Apple sells hundreds of millions of iPads with the promise that they can replace computers for creative professionals— and for years, design professionals had to make do with fragmented solutions. To sketch, you used one app; to edit photos, another; to lay out pages, a third. The iPad was a creation machine, but not a complete workstation.
That changes on November 3. Affinity, acquired by Canva in 2024, is launching next week the iPad version of its new Affinity Creative Studio— an all-in-one application that combines photo editing, vector design, and page layout in a single interface, with native Apple Pencil support and absolutely no cost. It is not a stripped-down version. It is not a companion app. It is the same rendering engine, the same .af files, the same performance that has already won over professionals on desktop.
From paid to free: Canva's strategy
Affinity was known for a business model that sounded like a glaring contradiction for the professional software sector: separate apps (Photo, Designer, Publisher) at US$ 70 each, one-time purchase, no subscription. It was the antithesis of Adobe's Creative Cloud— and for years, it was the preferred alternative for anyone feeling suffocated by a US$ 54.50 monthly rent (roughly R$ 280 at current exchange rates).
But when Canva bought Serif (Affinity's parent company) in March 2024, nobody expected the new product to be completely free. The decision to make Affinity entirely free was announced in October 2025 for desktop (Windows and macOS), and now the iPad is the final piece of the puzzle.
"We've long thought that professional design tools had to come with a hefty price tag," Affinity said in its launch note. "Today we're taking that even further. Affinity is now completely free, forever. No catch, no watered-down version."
The trick? Affinity now requires a Canva account for activation— but the basic account is free. Advanced AI tools, however, remain locked behind Canva Pro (US$ 15/month), creating a monetization funnel that Adobe already dominates: the core product is free, but those who want extra speed with AI pay more.
Why the iPad is the right stage
Affinity's argument for the iPad is not weak. The iPad Pro, with the M4 chip and Apple Pencil Pro, is already a recognized drawing machine for professionals. Digital artists, illustrators, and graphic designers use pressure tablets— Wacom, Huion— connected to iPads, and the Apple Pencil already offers pressure sensitivity, tilt, and rotation.
The Affinity iPad app is not a simplified port. According to the App Store listing: "It's not just a cut-down companion, it's a full creative experience built for touch. Create art with real curves, precise nodes, and typography that stays sharp through to print. Work with thousands of fully editable layers, follow every tangent, and change your mind whenever you like."
In practice, this means: you sketch an idea on the iPad with the Apple Pencil, develop RAW files in the Pixel studio, edit vectors node by node in the Vector studio, assemble professional layouts in the Layout studio, and export to print— all in the same file. No intermediate exports, no format conversions, no opening and closing three different apps.
What this means for Adobe
Canva's strategy with Affinity is clear: attack Adobe Creative Cloud at its most vulnerable point— the price. With Affinity free, Canva offers to a massive slice of independent designers, freelancers, and small agencies an alternative that doesn't require a monthly subscription. The Creative Cloud costs US$ 54.50/month for the full plan (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign). Affinity costs zero.
Fast Company noted that the new Affinity has "a feature set comparable to Adobe's apps"— and not by accident. Affinity's original apps (Photo, Designer, Publisher) were built to be direct rivals to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, respectively. When Canva unified everything into a single app, it kept the professional codebase.
The risk to Adobe is not losing its entire customer base to Affinity— large studios and agencies are already locked into the Adobe ecosystem by integrations, established workflows, and team training. But Affinity targets exactly the audience Adobe most desires: independent designers and freelancers who either haven't signed up for Creative Cloud or feel they're paying way too much for it.
The darker side of freedom
Affinity's "free forever" is not without caveats. First, the requirement of a Canva account for activation means every user creates a data profile for Canva— which is already a business that collects massive amounts of user data from free accounts. Second, advanced AI tools remain locked behind Canva Pro, meaning the free product, while complete, won't have some of the features that have become standard in competitors: generative fill, smart image expansion, AI background removal.
Additionally, files from the new Affinity (extension .af) are not compatible with the V2 apps (Photo, Designer, Publisher) running on iPad— which means users who migrated to the new Affinity on desktop won't be able to open their files on iPad with the old version. Affinity recommends continuing to use V2 on iPad until the new app launches— but this creates a workflow fragmentation.
The verdict
Affinity for iPad arrives on November 3, already available for "pre-order" on the App Store. If what was delivered on desktop is any indicator, design professionals who didn't want or couldn't afford Creative Cloud now have a real alternative— and Apple has another argument to convince creatives to invest in iPads.
The question that remains: can Adobe keep design professionals paying US$ 54.50/month when the competition offers exactly the same level of professional power— without a subscription, without catch— and also has an app optimized for the most portable device of all?
Sources: The Verge, Fast Company, PetaPixel
✓ Independent sources cross-checked and verified before publishing
