Affinity Photo for iPad was announced this week at Apple’s WWDC. The desktop version is one of the most elegant pieces of design software on the market, and that excellence appears to have been successfully transferred to the iPad. The iPad edition of the award-winning software has been built specifically for the iPad’s hardware, and the interface has been entirely re-imagined to take full advantage of touch interactions. The Affinity team have even built-in sensitivity to the pressure, tilt, and angle of the Apple Pencil, resulting in a new level of experience when interacting with images. Affinity Photo for iPad might be the first photo-editing software that outperforms its desktop sibling.

All rendering, adjustments and filter effects have been fully hardware-accelerated. The result is a genuinely unique new way to interact with your images and your iPad, with performance you’ll find hard to believe.

—Ashley Hewson, MD of Affinity developer Serif Compared to Photoshop’s preview windows—which is the only realistic comparison that can be made—Affinity’s live changes enable a greatly streamlined workflow. The iPad edition of Affinity Photo is based on the same backend as the Windows, and Mac desktop editions. This means there’s perfect file compatibility across devices, including a shared undo history. Other features include: comprehensive retouching tools, so you can discretely remove those blemishes; non-destructive adjustments, so you can experiment with hue and saturation without losing the original artwork; super-accurate selection, allowing you to pick out elements as fine as individual strands of hair; realtime-effects, letting you add drama, without peering through a stamp-sized preview window. You’ll also find: RAW editing; RGB, CMYK, LAB, and Grayscale color spaces; HDR merging; PSD support (as well as PNG, JPG, TIFF, EPS, PDF, and SVG); 32-bit editing; live perspective projection; Pantone support; panorama stitching; pro font support; 360 degree canvas rotation; and a whole lot more. Affinity Photo for iPad is available now at the introductory rate of $19.99.