Affinity resurfaces as an all-in-one illustration, picture modifying and structure app

The way forward for Affinity Designer, Photograph and Writer, subscription-free options to Adobe Artistic Cloud, was unsure after the apps’ developer Serif was acquired by Canva in 2024. Now, over a yr later, the modifications Canva has launched are huge, however not essentially unwelcome. The newly relaunched Affinity by Canva combines all three apps right into a single piece of illustration, picture modifying and structure software program, and somewhat than transfer to a subscription mannequin as many feared, Canva’s made it completely free. Or, not less than, freemium.

Affinity is on the market now as a desktop app for macOS and Home windows, with an iPadOS model on the way in which in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later. The fundamental performance of the app does not appear all that completely different from the three separate apps Serif supplied earlier than, solely now you’ll be able to toggle between their instruments through separate Vector, Pixel and Format tabs. Canva stresses you even have the choice to combine and match instruments, and save customized toolbars to make use of for particular kinds of tasks, if you’d like.

Past layering in chunky serif fonts, Canva’s contact appears comparatively mild. The Affinity app now requires a free Canva account to make use of and gives integrations with the corporate’s suite of instruments, with a brand new choice to ship an Affinity mission on to Canva. The corporate can also be making its Canva AI Studio instruments out there in Affinity, giving customers the flexibility to mechanically take away a background or use Generative Fill to edit a part of a photograph. How properly veteran Affinity customers will take to those modifications stays to be seen, however they’re going to not less than be capable to proceed utilizing their present copies of the previous Affinity V2 lineup.

Free sounds good, however one of many attracts of the unique Affinity inventive suite is that you possibly can buy a license for Serif’s particular person apps and never ever have to consider it once more. Canva is promising that the brand new Affinity shall be free going ahead, however a free app that requires an account and may attempt to upsell you on subscription-based AI options shouldn’t be fairly the identical factor.

Affinity wasn’t the one Adobe competitor to be acquired in 2024. Pixelmator, a developer of standard picture and picture modifying instruments for iOS, iPadOS and macOS, was absorbed by Apple in November that very same yr. The corporate’s apps proceed to be maintained, however it’s nonetheless not clear if Apple plans to shift them to a subscription mannequin sooner or later.