What’s New in Lightroom Classic 15.3, Mobile & Desktop (April 2026)? (includes 9.3.1 bug fix & iOS 11.3.2/11.3.3)

Lightroom Classic 15.3, Lightroom Desktop 9.3 and Lightroom Mobile 11.3 have all been released today. There are some feature updates in all versions of Lightroom, along with bug fixes and new lens support.

May 12: iOS v11.3.2 released with new features and bug fixes (see ‘Other Changes’ below).

May 26: iOS v11.3.3 released (see ‘Other Changes’ below).

Premium Classic Members of our website, click here for even more details on the changes to Lightroom Classic (you will need to be logged in to access the link).

Premium Cloud Members of our website, click here for even more details on the changes to Lightroom Ecosystem (you will need to be logged in to access the link).

New bugs…

• Classic
  • (Win ARM-only) Book Module – Text is rotated 90 degrees
• Desktop
  • File renaming sequence applied incorrectly
  • Paste of Crop results in an uncropped destination image ** Fixed in 9.3.1 Released May 6 **
• Camera Raw
  • ACR 18.3 is unusable unless you disable GPU acceleration (updated build on that link)

Assisted Culling Improvements (Classic & Desktop)

This release improves recognition of photos with a shallow depth of field, for example, photos where the subject is in focus, but other people/objects in the background or foreground are intentionally blurred. As a result of these changes, the Subject Focus and Eye Focus scores may change.

Under the Eye Focus and Eyes Open checkboxes, you’ll also note that the wording has changed slightly, from Reject photos without people’s eyes to Select only photos with people’s eyes detected and Reject all “Can’t Tell” images to Select Can’t Tell photos.

There are also changes to the way Rejects work. Exposure Issues has moved up the panel and now has a slider that runs from Light to Strong, so you can determine how severe the exposure issues need to be to be classed as rejects. The Documents and Receipts checkbox has simply changed to Documents.

Film Presets (All)

There are new film-inspired presets and profiles. Unlike some third-party film presets, these aren’t designed to replicate specific film brands. Instead, the presets have names like Warm Gold and Light Sage. In Classic, you’ll find the presets in the Presets panel > Style: Film-Inspired group, and the profiles in the Profile Browser > Film-Inspired group. On Desktop, you’ll find the presets in the Presets panel > Style: Film-Inspired group, and the profiles in the Profile Browser > Film-Inspired group.

Natural Language Search (Desktop & Web)

Whereas Local mode is limited to searching basic metadata stored in the files, such as EXIF metadata added by the camera or keywords you’ve manually added to the photo, the Cloud mode also supports AI-based visual search. For some time, it’s been able to find photos based on a simple visual search, such as “dog”, but now you can search on an entire phrase, such as “raw photos of a white dog and a child running along a beach in September 2025 on the Isle of Wight” or “houses with a thatched roof”. If you don’t get the result you expect, try rephrasing it.

Background AI Processing for Copy/Paste/Sync (Classic)

Previously, when using Copy/Paste, Sync, Auto Sync, or applying a preset, any included AI updates ran as a separate process. The dialog blocked any further Lightroom use until the AI had finished updating.

If that process didn’t complete, perhaps because you canceled the dialog to get on with other work, some of the AI edits may have remained outdated or missing.

As of this release, Lightroom can now apply these updates in the background. It still takes time to run these updates, during which the affected photos are blocked for further editing, but you can continue working on other photos.

Edit Using Describe (Android)

There’s an interesting new AI tool on Android that edits your photos based on simple text instructions.

To try it, open a photo in Detail view, tap the Edit sliders button in the toolstrip, and then choose Describe.

There are five presets to get you started: Natural, Vintage, Cinematic, Light & Airy, and Warm & Earthy.

Or you can type instructions like “make this warmer”, “make it look like sunset”, “give it a dark, moody feel”, or “turn this into a contrasty black and white photo”.

Export AI Warning (Classic & Desktop)

When exporting photos, you may see a new AI Updates Required dialog if some of the selected images contain AI settings that need updating.

Sync Improvements (Classic)

PSB files can now be synced to/from the cloud, and downloading photos from the cloud is now faster, too.

Add Images to Firefly Boards (Classic & Desktop)

There’s a new File menu > Generate Using Firefly > Start a mood board (Classic), Share menu > Start a mood board (Desktop) command. These can include images from outside Lightroom, such as inspiration you’ve found online, without cluttering up your catalog. You can also add notes or text, making them more flexible for planning. Also, you can experiment with AI edits in Firefly without affecting your Lightroom photos, so it’s a safe place to try out ideas before committing to them.

Sony A7V’s Compressed and Compressed HQ raw formats (All)

Support has been added for the Sony A7V’s Compressed and Compressed HQ raw formats, in addition to the standard raw format.

Zoom while Cropping (Desktop)

You can now zoom while cropping, so you can be much more accurate. This change does mean the keyboard shortcuts now behave as they do in the Remove or Masking tools:

• To zoom in or out, use the buttons on the toolbar, or the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl = (Windows) / Cmd = (Mac) to zoom in and Ctrl – (Windows) / Cmd – (Mac) to zoom out.
• To pan, hold down the Spacebar while dragging.
• Use Ctrl-arrow (Windows) / Cmd-arrow (Mac) to move to the previous/next photo.

Crop (iPadOS)

The Crop interface on the iPad has been updated to match the new interface introduced to iPhone/Android in February. All of the existing features are still there, but they’ve moved around a bit, and there are new pop-ups for social media aspect ratios. Also like the iPhone/Android app, the Geometry panel has also moved from the main Edit panels to a tab in the Crop tool.

Other Changes

• 

  Classic

  • Interactive Slider Editing is optimized to give a more fluid editing experience.

• Ecosystem (Mobile, Desktop & Web)

  • PSB supported for Import, Editing and Sync
• Desktop
  • Previously, Lightroom opened files into Photoshop as 16-bit ProPhoto RGB data (and the equivalent for HDR files), then saved them as TIFFs. As of this release, you can decide how you would like to handle those files. To do so, go to Preferences > Edit in Photoshop tab and select your preferences for SDR and HDR files.
  • In Local Mode, until now, everything was stored using the standardized XMP format—either embedded in the file header, or in a separate *.xmp sidecar file for proprietary raw formats. With this release, that’s changed slightly. Pixel-based edits, such as Denoise and Generative Remove, are now stored in separate *.acr sidecar files for all file types. This is mainly to improve performance.
• iOS v11.3.2 (released May 12) / v11.3.3 (released May 26)
  • Get clear skin in seconds with one-tap and new manual touch-up tools, now unified in one view within Retouch of Quick Actions.
  • Save time with improved keyboard shortcuts by connecting a physical keyboard to your iPad or iPhone: Keyboard shortcuts | Lightroom for mobile (iOS)

New camera support:

• Apple
  • Apple iPhone 17e Front Camera
  • Apple iPhone 17e Rear Camera
• Panasonic
  • Panasonic LUMIX DC-ZS300 (DC-TZ300)
• Sony
  • A7 Mark VI Preliminary support (May dot releases)
• Click to view the full list of supported cameras

New lens profiles:

• Apple
  • Apple iPhone 17e
    • Front camera 2.69mm f/1.9
    • Back camera 4.2mm f/1.64
• Insta360
  • Insta360 Ace Pro 2
  • Insta360 GO Ultra
• Laowa
  • Laowa CF 12-24mm F5.6 Zoom Shift
• REEFLEX
  • REEFLEX G-Series Telephoto 2x
• Samsung
  • Samsung Galaxy S26
    • Front Camera
    • Rear Telephoto Camera
    • Rear Ultrawide Camera
    • Rear Wide Camera
  • Samsung Galaxy S26+
    • Front Camera
    • Rear Telephoto Camera
    • Rear Ultrawide Camera
    • Rear Wide Camera
  • Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
    • Front Camera
    • Rear Super Telephoto Camera
    • Rear Telephoto Camera
    • Rear Ultrawide Camera
    • Rear Wide Camera
•  SIGMA
  • SIGMA 14mm F1.4 DG A023
• Viltrox
  • Viltrox AF 9mm F2.8 Z
  • Viltrox AF 14mm F4 Z
  • Viltrox AF 15mm F1.7 XF
  • Viltrox AF 15mm F1.7 Z
• ZEISS
  • ZEISS Otus ML 1.4/35
• Click here for the full list of available Adobe Lens Profiles

New tether support (Classic only)

• No new tether support this time.
• Click to view the full list of cameras supported for tethering.