Adobe Releases iPad Companion Apps for Photoshop: Eazel, Nav, Color Lava - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Adobe Releases iPad Companion Apps for Photoshop: Eazel, Nav, Color Lava

Adobe has released its first three Photoshop CS5 companion apps for the iPad. The apps were originally announced in April as a demonstration of what could be accomplished with their new Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit.


The three apps include:

Adobe Eazel ($4.99)

With Adobe Eazel, you can use your iPad and your fingertips to paint beautiful works of art. Paint across your entire iPad screen, and easily access the tools you need. Send your artwork directly to Photoshop CS5 from any locationall you need is a network connection between your iPad and computer. Or do all your painting in the app, and share via email.

Adobe Nav ($1.99)

With Adobe Nav and a network connection between your iPad and computer, you can customize the Photoshop CS5 toolbar on iPad to easily access the tools you use most. Browse, reorder, view, and zoom in on up to 200 open Photoshop documents on iPad. Tap a document on iPad to make it the active document in Photoshop CS5. Disconnect from the network and use iPad to easily share files in person with others.

Adobe Color Lava ($2.99)

With Adobe Color Lava, you can use your fingertips to mix colors on your iPad and create custom swatches and five-swatch themes. Instantly access them in Photoshop CS5all you need is a network connection between your iPad and computer. Or use the app wherever inspiration strikes, and then bring your colors into Photoshop CS5 when you're connected. Share colors via email, too.

Meanwhile, 3rd party developers are also working on their own apps to take advantage of the new Adobe SDK. Adobe Photoshop CS5 version 12.0.4 (released last week) or later is required.

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces. The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
imac video apple feature

Apple Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever This Year

Wednesday July 29, 2026 12:03 pm PDT by
Apple this year acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014. This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019. Q.ai...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro: Twelve Changes Coming to Apple's Next Flagship

Thursday July 30, 2026 3:43 am PDT by
We're less than two months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a dramatic change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year,...

Top Rated Comments

199 months ago
What annoys me is they are separate Apps!?

Surely a unified Application for each Adobe app is the way to go.

All three would be much more useful if integrated in the same interface.

Even if is was a free base app with buy ins for each component. They could add more components and Applications in the future.

A lot of these things could be cross application too
All three would work great in After effects for example - Nav in anything.

Future things that would be great
Timeline scrubbing foe AE/Premiere
Virtual colour wheels in Premiere
A new Cutting mechanism in Premiere
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
199 months ago
More good apps to have! To bad they aren't a bit cheaper...

This is dirt cheap for Adobe. Just be thankful they are not charging many multiples more. :)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iSee Avatar
199 months ago
Insane prices if you ask me..

Well, considering the price of Photoshop, these prices are nominal at worst -- probably the main reason Adobe didn't make them free was to keep people who don't know what they are out of the way. Otherwise they would be giving inaccurate reviews, contacting support, etc.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NightFox Avatar
199 months ago
Insane prices if you ask me..

I doubt many people/companies who've stumped up the cash for CS5 and iOS devices are going to worry too much about another $10.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
199 months ago
Loving it

I've been using Adobe Nav this morning, and absolutely love it.

Being able to ignore the keyboard while drawing on a Cintiq is such a relief, but the biggest boon is being able to see/arrange/open all your open documents. Anyone who does a lot of photoshop work with many docs will know the hate that comes with it's tabbed doc approach. This is the cure.

You can't change the size of the UI elements or thumbnails, so there's room for improvement, but I can see this turning into something awesome over time. An Adobe Bridge link, connected to multiple computers/libraries at once? Oh the good-ness of potential...

There aren't many iPad apps that actually make me happy... but this is one.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ciTiger Avatar
199 months ago
More good apps to have! To bad they aren't a bit cheaper...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors