Adobe's Indigo camera app adds Google-powered GenAI tools
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- Adobe is rolling out an AI Playground update (v1.1) to its Project Indigo iPhone camera app, adding generative AI tools Styles, Object Editing, Photo Guidance, and Custom Edit as a free experiment for a small percentage of users over the next few weeks.
- Google's Nano Banana model powers the generative features 'to start,' with Adobe fellow Marc Levoy saying the company may switch or add models — a departure from Adobe's typical reliance on its own Firefly AI.
- Object Editing removes people and distractions and fills backgrounds with generative AI, which the source compares directly to Google's Magic Eraser feature.
- Custom Edit lets users describe image manipulations in plain language, while Styles applies preset AI-generated filter effects and Photo Guidance analyzes photos to suggest reshoots and edits.
- Adobe is working toward adding C2PA Content Credentials to Indigo-edited images; Google's Nano Banana already applies an invisible SynthID watermark to manipulated photos.
- Marc Levoy said a paid version of AI Playground will follow if the experiment proves popular, and framed the app's evolution as 'the beginning of a journey' toward an integrated mobile camera and editing experience.
Why it matters: Adobe built Indigo as a pro-photographer 'natural look' alternative for iPhone shooters, so quietly routing its first generative features through a Google model — rather than Firefly — signals Adobe is prioritizing capability and speed over model loyalty. With C2PA credentials still being built out, AI-edited Indigo photos will circulate without full provenance metadata in the short term, a gap Adobe's own Firefly workflow already closes elsewhere.
