Adobe Releases iPad Companion Apps for Photoshop: Eazel, Nav, Color Lava - MacRumors
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 Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Apple Card Promo to Offer Free AirPods Pro 3

Friday May 15, 2026 8:59 am PDT by
Starting as early as next week, customers who sign up for an Apple Card at Apple's retail stores in the U.S. will receive $249 cash back when they purchase AirPods Pro 3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The promotion has yet to be officially announced by Apple, so exact terms and conditions are not available at this time. AirPods Pro 3 are priced at $249 in the U.S., so customers who...
airpods pro 3 pink

New Apple Card Holders Can Get Free AirPods Pro 3, But There's a Catch

Monday May 18, 2026 8:11 am PDT by
Apple today launched a new promotion offering new Apple Card holders the chance to earn back the cost of AirPods Pro 3 through monthly cash rebates, but there is a recurring spend requirement attached. Customers who open a new Apple Card account and purchase AirPods Pro 3 directly from Apple by June 15 will qualify. Starting July 1 and running through April 30, 2027, cardholders can earn $25 ...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Foldable iPhone Production Stalls Amid Hinge Issues

Monday May 18, 2026 7:29 am PDT by
Trial production of Apple's long-anticipated foldable iPhone, likely called the "iPhone Ultra," has run into a significant engineering hurdle centered on hinge reliability, according to a known leaker. The leaker known as "Instant Digital" posted on Weibo that the foldable device's hinge is consistently failing to meet Apple's quality control standards under conditions of prolonged,...

Top Rated Comments

196 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)
196 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
196 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
196 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)
196 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
196 months ago
More good apps to have! To bad they aren't a bit cheaper...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)