn't come at any additional cost, and is not even part of Darkroom+.

Our Broader Sync Vision

While preset syncing and backup is a big leap, our goals extend further. As discussed last year, we're working towards comprehensive sync and backup support for all Darkroom data, utilizing iCloud to enhance your experience in managing and editing photos, as well as in sharing and installing presets, no matter your device or location.

Last year has been about laying the groundwork. We began with quietly releasing flag and reject sync, gathering insights to refine our approach. Now, with preset sync, we're taking another major step. Next will be syncing all edits made to your photos and videos, aiming to synchronize the core of your Darkroom experience. We're proceeding carefully, testing each phase to ensure the best possible implementation.

As part of this update, we've completely rebuilt the preset tool from its very core, setting a solid foundation for the future. This marks our third release of this type, following the introduction of mask previews in which we rebuilt the adjustment tool and the revamped album list. These updates are part of a series dedicated to enhancing and modernizing the core user experiences in Darkroom. As such we where also able to make some additional smaller improvements that you can read about on our updates page.

Preset Search

Enjoy exploring the wide variety of Darkroom Community Presets in a more efficient way! Looking for presets that emulate Polaroid, Fuji Film (FF), Kodak, or Ilford? Or perhaps specific films like Estia, Velvia, or Classic Chrome? Maybe your friend has created an awesome preset like Glass Pop, Asteroid City, or harder to remember name like HP5, A1 or C2? Now, all of these are just a quick few taps to search away.

This is just one of the many smaller improvements we have made, and will continue to make, to Darkroom's Preset Discovery over the past few months. These improvements include indicators for installed presets, a larger discovery window on Mac, and the ability to preview presets before and after on mobile. For a full detailed list of all changes please visit our updates page.

Darkroom+ Bonus

We're excited to introduce six new app icon variants, exclusively for our Darkroom+ subscribers! Explorer leads the way with its outdoor-inspired design, perfect for the adventurous. Our first seasonal offering, Fall, captures the essence of the season. Sunset symbolizes the magical moments photographers cherish, reflecting the stunning hues of the day's end. Safelight pays homage to the quintessential darkroom lamps, a nostalgic nod to our version 3 icon. It's surprising we didn't think of it sooner! Point Cloud draws inspiration from the AI-generated depth point clouds used in our smart masks, blending technology with art. Lastly, Doodle offers a fun and imaginative twist, adding a dash of playfulness to your Darkroom app.

We hope these new icons, bringing our total to an impressive 39, add even more joy and personalization to your Darkroom experience. Enjoy the variety and let your app shine!

Do you want to use any of these six new app icons on Mac? You can! Follow the instructions in our Mac app icon guide.

We're excited about these improvements and believe they'll make a noticeable difference in your photo editing journey. Keep an eye out for further updates as we continue enhancing Darkroom to offer a more connected and intuitive editing experience.

If there’s something you’d like to see in the future please let us know by leaving it on our suggestion board, or by sending us an email or tweet at us.

As always, we’re very thankful for your continued loyalty and support, and look forward to sharing everything else we have in store for you soon.

The Darkroom Team

In this guide, we'll dive into the key considerations for crafting your own presets. We'll walk you through a step-by-step process for developing your unique style, experimenting and refining your preset, and then sharing it with the Darkroom community.

A preset is essentially a collection of editing commands that allow you to quickly attain a specific look or style in your photographs, applied in one go instead having to apply each edit individually. They're an incredibly handy tool, offering a solid starting point and streamlining the photo editing workflow, while ensuring your photos maintain a consistent visual look.

How to create a preset

If you are simply wondering what steps to take to practically create a presets:

1. Make sure you have opened a photo and have made edits.
2. Go to the preset tool and tap the “Create a New Preset” button.
3. Finally, giving it a name in the dialog that appears.
4. Your newly created preset will now show in the “My Presets” section.

That’s it, you are done creating a preset.

Now, we made the below quick and easy to follow tutorial video to help you get started with creating a preset. It’s a great way to get a feel for the process and see how it’s done. However, if you are looking for a more in-depth guide, keep reading as there are more considerations when creating your preset. The key of these considerations is to strike a balance between personal style and universal versatility when developing a preset.

Develop your own custom preset

Creating a preset solely by experimenting with sliders while looking at a photo can be challenging. It is creatively more effective to begin with a clear goal in mind, so that you can determine when you have achieved your desired result.

When determining your style, it is important to try and analyze your preferred aesthetic and mood. Consider the overall look and feel that you want to convey in your photos. Are you attracted to vibrant and vivid colors, or do you prefer a more subtle and muted palette, or perhaps even black and white? What emotion do you want to impart on your photos, bright and fun, or dark and moody? Do you lean towards a clean and minimalist style, or do you prefer a bold and dramatic approach? Perhaps you want to replicate a specific look that you have seen before? At this stage, there is no right or wrong answer; it is subjective, so focus on what you personally like.

It is very helpful to gather example photos that you admire to create a mood board. This can serve as a reference point as you develop your preset. Platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are great sources of inspiration to start with.

Inspect, play and learn

Collecting photos of looks you like, and trying to recreate the look is a well established and great way to learn and create presets. Playing around with the different tools to recreate or match a look is a great way to learn how to create a preset. What you might not have realized, is that when you apply any of the bundled or community presets in Darkroom, you can inspect all the tools to see and learn exactly what tools and specific edits where used to achieve that look! Dissecting or recreating presets offer a fantastic learning opportunity. By understanding the adjustments and choices made in a look, you can gain deeper insights into advanced color grading techniques.

Create an opinionated first preset

Start by making bold and significant changes. Don't be afraid to push the limits of each tool. Sometimes the most unique and personal presets come from unexpected tweaks and adjustments. Often, we tend to make subtle changes that are not distinctive enough. Once you have an opinionated starting point, it becomes easier to gradually tone it down where necessary.

While it is possible to create a single preset that works on any photo, it can limit your ability to enhance the colors in the photo. That's why we recommend starting with a specific look that you like, and then consider creating variants of that preset that work well for bright/dark or flat/contrasty photos. Having a naming system, which we will discuss later in this guide, allows you to easily identify which preset works best for different photos.

Tools to use in Darkroom

When creating your own presets in Darkroom, it is recommended to primarily use the curves, color grading, selective color, and masks tools for making adjustments. These tools offer a wide range of flexibility and control over the editing process. Use the Selective Color tool to make the blues in a summer sky more vibrant, or employ Masks to subtly darken the background in a busy street scene. By excluding basic adjustments like brightness, contrast, blacks, and whites from your preset, you enable yourself and others to freely apply the preset and separately make photo specific lighting adjustments.

If you don’t do this, your presets adjustments either won’t be applied, as the adjustments already made to the photo are prioritized and will be kept. Or, if you first apply the preset and then make adjustments the additional changes will have less available range.

1. Curves We recommend by starting with this tool first, as it allow you to adjust the basic lighting, by brightening or darkling the whole image. As well as adjust contrast by manipulating the light and dark areas of an image separately. You can create deeper blacks, brighter whites, and everything in-between, giving you more control over the overall tone and mood of the photo. And with curves support for individual colors curves can also be used to tweak colors and color casts. By adjusting the curves for individual color channels (like red, green, and blue), you can correct color imbalances and enhance tones in a way that's often more precise than using the selective color tool.
2. Color Grading wheels make it easy to visually adjust the balance of colors overall, or in your shadows, mid-tones, and highlights specifically. By simply dragging a point around the wheel, you can add or reduce specific colors in these tonal ranges. This is super handy for creating a balanced or stylized look, with the ability to make the whole photo, or just the shadows, look warmer or cooler.
3. Selective Color enable quick control over individual color regions, giving you the ability to adjust their brightness, saturation and shift their hue. Want to make those blues pop in the sky, or shift them to teal, or make the grass seem more green and saturated. Be careful when using the red and orange tones as they tend to significantly impact skin colors.
4. Masks are a pretty advanced and powerful way for you to layer different color adjustments on top of each other. This means you can have one set of color adjustments for the background and a different set for the subject, all within the same preset. It's like having multiple presets in one. By adjusting colors in specific areas, you can guide the viewer's eye and create a sense of depth. For instance, you might want to desaturate the background while keeping the subject in full color, drawing attention to them.

Add subtle effects for visual interest

Vignettes, grain, masks, and even clarity can add subtle yet impactful effects to your photos, enhancing visual interest and directing the viewer's attention. Experiment with vignettes and masks to darken the edges of the frame slightly, drawing the eye towards the central subject. Or consider applying grain to compliment your overall editing style to gain a more vintage look. These elements can add a unique touch to your photos and contribute to the cohesive look you're aiming for.

Remember, the process of identifying your editing style and making creative choices is subjective and personal. It's about expressing your unique vision and creating a visual language that reflects your aesthetic preferences and mood. Enjoy the exploration and experimentation as you develop your editing style in Darkroom.

Testing and iterating on your preset

Continuously experimenting, evaluating, and refining your preset is the only way to truly make it your own, versatile, and over time, gain enough confidence to share it with others.

Update your preset

Once you have your first pass on a set of edits that you like, and you have created a preset of those edits, you will likely want to update your preset whenever you make follow up edits. We have tried to make this as easy as possible. So when you have created and applied a preset, and make any subsequent changes we will indicate that your preset can be updated by showing dot • in front of the name. To actually update it, tap the ••• preset action icon, and use the available Update button to update your preset.

Preview and Compare

To create a high-quality and somewhat broadly effective preset in Darkroom, it is crucial to preview and compare your edits throughout the preset development process on a wide range of photos. By doing so, you can iteratively refine the preset and evaluate its impact on your photos.

Tip: You can tap-and-hold on your photo to quickly see the original unedited image. Enabling you to quickly visually compare what your edits are doing compared to the original photo.

By continuously previewing and comparing your preset, you can ensure that it delivers the desired visual style and maintains a cohesive look across a range of photos. This iterative process allows you to fine-tune the preset settings, ensuring that it achieves the intended effect while preserving the original qualities of the photos.

Tip: To help in this process it can be useful to create a specific album with photos to test on. And to now end then export a few photos with the preset applied into a separate album. This way you can look through both originals, and previous version to compare changes made over time.

Ensure compatibility with different subjects and skin tones

When applying your preset to different photos, it's important to ensure compatibility with various subjects and specifically skin tones. Each photo may have unique characteristics that require adjustments to achieve optimal results. Pay attention to how your preset affects different types of photos, such as landscapes (sky, water, vegetation), portraits (skin tones), or still life shots. Skin tones are specifically very important, so make adjustments if necessary to maintain a natural and pleasing appearance. Be careful not to brighten or darken skin tones (near orange) specifically as that can easily cause unintended results.

Naming, sharing and gathering feedback

It can take a bit of time to develop a preset. It’s actually very good practice to just leave it be for a while to then come back to it with a fresh set of eyes. Either way, have fun with the process, don’t feel the need to rush it.

Name your preset

By now we are pretty sure you have already given your preset a name as you have been developing it. You might have noticed that giving it a short name has helped as there aren’t a lot of characters available.

For the presets bundled with Darkroom we developed a naming convention. Perhaps you will find it useful. This can be especially useful if you want to develop a set of presets. But if you want to develop presets that stand on their own you can also just give them fun short names.

So, what are these Darkroom preset names; C100, I250, etc? The letter (C) represents the set name (Cinematic). The first number represents the main variant (C100), the second number a subtler or stronger sub-variant (C110).

Share to gather constructive feedback

To Share your preset, tap the ••• preset action menu, and use the Share option you will find in the Preset actions options. When you do that we will upload your preset and create a unique URL, which you can then share with anybody.

To further refine and improve your preset, it can be valuable to seek feedback from others. Sharing your preset with the Darkroom community or trusted peers can provide valuable insights and constructive criticism. By gathering feedback, you can identify areas for improvement, address potential issues, and enhance the overall quality and usability of your preset. Embrace the opportunity to collaborate and learn from others to create a preset that resonates with a wider audience and contributes to the Darkroom community.

Tip: Once a preset is shared, you have the flexibility to un-share it, make updates, and share it again, ensuring that all users have access to your latest changes.

In conclusion, creating your own presets in Darkroom allows you to establish a unique and consistent editing style for your photos. By inspecting and learning from existing presets, using the recommended edit tools, and identifying your preferred aesthetic and mood, you can craft presets that reflect your personal vision. So go ahead, unleash your creativity, and develop presets that bring your photos to life in a distinctive and captivating way.

Are you a photo editing enthusiast? If you're already using Darkroom or interested in trying it out, you may be wondering how it compares to its main competitor, Lightroom. Both apps are great for editing photos, but they have some key differences that are worth considering. Let’s jump right in.

For one, most people now use their iPhone as their primary camera. Darkroom is built directly on top of Apple's iCloud Photo Library, so all of your photos are ready for you to start editing in Darkroom immediately after capture. We even integrate with popular camera apps to make the workflow from capture to edit as quick and smooth as possible. So, you won't have to import or upload anything, and you won’t have to manage separate libraries. In contrast, Lightroom requires you to import every photo you want to edit into their separate library.

Additionally, Darkroom is exclusive to Apple devices, while Lightroom is available on all platforms. So if you're an Android user, you're out of luck with Darkroom. On the other hand, if you're an Apple customer, which many mobile photographers happen to be, Darkroom has an award winning interface that is focused on reducing taps and increasing workflow efficiency, making it ideal for those who want to be able to edit photos efficiently on the go. With its hefty array of editing features, Lightroom on the other hand caters more to professionals with a matching price.

Ultimately, the choice between these two apps depends on your personal preferences and needs. The good news is that both apps offer free trials, so you can test them out before committing to a purchase. So whether you're a professional photographer or just someone who loves taking pictures, Darkroom and Lightroom offer their own unique features and benefits. The choice is yours!

Let’s briefly introduce both applications.

Darkroom

We're a small, independent business that's been around since 2015. From the beginning, we've prioritized creating an exceptional photo editing experience on Apple's platforms that's optimized for people on-the-go. We were thrilled when Apple recognized our efforts by awarding us the prestigious Apple Design Award. Now, you can use Darkroom on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro and take advantage of the seamless integration with Apple's iCloud Photo Library and many other unique Apple platform functionalities.

Lightroom

Lightroom has been around since 2006 and has set the bar for what a photo editor can be, along with apps like Capture One (and remember Aperture?). It is already a fairly complex, feature-rich, desktop-first photo editor that's compatible with almost every software platform you can think of. To be clear, when we talk about Lightroom, we mean the one that is also available on your iPhone and iPad, and are not referring to the Classic version, which is the original desktop-centric counterpart with even more traditional interface, heftier editing features, and local storage solutions. It's owned by Adobe, one of the world's largest publicly traded companies, which also owns Photoshop and many other creative apps. So, if you're looking for a powerful photo editor with an extensive range of advanced features, they are definitely worth considering.

How do they compare?

Let's delve deeper into the comparison between Darkroom and Lightroom. We'll take a closer look at differentiating of features in both apps, and pricing to help you decide which app might be the best fit for your photo editing needs. Let’s get started.

A Single Photo Library

We mentioned it right at the start. Darkroom has a clear advantage over Lightroom when it comes to managing your photo library. With Darkroom being built directly on top of the Apple's iCloud Photo Library, all of your photos are always ready for you to start editing immediately after capture using your camera app of choice. So, no importing or uploading anything to a second or separate library. That's in substantial contrast with Lightroom which requires you to import every photo you want to edit into their separate library, locking you in.

At Darkroom, we believe that library management is a key feature that helps people create great photos. We recognize that importing and organizing photos can be a time-consuming and frustrating process, which is why we've made it as easy as possible. Our app is built with busy photographers in mind, and we've designed it to help you edit your photos quickly and efficiently on the go.

So if you're not a fan of spending hours importing, managing, and paying for separate photo libraries, give Darkroom a try! We think you'll love how easy it is to use and how it seamlessly integrates with your iCloud Photo Library.

Workflow Efficiency First

Darkroom was built with on-the-go photographers in mind. Our mobile-first origin, workflow-optimized interface is designed to help you edit your photos quickly and efficiently with as few taps as possible. In contrast, Lightroom originated during a desktop-first era, which can make for a less easy or efficient workflow.

Darkroom's Apple Design Award recognizes the app's focus on an efficient workflow. We designed it specifically so that you can operate it using just your thumb through explicit navigation and gestures. Try and find any other photo editing app that does that!

Many of Darkroom's features are specifically relevant to mobile-first photographers. For example, you can quickly cull trip photos on the go with just your thumb using Flag and Reject, as all your photos are ready to go and don't need importing. Culling in Lightroom is a pretty inefficient workflow in comparison because of the importing.

And in Darkroom, you can easily discover, search, install, and even share your own presets using a simple sharable link, without having to create, manage, send, and install old-fashioned files like you would need to in Lightroom. Darkroom also offers a unique Frames tool that lets you export any aspect photo inset on a Stories aspect ratio background, with colors matched to tones from your photo.

While both apps offer very similar batch processing functionality to apply the same edits quickly to trip photos all at once, Darkroom is designed with mobile-first photographers in mind. If you're always on the go and need to quickly edit your photos, Darkroom is a great option.

Non-Destructive Editing

Both apps offer non-destructive editing, which means you can edit photos without altering the original image. This feature is important because it allows you to freely experiment with different editing options and revert to the original image or any specific edit if needed. Other image editors, like VSCO, Snapseed, or Pixelmator, permanently alter the original image with your edits, making it impossible to undo specific edits as every steps is destructively processed. So, whether you're a professional photographer or just someone who loves taking pictures, non-destructive editing is a great feature to have.

Native to Apple

We started off on iPhone, expanded to iPad, then came to the Mac, and are even available in Vision Pro with our compatible iPad app. We owe a lot of our success to Apple, who made a wealth of technology and tools available to us as an independent software developer. We love the Apple software ecosystem, and we prioritize deep integration with it to provide super-tight and efficient workflows that seamlessly integrate with the system and other software. In fact, we use cutting-edge technology like Metal hardware-accelerated rendering, and leverage Apple's AI and machine learning advances, and specific features like Shortcut Automation to provide a level of platform integration that many other photo editors don’t match.

Advanced Tools

Let's be fair: Darkroom hasn't nearly been around for as long as some of the other big players in the photo editing game, like Lightroom or Capture One. But that doesn't mean we're not constantly pushing ourselves to be the best. Our team is dedicated to creating tools that are better than anything else out there, no matter how big the competition. We're always looking for ways to improve and push the creative tools industry forward.

Advanced Masking — Darkroom has advanced masking options that allow you to edit specific parts of your photo with precision. You can use smart masks powered by AI and machine learning to easily select and edit just the foreground or background, the skin or hair on a portrait. Additionally, linear and radial masks are available, and you can even make selections based on depth, luminance, and color ranges. These features are nearly identical in both apps and can help you achieve the perfect edit for your photos!

Shadow & highlight Recovery — Our shadow and highlight recovery tools are at the cutting edge of the industry – for both JPGs and RAWs. And we don't say that lightly! We're a small, independent business, and we put our hearts and souls into making sure every feature is the best it can be. We don't cut corners or settle for "good enough." If we think it's worth doing, we do it right.

Color Grading — We aren't afraid to try new things and incorporate tools from other domains like video editing. One example of this is our color grading feature. It provides a compact and intuitive interface that makes it easy to develop a unique look for your photo. Lightroom has also recently added this feature, but we believe that our interface is even more intuitive and refined. So if you're looking for a photo editing tool that's both powerful and easy to use, give us a try!

Video — Darkroom even allows you to process your videos with the same tools as your photos! That's right, you can crop, adjust, color grade, apply presets, and add frames to your videos just as easily as you can with your photos. On the other hand, Lightroom only recently added some of this functionality, and unsurprisingly enforces the import step if you want to edit them. So if you want a photo editing app that can also easily and efficiently handle your on the go video processing needs, Darkroom might be the way to go for you.

Darkroom compared to other photo editors

Curious about how Darkroom stacks up against other popular photo editors? Explore these in-depth comparisons to see which tool best fits your creative needs.

Comparing Darkroom & VSCO

Comparing Darkroom and VSCO, providing an overview of each app and their key differences, features, and pricing.

Comparing Darkroom & Snapseed

Explore the differences between Darkroom and Snapseed, including their features, pricing, and overall user experience.

Pricing Comparison

To be direct, the subscription plan for Darkroom is much cheaper than Lightroom's, especially the yearly option, making it a far more budget-friendly option. In addition, Darkroom offers a one-time purchase option, and a feature rich free tier. In contrast, Lightroom only has subscription plans. So if you're looking for a powerful photo editor that won't break the bank, and is easy to try, Darkroom is definitely worth considering!

If you're a lover of photography and enjoy editing your photos, you've probably heard of both Darkroom and VSCO. These two apps have become quite popular in the photography world over the years, and both offer some unique features. In this post, we'll take a look at the differences between both apps, and help you decide which one is best for you.

For one, most people now use their iPhone as their primary camera. Darkroom is built directly on top of Apple's iCloud Photo Library, so all of your photos are ready for you to start editing in Darkroom immediately after capture. We even integrate with popular camera apps to make the workflow from capture to edit as flexible, quick, and smooth as possible. So, you won't have to import or upload anything, and you won’t have to manage separate libraries. In contrast, VSCO requires you to import and upload every photo you want to edit into their separate library.

Additionally, Darkroom is exclusive to Apple devices, while VSCO is available on Android. So if you're an Android user, you're out of luck with Darkroom. On the other hand, if you're an Apple customer, which many mobile photographers happen to be, Darkroom has an award winning interface across devices that is focused on reducing clicks and taps and increasing workflow efficiency, making it ideal for those who want to be able to edit photos efficiently on the go.

Ultimately, the choice between these two apps depends on your personal preferences and needs. The good news is that both apps offer trials, so you can test them out before committing to a purchase. So whether you're a professional photographer or just someone who loves taking photos, both apps offer their own unique features and benefits. The choice is yours!

Let’s briefly introduce both applications.

Darkroom

We're a small, independent business that's been around since 2015. From the beginning, we've prioritized creating an exceptional photo editing experience on Apple's platforms that's optimized for people on-the-go. We were thrilled when Apple recognized our efforts by awarding us the prestigious Apple Design Award. Now, you can use Darkroom on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro and take advantage of the seamless integration with Apple's iCloud Photo Library and many other unique Apple platform functionalities.

VSCO

VSCO, which stands for Visual Supply Company, has been a favorite among mobile photographers since its launch in 2011, and is a heavily venture capital backed company. As a pioneer in the mobile photography field, they have always focused on providing a complete photography workflow on mobile, from capture to editing to sharing. It's known for its signature filters, which emulate the look of classic film cameras, and its minimalist, intuitive interface. In recent year it has incredibly focussed on building out it’s own social sharing platform. Available on both Android and iOS platforms, they have a wide and diverse user base all around the world. It’s a great choice for those seeking a straightforward, user-friendly editing experience with a wide variety of filters to choose from.

How do they compare?

Let's delve deeper into the comparison between Darkroom and VSCO. We'll take a closer look at differentiating of features in both apps, and pricing to help you decide which app might be the best fit for your photo editing needs. Let’s get started.

Filters & Presets

Filters or presets are a popular feature in photo editing apps, and both apps offer a wide range of options. As already mentioned, VSCO is in particular known for its filter that emulate popular analog film stocks from yesteryear. It’s important to know that most and their best filters are behind their paywall, and that you can’t download or install additional community made presets.

This is in contrast to Darkrooms presets. Although Darkroom provides a set of professional created premium presets as part of Darkroom+, it also allows you to create your own presets, and offers a free option to share them. As such Darkroom has thousands of quality community presets for you to discover, and install for free. Which includes many presets emulating analog film, but also many other independent and creative presets.

Community and Sharing

VSCO has a large and active creative community, they provide a closed social platform for their users to discover and share creative content. The app's curated feed showcases inspiring photography from around the world, fostering a sense of community among its users. VSCO Grid allows you to showcase your portfolio and gain exposure within the photography community.

Darkroom is focussed on being the most efficient and privacy first photo editor. Darkroom does offer preset sharing, and has built a platform for people to discover all presets the community has shared. But we have also chooses to not do certain things, and instead to deeply integrate with partner companies focussed on being the best in their respective fields. For example, we have partnered with Leica and Halide, to provide you the best and most convenient ways to capture your photos. Similarly we are huge fans of Glass, who have built an independent world class sustainable home for photographers online.

Advanced Editing Tools

When it comes to editing tools, both apps offer a range of features. However, Darkroom may be a better choice for those who want more creative control over their edits. Darkroom offers more advanced tools, such as color grading, masks adjustments and curves, state of the art highlight and shadow recovery, allowing you to fine-tune your edits to a greater degree. Not to speak of the many library management features such as flag & reject, album & folder creation and search, which VSCO simply doesn’t have.

VSCO, on the other hand, has a more simplified approach to editing. The app primarily offers a range of presets that you can apply to your photos, as well as basic editing tools such as exposure, contrast, and saturation. This makes VSCO a good choice for those who only want to quickly edit their photos without spending too much time on it.

Advanced Masking — Darkroom has advanced masking options that allow you to edit specific parts of your photo with precision. You can use smart masks powered by AI and machine learning to easily select and edit just the foreground or background, the skin or hair on a portrait. Additionally, linear and radial masks are available, and you can even make selections based on depth, luminance, and color ranges. These features are nearly identical in both apps and can help you achieve the perfect edit for your photos!

Shadow & highlight Recovery — Our shadow and highlight recovery tools are at the cutting edge of the industry – for both JPGs and RAWs. And we don't say that lightly! We're a small, independent business, and we put our hearts and souls into making sure every feature is the best it can be. We don't cut corners or settle for "good enough." If we think it's worth doing, we do it right.

Color Grading — We aren't afraid to try new things and incorporate tools from other domains like video editing. One example of this is our color grading feature. It provides a compact and intuitive interface that makes it easy to develop a unique look for your photo. If you're looking for a photo editing tool that's both powerful and easy to use, give us a try!

Non-Destructive Editing

Darkroom uniquely offers non-destructive editing, which means you can edit photos without altering the original image. This feature is important because it allows you to freely experiment with different editing options and revert to the original image or any specific edit if needed. Image editors like VSCO, but also apps like Snapseed, or Pixelmator, permanently alter the original image with your edits, making it impossible to undo specific edits as every steps is destructively processed. So, whether you're a professional photographer or just someone who loves taking pictures, non-destructive editing is a great feature to have.

Native to Apple

Darkroom started off on iPhone, expanded to iPad, then came to the Mac, and is even available in Vision Pro with our compatible iPad app. Each version is tailored specifically to that platform. We owe a lot of our success to Apple, who made a wealth of technology and tools available to us as an independent software developer. We love the Apple software ecosystem, and we prioritize deep integration with it to provide super-tight and efficient workflows that seamlessly integrate with the system and other software. In fact, we use cutting-edge technology like Metal hardware-accelerated rendering, and leverage Apple's AI and machine learning advances, and specific features like Shortcut Automation to provide a level of platform integration that many other photo editors don’t match.

Darkroom compared to other photo editors

Curious about how Darkroom stacks up against other popular photo editors? Explore these in-depth comparisons to see which tool best fits your creative needs.

Comparing Darkroom & Lightroom

Comparing Darkroom and Lightroom, providing an overview of each app and their key differences, features, and pricing.

Comparing Darkroom & Snapseed

Explore the differences between Darkroom and Snapseed, including their features, pricing, and overall user experience.

Pricing Comparison

To be direct, the subscription plan for Darkroom is a lot more affordable than VSCO’s, specifically if you want access to all their premium features, in which case it’s nearly twice as expensive. They do provide a more limited option, but well it’s limited. Darkroom also offers a one-time purchase option, and a very feature rich free tier. In contrast, VSCO only has one yearly subscription plan. So if you're looking for a powerful photo editor that won't break the bank, some flexibility, and is easy to try, Darkroom is definitely worth considering!

As a photography enthusiast you most likely enjoy editing your photos, so you've probably heard of or tried both Darkroom and Snapseed. Both apps have been around for a while and have become quite popular in the photography world over the years, and both offer some unique features. In this post, we'll take a look at the differences between both apps, and help you decide which one is best for you.

Many people primarily use their iPhones for photography. Darkroom is built directly on top of Apple's iCloud Photo Library, allowing for instant photo editing right after capture on any of your other Apple devices. It also integrates with various popular camera apps, providing a quick and seamless workflow from capture to edit. So, you won't have to import anything, and you won’t have to manage yet another separate library. In contrast, Snapseed requires you to first import every photo you want to edit into their separate library. Moreover, Darkroom's robust library management and culling features assist not just with editing, but also with managing your photos, and mature Mac app, functionality that Snapseed lacks.

That said, Darkroom is exclusively available on Apple devices, such as iPhone, Mac, iPad and even the Vision Pro. For people on Android or Windows, Darkroom is unfortunately not an option. Yet, for Apple customers, who constitute a significant number of mobile photographers, Darkroom offers an award-winning and mature experience across devices. It's designed to be user-friendly, minimize the number of clicks and taps, and maximize workflow efficiency. This makes it an excellent choice for editing on the go.

In the end, the decision between Darkroom and Snapseed comes down to personal preferences and needs. Both apps provide are free to download, allowing you to test them before purchasing. Whether you're a professional photographer or just someone who enjoys taking photos, both Darkroom and Snapseed have unique features and benefits to explore. The decision rests with you!

Let’s briefly introduce both applications.

Darkroom

We're a small, independent business that's been around since 2015. From the beginning, we've prioritized creating an exceptional photo editing experience on Apple's platforms that's optimized for people on-the-go. We were thrilled when Apple recognized our efforts by awarding us the prestigious Apple Design Award. Now, you can use Darkroom on your iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Vision Pro and take advantage of the seamless integration with Apple's iCloud Photo Library and many other unique Apple platform functionalities.

Snapseed

Snapseed, a product of Google since their acquisition in 2012, is a mobile-only app available for both iOS and Android. It's completely free, which makes it an attractive option for budget-conscious people. Despite its price, it offers a broad range of editing tools that form a comprehensive suite for photo enhancement. One notable feature is its unique gesture based interface, which, once figured out, provides precise control over its effects. It also allows you to make detailed adjustments to specific areas of their photos.

How do they compare?

Let's dive into a detailed comparison of Darkroom and Snapseed. We'll comprehensively examine their features and pricing to assist you in determining the best app for your photo editing requirements. Let's begin.

Library Management

Managing your photos is made easy with Darkroom's many library management features. You can use the flag & reject functionality for culling, effectively sorting through your images to find the best ones. Creating albums and folders, re-ordering, and sorting your photos is a breeze, allowing for easy organization. The search feature lets you quickly find albums and folders in your library. Darkroom also offers smart albums, which automatically group your photos based on criteria such as whether they're raw or video files. The best part? Darkroom is built right on top of Apple iCloud Photo Library, so you don't have to import your photos—your images are available to edit the moment they're taken. This seamless integration streamlines your workflow, making Darkroom a powerful tool for any photographer. And let's not forget that Darkroom runs on Mac and iPad, being able to manage and edit on a large screen make a bif difference. In contrast, Snapseed does not offer any of these library management and seamless integration features, and requires you to import every single photo you want to edit.

Advanced Editing Tools

When it comes to editing tools, both Darkroom and Snapseed offer a range of features. Darkroom offers more advanced tools, such as color grading, frames, AI backed mask adjustments, state of the art highlight and shadow recovery, and a full fledged native Mac app, allowing you to fine-tune your edits to a greater degree.

Advanced Masking — Darkroom has advanced masking options that allow you to edit specific parts of your photo with precision. You can use smart masks powered by AI and machine learning to easily select and edit just the foreground or background, the skin or hair on a portrait. Additionally, linear and radial masks are available, and you can even make selections based on depth, luminance, and color ranges. These features are nearly identical in both apps and can help you achieve the perfect edit for your photos!

Shadow & highlight Recovery — Our shadow and highlight recovery tools are at the cutting edge of the industry – for both JPGs and RAWs. And we don't say that lightly! We're a small, independent business, and we put our hearts and souls into making sure every feature is the best it can be. We don't cut corners or settle for "good enough." If we think it's worth doing, we do it right.

Frames — Don't limit yourself to just a simple border. Instead, fully customize the frame's aspect ratio, inset width, and color to suit your needs. A unique feature is the content-aware color option. This allows you to select a color from your photo and apply it to the frame, creating a cohesive and visually appealing effect. This level of customization and convenience gives you more creative control, helping your photos stand out.

Color Grading — We aren't afraid to try new things and incorporate tools from other domains like video editing. One example of this is our color grading feature. It provides a compact and intuitive interface that makes it easy to develop a unique look for your photo. If you're looking for a photo editing tool that's both powerful and easy to use, give us a try!

Native to Apple

Darkroom started off on iPhone, expanded to iPad, then came to the Mac, and is even available in Vision Pro with our compatible iPad app. Each version is tailored specifically to that platform to provide the best possible experience. We owe a lot of our success to Apple, who made a wealth of technology and tools available to us as an independent software developer. We love the Apple software ecosystem, and we prioritize deep integration with it to provide super-tight and efficient workflows that seamlessly integrate with the system and other software. In fact, we use cutting-edge technology like Metal hardware-accelerated rendering, and leverage Apple's AI and machine learning advances, and specific features like Shortcut Automation for batch processing to provide a level of platform integration that many other photo editors don’t match.

Filters & Presets

Filters or presets are a popular feature in photo editing apps, and both Darkroom and Snapseed offer a wide range of options and features. Both apps enable you to create your own presets, and offer a free option to share them. However, Darkroom uniquely provides easy public access to thousands of quality community presets for you to share to, discover, search, and install for free right in the apps and on the web. Which includes many presets emulating analog film, but also many other independent and creative presets. Here are some of the most popular analog presets in Darkroom:

Non-Destructive Editing

Darkroom and Snapseed both offer non-destructive editing, which means you can edit photos without altering the original image. This feature is important because it allows you to freely experiment with different editing options and revert back to the original image or any specific edit if and whenever needed. Other image editors, like VSCO or Pixelmator, permanently alter the original image with your edits, making it impossible to undo specific edits as every steps is destructively processed. So, whether you're a professional photographer or just someone who loves taking pictures, non-destructive editing is a great feature to have.

Darkroom compared to other photo editors

Curious about how Darkroom stacks up against other popular photo editors? Explore these in-depth comparisons to see which tool best fits your creative needs.

Comparing Darkroom & Lightroom

Discover how Darkroom and Lightroom compare, with an overview of their key features, pricing, and what sets each app apart.

Comparing Darkroom & VSCO

Comparing Darkroom and VSCO, providing an overview of each app and their key differences, features, and pricing.

Pricing Comparison

Snapseed, which happens to be entirely free to use, stands out as an excellent choice for budding photographers or individuals who are on a tight budget or perhaps have no budget at all. It offers a decent suite of editing tools and features, enough to cater to the needs of novice editors and even semi-professionals. It presents a range of functionalities that can make your photos look more polished. However, while it has its strengths, it doesn't provide the same award winning easy of use, seamless integration and advanced editing features that Darkroom does. Darkroom, on the other hand, excels in offering a more integrated workflow and advanced editing capabilities, making it a preferable option for serious photographers or those who want or need more sophisticated editing tools.

We're excited to unveil the revamped transform tool. As our most commonly used feature, it now boasts a more user-friendly interface, better workflow, and improved functionality.

In recent months, we've invested in improving the Mac experience and the overall quality of the app across all platforms, please do check our updates page to check the many improvements. We're pleased to see a substantial decrease in our crash rate and fewer quality-related feedback. Your input has been invaluable, so please keep it coming! This release is part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the user experience, which is proceeding in tandem with our work on the new renderer. Read about the latest progress below.

We plan on doing an iPhone and iPad update down the line to bring these improvements to all platforms. We didn't want to wait to share these improvements with you, so we're releasing them on Mac first.

Crop Aspect Ratio Improvements

• Custom Aspect Ratio. On a Mac, you now have the ability to adjust the height and width ratio values to your liking. You can make these adjustments to your custom aspect in increments of 1 using your keyboard's up and down arrow keys. Additionally, the “Option ⌥” modifier allows changes in increments of 0.1, while the “Shift ⇧” modifier allows for adjustments in increments of 10.
• More Aspect Ratio Presets. We've added a selection of commonly requested aspect ratios as well as some additional handy ones for analog, print, and cinema. Note that you can click any portrait aspect preset a second time to quickly switch to the landscape orientation.
• Aspect Orientation Toggle. On Mac, you can now conveniently filter the aspect ratio list to find a preset option. By default, the orientation toggle matches the photo's orientation. However, you can alter it at any time to view aspect ratios in the opposite orientation.

Improved Crop Overlay Controls

• More Legible Grid Lines. The grid lines have been made slightly thicker, making them much easier to see on photos with a lot of detail.
• Additional Grid Options. On Mac, we've transitioned to a more straightforward pop-up and added two new grid options for all platforms. The "4x4" option presents a basic 4x4 grid, while the "None" option removes grid lines to minimize distractions and maximize photo visibility.
• Clearer Cropped Area. When cropping, the area to be cropped out is now visually theme aware blended with the background, enhancing focus across all platforms.
• Center Circle Removed from Grid. We decided to remove the center circle control. By ensuring the entire crop area is draggable, we have eliminated another visual distraction, and improving focus across all platforms.

Other Changes

• Editable Slider Values. On Mac, the straighten slider values are now editable. You can click on them, similar to the custom aspect values, and they are now more predictably located on the right. Arrow key shortcuts, along with the Option and Shift modifier keys, function in the same way as they do with the custom aspect input field.
• Flip Horizontally. This option added to the Mac, removes the need to rotate and vertically flip to achieve the same result.

New render engine progress report

It's time for another progress update since our last one in February.

As a refresher, this new engine addresses various issues and enhances quality. Our goal is to expedite and stabilize releases, which were previously delayed and unstable due to infrastructural issues.

We've made significant progress. The engine itself is now feature-complete, and its integration into Darkroom is progressing swiftly. Currently, our focus is on ensuring feature completeness in the app itself, and we are noticing some impressive improvements. For example, we've restored video capabilities, including real-time 8K editing with masks, and the histogram is now functional for video. The list of remaining tasks is shrinking daily.

What's next and when?

Currently, our primary focus is on completing the new renderer. It's a substantial undertaking and we aim to execute it best we can. Once we achieve feature-complete status, we'll shift towards refining and enhancing performance. At that point, we'll begin inviting you to test it. We're looking forward to having you all try it out.

After this, we plan to progress to brushed masks and syncing, as previously discussed. However, Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference is occurring next week. Any newly introduced capabilities at the event may influence our roadmap and its timing.

We're excited about these improvements and believe they'll make a noticeable difference in your photo editing journey. Keep an eye out for further updates as we continue enhancing Darkroom to offer a more connected and intuitive editing experience.

If there’s something you’d like to see in the future please let us know by leaving it on our suggestion board, or by sending us an email or tweet at us.

As always, we’re very thankful for your continued loyalty and support, and look forward to sharing everything else we have in store for you soon.

The Darkroom Team

As you gear up for the new school year, we’ve got something special just for you — a sizable 25% discount on your first-year subscription to Darkroom+! Instead of the regular $32.99, you can get it for just $24.49 for the entire first year. Darkroom+ gives you access to a suite of premium tools designed to unleash your creativity, making it easier than ever to capture and share stunning photos. And yes, all this for half the price!

Friday September 13th until Monday September 30th

Make sure to grab this limited-time offer, which lasts just 17 days. Set a reminder, mark your calendar, and get ready to dive into a world of endless possibilities with Darkroom+. Whether you’re snapping photos for school projects, creative hobbies, or just for fun, Darkroom+ has the tools you need to bring your vision to life.

What do I have to do?

It's super easy! Make sure to download the latest version of Darkroom and follow the in-app steps to become a Darkroom+ member. No need for promo codes! We’ll also remind you during the offer period in the app. You can also tap the button below to open the membership page directly:

Tell Your Friends!

Don’t keep this awesome deal to yourself — share it with your classmates, fellow photographers, and friends. This is a perfect, budget-friendly way to kick off the school year with Darkroom+.

Darkroom+

Darkroom+ is our membership that provides access to the growing bundle of already 9 premium features. Whether you want to add a distinct style, make precise adjustments, or manage your photo library efficiently, Darkroom+ has you covered with its collection of premium features.

With Color Grading, AI Powered Masks, Video Processing, Flag & Reject, Curves Tool, Selective Color, Premium Presets, Watermark, and Custom App Icon, you will have toolkit ready to transform your photos on the go without the hassle of complex legacy software.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to elevate your creativity and unlock endless possibilities with Darkroom+!

New to Darkroom?

Whether you're a seasoned shutterbug or just casually dipping your toes into the world of mobile photography, Darkroom offers a comprehensive suite of foundational tools beyond Darkroom+ that cater to all your photo management and editing needs.

1. Manage: Darkroom seamlessly integrates with Apple iCloud Photos, so all your memories are already there, waiting for you. So you can effortlessly import, browse, and organize your growing photo library. Plus, the intuitive interface means you can view, edit, and manage your photos, albums, and folders across iPhone, iPad and Mac with familiar ease.
2. Select: Dive into your photo library and the confidently curate. With Darkroom you can efficiently swipe and edit through your collection. Use the batch feature to speed up the process. Keep what captures your heart, and effortlessly discard what doesn't make the cut.
3. Adjust: Unleash your inner artist with Darkroom's professional, non-destructive adjustment tools and broad file format support. Embrace the power of state of the art tools like Clarity and Highlight & Shadow recovery, and the wealth of Community Presets to make your photos stand out. Even better, share your own unique presets with the world or apply your favorite edits to multiple photos with just a few taps. And for that extra flair, add colorful frames or conveniently export your shots for social media stories.
4. Export: Ready to show off your work? Darkroom makes it a breeze to share your beautifully crafted photos, videos, and even your custom presets with anyone, anywhere and any app. It's not just about editing; it's about sharing your vision and creativity with the world.

Darkroom is more than just a tool; it's a gateway to expressing your creativity and sharing your story with the world. Serious or amateur, every mobile photographer has a home here.

Frequently Asked Question

What does a Darkroom+ Yearly membership cost?

In the United States the Yearly membership costs $32.99 ($2.75 per month), and is currently being offered at a 25% discount for the first year. So instead of $32.99 it will be $24.49. After the first year the membership will automatically default back to the normal pricing.

Be aware that prices vary per country, listed below are the prices for the United States. We recommend going to our app store page to see the exact pricing for your specific country.

Can I use my Darkroom+ membership across my Apple devices?

Yes, as a Darkroom+ member, you can use it on multiple devices. There is no need to purchase or subscribe to Darkroom+ multiple times. However, please ensure that you log in on all devices using the same App Store account that you used to make the initial purchase.

Does this discount apply to Darkroom Legacy customers?

Yes, this discount is also available to our Legacy customers. Please make sure to update to the latest version of Darkroom (6.6.3) to access the Back to School Offer. Considering the substantial discount offered in the first year, we didn't find it necessary to provide any additional special discounts. On average, Legacy customers paid approximately $8 for all their features. With this year's 25% Back to School discount, we are effectively covering that initial investment.

Is the Darkroom+ Forever option discounted?

No. We are only offering this year's Black Friday Week discount for our yearly membership. The one-time forever membership option already includes a substantial discount considering the length of time and loyalty our customers typically have towards our product.

Darkroom is designed to be familiar to use and easy to navigate across your iPhone, Mac, iPad or Vision Pro. In this guide we’ll help you understand how to get around and where everything can be found.

Darkroom has three main areas:

1. Library, where you browse and manage your photos and videos.
2. Viewer, where you view, edit, and choose between your photos and videos.
3. Export, where you save or share your photo and videos.

The Library View

Preview Grid

If you have chosen to give Darkroom access to all of your photos, you should see them all here, no importing needed. Note that you don't have to do this, you can also give it access to one photo at a time. Please note, we don’t do anything with your photos without your explicit consent. We also don’t upload them to our servers, we don’t analyze them. We just show you your photos from the Apple iCloud Photo Library.

1 — View & Edit. On iPhone, iPad and VisionPro opening a photo to view or edit is as simple as tapping it. On Mac we use the native behavior, which is to double click!

2 — Batch. On iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro, at the top right you will see the Batch button which will allow you to select multiple photos. Once photos are selected, the Batch actions bar will appear at the bottom. On iPhone and iPad you can quickly start Batch selection by simply swiping left or right on the photos you wish to select! On Mac, you can multi select by default, use the "command ⌘" and "shift ⇧" keys while selecting to extend your selection, and the batch actions show at all times at the top right in the toolbar.

3 — Settings. On iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro, at the top left you will find the gear icon, tap to open our Settings. On Mac you can head to the "Darkroom" menu and click the "Settings..." menu item. This is a good place to look around, you’ll find plenty of useful options.

Album List

4 — Folders & Albums. On iPhone you will find a bar at the bottom of your Preview Grid that has 3 smart albums (Recents, Favorites, Edited) ready for you. But you can also pick and search for any other album on your iPhone by tapping on the left most option with the ^ triangle. Which in turn will show you all our Smart Albums and all of your personal Folders and Albums in your Apple iCloud Photos Library. On iPad, Mac and Vision Pro, our album list is always located on the left-hand sidebar.

5 — Import. At times you might want to import some photos or videos from a different source than your Apple iCloud Photos Library. The Import option is the way to do that. It works through Apple’s Files app, so anything connected to it, including your DLSR memory card or connected USB drive will be accessible.

Drag and Drop  —  On Mac you will be able to drag and drop photos to the library from your desktop. And on iPad you can also drag and drop photos from your library to any of the albums shown in the album list on the left.

The Photo View

Navigation

Darkroom is designed to be easy to navigate, and familiar to use across all your iPhone, Mac, iPad or Vision Pro. Some of the more unique and most efficient ways to move around in Darkroom make use of gestures, allowing for extremely easy one handed or even just thumb based navigation on iPhone, as well use of keyboard shortcuts on iPad and Mac. We have made sure though that you can get around without knowing any of them. But knowing them is like having a super power!

• Close. On iPhone and iPad you can swipe down to close the photo. On Mac you can drag the image downwards.
• Previous/Next. On iPhone and iPad you can also swipe left or right to navigate between your previous and next photos. This even works when you have your tools open. Allowing you to edit rapidly through photos, even by using copy and pasting, or do quick comparisons. On your iPad and Mac you can also use the arrow keys to quickly navigate through your album.
• Before and after comparison. On iPhone and iPad you can tap and hold your finger on the photo to see the original. On Mac you can use just tap-and-hold your mouse on the photo or video. And on iPad and Mac you can also use the dedicated button for it.
• Zoom. You can do a quick double tap to zoom into your photo, and double tap again to zoom out. Or use a pinch gesture to zoom into any area of the photo you want. And the swipe around with one finger to pan around the photo.
• Hide the interface. When viewing or editing a photo you can simply tap on the photo briefly once to hide all the interface to just see your photo. Just tap once more to show it all again.

Actions

In our main toolbars shown at the top of Darkroom, actions on the left typically take you back, and actions at the right move you forward.

1 — Back. There is a clearly marked Library or < back button to go back to the library. On iPhone and iPad you can also Swipe down to close the photo, and even on Mac you can drag the image downwards.

2 — Export. After editing your most likely next step is for you to save to use elsewhere, or share. We explain more on this view further down.

3 — Actions. On iPhone we “hide” quite a few secondary options for you here. Ranging from show/hiding the Histogram or Metadata viewer, to many of the photo management options such as “Add to..”. On Mac and iPad we expose quite a few more depending on how much space we have.

4 — Photostrip. On both iPad and the Mac we have the Photostrip, which shows you all your photos in a thin strip on the left side of your screen. Allowing you to quickly navigate through your photos. And it even has all the management context menu options you can find in the library.

Tools

5 — Swipe up to reveal tools. When you are viewing a photo or video you can either tap any of our tools to open them, or you can quickly swipe up to reveal the adjustments (sliders) tool on iPhone and iPad. On Mac you just click the tool you wish to open. There are many tools accessible through our main toolbar, and some through or our photo actions menu. We’d like to invite you to please take some time to explore them.

On iPhone we also have the Flag & Reject features accessible by swiping the toolbar right, or tapping on the small < arrow at the left of the toolbar. On iPad and Mac the Flag and Reject options are always available and conveniently sit in the toolbar.

6 — Before and after comparison. In order to make edits it’s actually pretty useful to be able to check what the original looked like. On iPad and Mac we have a dedicated button for it. You can also tap the eye 👁 icon next to the tool title to see the original. As mentioned before, on iPhone you can tap and hold your finger on the photo to see the original.

Powerful Editing Tools

Darkroom offers a comprehensive suite of powerful editing tools to help you achieve your creative vision. From basic adjustments to advanced Color Grading and Masks, there's something for every photographer's needs. Tap through to explore some of our most powerful tools that help set Darkroom apart:

Make Local Adjustments with Masks

Masks are a powerful and essential tool for photographers. Backed by AI, and designed for mobile.

Color Grading in Darkroom

Color Grading unlocks creative expression, giving your photo or video a distinct style by adjusting the tone of your shots.

The Darkroom Histogram

The histogram helps you spot and fix exposure and color problems by showing how pixels are distributed across tones in your photo.

Manage your photo library with Flag & Reject

Efficiently cull and review your photos: Flag what you’re interested in, Reject what you don’t want to keep.

Automate your workflow with Shortcut Actions

We’ve always been very excited about the possibility of integrating Darkroom into shortcuts, but until recently, have been limited by the

Create your own custom preset

Learn how to create and develop your own unique preset and share it with the community.

The Export View

1 — Save or Share. All edits made in Darkroom are non destructively. That means that any edit you make isn’t directly applied to the original photo. Instead we render the edits live on top of the original, which enables you to undo and change your edits at any time in the future. That also means you have to export, using “Save” or “Save Copy”, for any of the edits you have made to show up in other apps outside of Darkroom.

2 — Export tools. We offer quick access to adding a frame when you export. This is great for things like Stories and Reels, where you want to keep the same aspect ratio. You also have the ability to easily copy some of your hashtag sets for sharing to social networks.

3 — Settings. There is quick access to settings where we offer several options that relate to exporting. Which ranges from setting the file format (for both photo and video), to applying a watermark, location embedding, managing your metadata, or managing your hashtags.

iPhone, Mac, iPad and Vision Pro

Darkroom has apps for all of your major devices. We have made sure that the visual language and navigation between our apps is true to each platform, but similar enough that there shouldn’t be much of a learning curve to get around.

Pro-tip, Keyboard Shortcuts — On Mac and iPad we have made sure to have solid keyboard shortcuts support. Making it possible to more efficiently move around and work by just using your keyboard. To discover all the shortcuts, on iPad tap and hold the command key, and on Mac you can click through the top main menu or head on over to our dedicate help page listing all the available keyboard shortcuts.

We’re excited to offer you a 50% discount on your first year of Darkroom+. For just $16.49 (instead of $32.99), you’ll unlock premium features that take your creativity to the next level. No need to wait for Black Friday—we’re starting early!

The sale runs from Friday, November 15th to Monday, December 3rd, ending on Cyber Monday. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your editing game at half the price.

To claim your discount, simply download the latest version of Darkroom from the App Store and follow the steps in the app. No promo code needed! You can also tap the button below to go directly to the membership page.

And don’t keep this deal to yourself! Share it with friends, family, and fellow photographers so they can join Darkroom+ at an unbeatable price too.

Shout Out to Glass

This Black Friday, we want to give a shoutout to our longtime friends at Glass, who are also running a 50% off sale. We go way back with them—before either of us even started our companies—and have been cheering each other on ever since. It’s the kind of indie camaraderie that keeps this community strong. If you haven’t explored Glass yet, their sale is the perfect excuse to jump in and see why we’ve been fans from day one.

Get 50% off your first year of Glass membership!.

Glass is a thoughtfully designed and built photo-sharing community made for photographers who care about quality, simplicity, and a creative-first community. It’s free from ads, algorithms, and all the distractions you usually find in social media—just pure photography in its best form. If you love using Darkroom to craft the perfect edits, you’ll appreciate how Glass gives your images the stage they deserve. For Darkroom customers who are serious about their photography, it’s a great place to showcase your work, get inspired, and connect with fellow creators who share your passion.

Darkroom+

Darkroom+ is our membership that provides access to the growing bundle of already 9 premium features. Whether you want to add a distinct style, make precise adjustments, or manage your photo library efficiently, Darkroom+ has you covered with its collection of premium features.

With Color Grading, AI Powered Masks, Video Processing, Flag & Reject, Curves Tool, Selective Color, Premium Presets, Watermark, and Custom App Icon, you will have toolkit ready to transform your photos on the go without the hassle of complex legacy software.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to elevate your creativity and unlock endless possibilities with Darkroom+!

New to Darkroom?

Whether you're a seasoned shutterbug or just casually dipping your toes into the world of mobile photography, Darkroom offers a comprehensive suite of foundational tools beyond Darkroom+ that cater to all your photo management and editing needs.

1. Manage: Darkroom seamlessly integrates with Apple iCloud Photos, so all your memories are already there, waiting for you. So you can effortlessly import, browse, and organize your growing photo library. Plus, the intuitive interface means you can view, edit, and manage your photos, albums, and folders across iPhone, iPad and Mac with familiar ease.
2. Select: Dive into your photo library and the confidently curate. With Darkroom you can efficiently swipe and edit through your collection. Use the batch feature to speed up the process. Keep what captures your heart, and effortlessly discard what doesn't make the cut.
3. Adjust: Unleash your inner artist with Darkroom's professional, non-destructive adjustment tools and broad file format support. Embrace the power of state of the art tools like Clarity and Highlight & Shadow recovery, and the wealth of Community Presets to make your photos stand out. Even better, share your own unique presets with the world or apply your favorite edits to multiple photos with just a few taps. And for that extra flair, add colorful frames or conveniently export your shots for social media stories.
4. Export: Ready to show off your work? Darkroom makes it a breeze to share your beautifully crafted photos, videos, and even your custom presets with anyone, anywhere and any app. It's not just about editing; it's about sharing your vision and creativity with the world.

Darkroom is more than just a tool; it's a gateway to expressing your creativity and sharing your story with the world. Serious or amateur, every mobile photographer has a home here.

Frequently Asked Question

Our longtime friends at Glass have generously offered an exclusive 60% discount on their Glass Membership for just $15.99 (instead of $39.99) for all Darkroom+ members, available for a limited time! If you haven’t explored Glass yet, this is the perfect opportunity to dive in and see why we’ve been fans since day one.

The above link will redeem on the web, you can also redeem it through the App Store.

Glass is designed for photographers who value quality and a distraction-free experience. Free from ads and algorithms, it’s all about pure photography in its best form. For Darkroom members, Glass offers the perfect space to showcase your edited images in stunning full-resolution. The Glass membership includes private profiles, detailed EXIF data, and an engaged community that provides thoughtful feedback. With an exclusive 60% discount for Darkroom+ members, this is your chance to join a community that’s focused on creativity and connection—without the usual social media traps.

Darkroom+ Black Friday Sale Reminder

We'd also like to remind you that we are currently to offering a 50% discount on your first year of Darkroom+. For just $16.49 (instead of $32.99), you’ll unlock premium features that take your creativity to the next level. Share it with friends, family, and fellow photographers so they can join Darkroom+ at an unbeatable price too.

The sale runs through December 3rd, ending on Cyber Monday. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your editing game at half the price.

To claim your discount, simply download the latest version of Darkroom from the App Store and follow the steps in the app. No promo code needed! You can also tap the button below to go directly to the membership page.

As a small, independent product, we rely on word of mouth and sharing to spread the word about how great Darkroom is. If you’re already a member and know a photographer who would love Darkroom, be sure to share this deal with them. We really appreciate it.

Claim your 50% Darkroom+ discount now, or share it with a friend.

As we wrap up 2024, we thought it would be fun to reflect on the presets that have defined the year for the Darkroom community. This year alone, you all shared over 1,400 new presets with the community, making for a total of over 2,300 presets to discover, install and export! Your presets were used in over 1 million exports and installed by photographers in more than 50 countries.

This year’s two most popular presets, GTD_Warm and Malediven 6, and the two all-time most popular presets, Glass Pop and Classic Negative, all stood out for their versatility and stunning results.

This year we enhanced Community Presets with search functionality and, auto-generated preset descriptions (soon to be searchable). Making it easier to distinguish presets, and improve discoverability in the app and on serach engines. We also added dedicated pages to explore the All-Time Most Exported and All-Time Most Installed presets, celebrating the community’s all-time favorites since the launch of community presets 2 years ago. We’re excited to continue refining and expanding these tools in the coming year.

To celebrate 2024, we curated a list of presets we love and use ourselves. Whether you’re looking to enhance your cozy family shots or elevate your outdoor adventures, these presets will help you tell your holiday stories beautifully.

Warm and Cozy Moments

Here’s a curated list of excellent presets for intimate gatherings, candlelit dinners, and family portraits, selected to enhance warmth, natural tones, and the cozy atmosphere of life’s little moments.

Bold and Vibrant Adventures

Infuse every shot with energy and excitement. Whether you’re capturing the beauty of the great outdoors, or highlighting vibrant colors and intricate details, these presets bring your photos to life. Enhance everyday scenes with a burst of vibrancy, or bring out the drama in landscapes and cityscapes.

Year-Round Favorites

These versatile presets have been the MVPs of 2024, used in countless projects for their ability to elevate any photo. From portraits to landscapes, street photography to still life, these presets consistently deliver stunning results while maintaining a natural, timeless look.

How can you share a preset?

Perhaps you already created a preset you’d like to share? You can do so by selecting the preset you want to share, tap on it again (•••) to view its options and you’ll find the new “Share” button. From the share sheet, you’ll be able to share a link to anyone, whether they have Darkroom installed or not.

Anyone with your link can preview and install your presets with a tap. That’s pretty much it! There are no files to manage, host, download or import. It couldn’t be simpler or more flexible.

We also have this detailed guide explaining how to create and share a preset!

Create your own custom preset

Learn how to create and develop your own unique preset and share it with the community.

We are thrilled to see how many of you have created and shared your unique presets—it’s truly inspiring! Don’t hesitate to tag us or send your creations via message or email; we love seeing your artistry in action. As we continue to grow this vibrant community of photo editing enthusiasts, we are more excited than ever to support your creative journeys.

Wishing you a joyful and fulfilling end to the year filled with inspiration, beautiful moments, and, of course, stunning photos. Here’s to an even more creative 2025!

The Darkroom Team

We’re spreading holiday cheer with 30% off your first year of Darkroom++. For just $23 (down from $32.99), you can unlock premium features that will take your photo editing to the next level—perfect for capturing the magic of the season.

The Holiday Sale runs from Monday, December 23rd to Friday, January 10th. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your editing game at half the price during the holidays and new year.

To claim your discount, simply download the latest version of Darkroom from the App Store and follow the steps in the app. No promo code needed! You can also tap the button below to go directly to the membership page.

And since sharing is part of the season, spread the joy by letting friends, family, and fellow photographers know about this special offer. Everyone deserves to create beautifully!

Happy Holidays and happy editing,

The Darkroom Team

Darkroom+

Darkroom+ is our membership that provides access to the growing bundle of already 9 premium features. Whether you want to add a distinct style, make precise adjustments, or manage your photo library efficiently, Darkroom+ has you covered with its collection of premium features.

With Color Grading, AI Powered Masks, Video Processing, Flag & Reject, Curves Tool, Selective Color, Premium Presets, Watermark, and Custom App Icon, you will have toolkit ready to transform your photos on the go without the hassle of complex legacy software.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to elevate your creativity and unlock endless possibilities with Darkroom+!

New to Darkroom?

Whether you're a seasoned shutterbug or just casually dipping your toes into the world of mobile photography, Darkroom offers a comprehensive suite of foundational tools beyond Darkroom+ that cater to all your photo management and editing needs.

1. Manage: Darkroom seamlessly integrates with Apple iCloud Photos, so all your memories are already there, waiting for you. So you can effortlessly import, browse, and organize your growing photo library. Plus, the intuitive interface means you can view, edit, and manage your photos, albums, and folders across iPhone, iPad and Mac with familiar ease.
2. Select: Dive into your photo library and the confidently curate. With Darkroom you can efficiently swipe and edit through your collection. Use the batch feature to speed up the process. Keep what captures your heart, and effortlessly discard what doesn't make the cut.
3. Adjust: Unleash your inner artist with Darkroom's professional, non-destructive adjustment tools and broad file format support. Embrace the power of state of the art tools like Clarity and Highlight & Shadow recovery, and the wealth of Community Presets to make your photos stand out. Even better, share your own unique presets with the world or apply your favorite edits to multiple photos with just a few taps. And for that extra flair, add colorful frames or conveniently export your shots for social media stories.
4. Export: Ready to show off your work? Darkroom makes it a breeze to share your beautifully crafted photos, videos, and even your custom presets with anyone, anywhere and any app. It's not just about editing; it's about sharing your vision and creativity with the world.

Darkroom is more than just a tool; it's a gateway to expressing your creativity and sharing your story with the world. Serious or amateur, every mobile photographer has a home here.

Frequently Asked Question

It’s crazy to think that ten years ago, we launched Darkroom publicly to the world. We were just two people working out of a shared office in the Mission district of San Francisco. I remember the excitement of pushing the launch button, watching the dots appear on a map of the world showing new users discovering Darkroom for the first time, followed by that electric mix of nerves and hope that what we had built would resonate with the world. On our 10th birthday, I can say it did, thanks to you.

We set out to build a place where photographers and creators could get into a flow state, not to be overwhelmed by complexity, but to be empowered by simplicity and design.

Today, Darkroom turns 10! And whether you’ve been here since the early days or you just found us, this milestone belongs to you as much as it does to us.

To celebrate today's milestone, we released a small update, Darkroom 6.8.10 (yes, that last number is a funny coincidence!). While it's only a small update, we've included three special new celebratory app icon variants to commemorate our 10th anniversary.

A Decade of Defining Moments

When we launched Darkroom on iPhone February 12th 2015 after 8 months of hard work. Mobile photography was on the rise but still underestimated. Lightroom Mobile didn’t exist, Apple Photos was very limited, Snapseed, VSCO, and After light were the dominant players, but primarily single-purpose and single-image focused. The photo editing process was cumbersome and slow. The initial version of Darkroom gave you super-fast access to all your photos, with the ability to make your own presets and batch export them. You know what? Turns out a lot of photographers loved the convenience of that! What started as a passion project became something much larger because of you: the photographers, creators, artists, and hobbyists who chose to believe in what we were building.

It’s hard to summarize a decade of growth. But I can tell you what stands out most:

• In 2015, we launched with a commitment to speed and simplicity. It was basic, sure, but it was fast and delightful—and that mattered.
• By 2017, we expanded beyond photos to offer depth editing and RAW support (version 3), pushing mobile editing into professional territory.
• In 2018, we came to the iPad (version 4), which later allowed us to come to the Mac (version 5).
• 2020 was a landmark year. We received an Apple Design Award—a powerful validation of our focus on design excellence. Our transition to a subscription model enabled significant company growth. We launched on Mac (version 5), and with our then new rendering engine, we introduced video processing capabilities. The success of 2020 wasn't just our achievement; it was a testament to the community that helped shape Darkroom into an award-worthy product.
• By 2022, the new foundation enabled us to rapidly ship features like Clarity, Flag & Reject, Masks (version 6), Color Grading, and Preset Sharing. The speed at which we were able to deliver these amazing new features was incredible.
• In the past two years, we've heavily invested in rebuilding our foundations, which we'll discuss later. During this time, we released our Leica partnership, built a massively improved album list, added mask previews, launched the updated Mac transform tool, introduced Vision Pro support, and further developed community preset discovery, search and sync features. We also strengthened our app onboarding, membership management, business model, and website—all of which have improved our company's overall health.

Looking back, every major feature—every risk we took—was driven by you. Your feedback, requests, and creativity kept us pushing boundaries.

The Past Two Years: A Necessary Slowdown

I want to address something head-on: the last couple of years haven’t been as feature-packed as many of you hoped. And you’re right to feel that way. While we worked quietly on core infrastructure, it may have seemed like we weren’t listening—but I assure you, we were.

So, what happened? Simply put, we had to refactor the very core of Darkroom: its rendering engine. This wasn’t a flashy, feature-rich project—but it was essential. The previous architecture was limiting our ability to innovate. Every new feature added technical debt, making future updates increasingly slower and more difficult. We knew we had to fix this before we could truly scale the product to match our ambitions (and yours).

It was a tough decision. No software company likes delaying user-facing features, and no business likes slowing down momentum. But we knew that without this work, we’d be stuck, as we internally already had hit a wall.

I’m sorry if you felt left behind during this time. It’s never easy to tell a community that they need to wait—especially when there was a period of great momentum, and with a community that has been so supportive.

I also want to acknowledge something important: we've made promises in the past about features and timelines that haven't materialized as quickly as we anticipated. While our vision and commitment to these improvements hasn't changed, we got the timing wrong. Rather than make new specific promises today, we want to let our upcoming work speak for itself. To those who felt misled by our previous announcements, we sincerely apologize. The foundation we've built will enable us to deliver on these long-standing promises, and we're excited to show you rather than tell you what's coming next.

What’s Next?

Now, for the part I’m most excited to share: the beta release is around the corner. This isn’t just a typical beta—it’s the culmination of two years of foundational work. Here’s what you can expect:

• A smoother, more stable experience: Slowdowns and crashes should be a thing of the past. The new engine is built to scale with your creative demands.
• Advanced editing tools: We’ve been prototyping some powerful new tools that we can’t wait to get into your hands.
• Faster updates: The new architecture allows us to ship features more frequently.

Keep an eye on our social channels and this blog for beta invites. We want you to be part of this next chapter, not just as users but as collaborators.

Gratitude

Every milestone we’ve hit, every challenge we’ve overcome—it’s all because of you. Whether you’re a Darkroom+ member, a free user, a critic, a fan, a friend, a partner, or a team member, you’ve shaped what Darkroom is today. Your feedback, both good and bad, has been a guiding light.

To those who stuck with us during the quiet years: thank you. To those who pushed us to do better: thank you. To those who shared their art using Darkroom: thank you. You’ve made this journey worth it.

Looking Ahead Together

When I think about what excites me most, it’s not just the new features or the technical improvements—it’s knowing that Darkroom is part of your creative journey. We’re not just building an app; we’re crafting a space where your creativity can thrive, where you feel empowered to create, share, and evolve.

With your continued support, we’re more motivated than ever to push the boundaries of what mobile editing can be. There’s so much to explore, and we can’t wait to share the innovations, surprises, and milestones ahead.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

Majd Taby, Co-founder

As we shared in our ‘24 Wrap-Up post, we’ve spent the past year steadily evolving Community Presets into one of the most powerful and creative parts of Darkroom. With a few new major updates now live, we thought this was the perfect moment to not only highlight the latest improvements, but also revisit everything that makes Darkroom’s Community Presets such a powerful and unique part of the app.

• Smarter Search — Thanks to auto-generated preset descriptions, search is now more useful—and more fun—than ever, and because we use a fuzzy approach instead of literal search. Looking for film vibes? Try keywords like film, analog, kodak, fuji, or grain. Want a specific aesthetic? Search for wes anderson, matrix, sepia, or cinematic. Need a mood match? Type warm, blue, vintage, or summer. However you search, you’ll find creative presets tailored to your style.
• Auto-Generated Descriptions — We explored allowing custom descriptions, but quickly ran into challenges with quality, consistency, and spam. Instead, we turned to AI with the help of Anthropic’s Claude LLM, which—through careful prompt engineering—has allowed us to generate unique, rich, natural language descriptions for every preset, automatically.

• Easier Discovery Navigation — We’ve added a persistent navigation bar across all preset and collection pages, so you can jump between collections or start a new search no matter where you are. Discovering presets is now faster and more intuitive—on any device.
• Updated Preset Design — We gave preset pages a thoughtful refresh, specifically for desktop, making space for auto-generated descriptions and improving overall clarity. Every preset you’ve installed is now clearly marked Installed when browsing in the app. QR codes are now also available on iPhone, making it easier to share your favorite presets with friends. All small touches that make a big difference.
• Directory Pages - We’ve added comprehensive directory pages for our community presets to help new users discover all the amazing work being shared, and to further improve SEO.
• App-Wide Improvements — We’ve made browsing and searching community presets inside the app faster and smoother. On Mac, keyboard shortcuts are more responsive. We polished scrolling, refined transitions, and improved a ton of little details—all to keep you in your flow.

And that's just what's new. Darkroom's Community Presets is such a substantial feature that entire web platforms and apps dedicate themselves solely to preset discovery. What makes Community Presets in Darkroom unique is its seamless integration and ease of use. There's no need to manage, host, download, or import files—just web links that anyone can freely view, install, and try.

• Preset Discovery — Over the past year we also launched dedicated collections like the All-Time Most Exported and All-Time Most Installed presets—highlighting the best of what the community has shared since launch. On top of the 3 automated (Top Exported, Fresh Arrivals, Top Installed) and 2 curated (Analog Film Favorites, Independent Favorites) collections we already had.
• Preset Sharing — You can share your custom presets with your friends and the world, it’s quick and seamless. Just select the preset you want to share, tap the options menu (•••), and tap “Share.” You’ll get a simple web link that anyone can preview and install—whether or not they have Darkroom. Once shared, your preset is also added to Community Presets, making it discoverable by others.
• Custom Presets — Want to create your own preset? If you’re thinking about making and sharing your own preset but aren’t sure where to start, we’ve got you. We put together a detailed step-by-step guide that walks you through the entire process—from developing a strong look to publishing it with confidence.

Create your own custom preset

Learn how to create and develop your own unique preset and share it with the community.

Custom presets—originally called filters—have been a core feature of Darkroom since we launched in 2015. That same year, we experimented with preset sharing for the first time, but it didn’t quite take off. Our community was still small, and while sharing is essential, we later learned that discovery—and making both effortless—is an entirely different challenge.

When we reintroduced preset sharing in late 2022, adoption was slow. But with the rollout of discovery features a year later, usage swiftly took off. Now, with new features and fresh community presets added daily, it’s become one of the most creative and vibrant corners of the Darkroom experience.

With hundreds of new presets published each month—and more than 2,800 already shared to date—there’s never been a better time to explore.

To celebrate the arrival of spring, we’ve curated a fresh batch of presets perfect for the season. Whether you’re capturing blooming landscapes, golden hour bike rides, or quiet morning moments, these presets will help you bring out the warmth, color, and clarity of your spring stories.

Fresh Starts & Soft Light

Celebrate the softer tones and new beginnings of spring. This theme is perfect for early morning light, delicate textures, and the understated magic of renewal.

Spring in Bloom

Vibrant colors, bursting flowers, street markets, and lush gardens—this set captures the full bloom of spring. Great for city strolls, tulip fields, and saturated street scenes.

Everyday Wanderlust

For spontaneous getaways, bike rides, beach walks, and life lived outdoors. These presets are about capturing candid joy and natural beauty with clarity and subtle pop.

Summer’s in full swing, and so is our push to get Darkroom 7 out the door. We originally planned to launch much sooner, but our internal testing surfaced enough issues that we decided to hold back. We spent the extra time making sure today's Mac Beta release feels as smooth and solid as it deserves to be.

We’re now thrilled to introduce the Mac Beta for Darkroom 7, a major milestone that just so happens to coincide with our 10-year anniversary as your photo editing app of choice. You can read all about it in our Darkroom 7 Beta for Mac post.

Darkroom 7 Beta for Mac

Join us in testing Darkroom 7 for Mac, featuring a completely rebuilt rendering engine that delivers unprecedented speed, stability, and performance.

Behind the scenes, there’s been a lot happening. Our founder Majd just went on paternity leave (🎉 welcome to the world, little one!), and other members of the team have been taking well-earned summer breaks. Things might feel a little slower, but it’s all part of building with care.

With the Mac beta out, we’re already lining things up to bring the same attention to iPhone and iPad, including finishing some updated tools and making video playback as smooth and accurate as possible.

While we’re not focused just yet on making Darkroom shine with Liquid Glass on iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26, it’s absolutely on our radar. First, we want Darkroom 7 to be the strongest possible foundation for the next generation of updates and features.

Thank you for your patience and excitement. This release is one of our biggest yet, and we can’t wait for you to try it.

Until then, stay cool and keep creating.

The Darkroom Team