Syncing Collections with Lightroom Mobile

[mallardnathan]

I'm finally at the point with using Lightroom where I can sync collections with Lightroom Mobile so I can access them with the Lightroom Mobile app on my iPhone. I have a few questions concerning syncing collections with Lightroom Mobile.

1. I have syncing enabled in Lightroom on my PC. Do I need to do anything else in order to sync collections with Lightroom Mobile, or do I just need to start marking collections as "sync with mobile"?

2. After downloading the Lightroom app on my iPhone, is there anything I need to do besides singing in to pull down the collections, or will everything auto-sync?

3. Does it matter how much space I have on Creative Cloud when syncing photos with Lightroom Mobile? I'm wondering if I have enough space or need to purchase an upgrade.

4. Once photos are in Lightroom Mobile, can they be sent to the iOS Photos app in case I need to use them in another app on my iPhone that accesses the iOS Photos Library (I'm wanting to primarily use Lightroom for managing photos and only use iOS Photos as a temporary holding place for photos I need to use in other apps).

5. What's the quickest way to get photos taken by my iPhone into Lightroom?

Thanks!

[Ian Lyons]

mallardnathan wrote:

1. I have syncing enabled in Lightroom on my PC. Do I need to do anything else in order to sync collections with Lightroom Mobile, or do I just need to start marking collections as "sync with mobile"?

Lightroom desktop needs to be signed in Creative Cloud in order that syncing can take place, and as you say make the collections as 'Sync with Lightroom mobile'.

2. After downloading the Lightroom app on my iPhone, is there anything I need to do besides singing in to pull down the collections, or will everything auto-sync?

Assuming you're logged into Creative Cloud (CC) then any collections already synced with CC will be synced with Lr mobile on your iPhone. The sync can take place over wifi and mobile data or just wifi (i.e. tap on Lr icon in Lr mobile to expose the Settings list).

3. Does it matter how much space I have on Creative Cloud when syncing photos with Lightroom Mobile? I'm wondering if I have enough space or need to purchase an upgrade.

Your Creative Cloud account includes 20GB of storage.

4. Once photos are in Lightroom Mobile, can they be sent to the iOS Photos app in case I need to use them in another app on my iPhone that accesses the iOS Photos Library (I'm wanting to primarily use Lightroom for managing photos and only use iOS Photos as a temporary holding place for photos I need to use in other apps).

I don't know much about the Apple Photos app, but am fairly sure that Lr doesn't access any photos you would have uploaded to Apple Photos  and vice versa. Lr mobile can access any photos you capture on your iPhone though.

5. What's the quickest way to get photos taken by my iPhone into Lightroom?

Click on 'Camera Roll' at bottom of Lr mobile 'Organize screen on your iPhone (see below screen shot of iPhone). This takes you directly to any photos captured on your iPhone. You can then select which you want to integrate with Lr mobile and sync to your Lr desktop catalog.

[mallardnathan]

Thanks for the info! A couple of side questions:

1. Does Lightroom sync the full resolution photos to Creative Cloud when syncing collections? My Lightroom photos are greater than 20GB, so that will determine if I need to pay for additional CC storage or not.

2. Is there a "Share Sheet" in Lightroom Mobile when accessing images? Wondering if that'd allow sending an image to iOS Photos in case I needed to view it in a different app.

Thanks!

[selondon · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Any Photos uploaded to the 'Cloud' are not part of your 20GB Creative Cloud account. The limit isn't clearly specified.

Collectiions synced from LR Desktop will only upload Smart Previews to the Cloud and although fine to edit in LR Mobile and LR Web, this won't allow you to download the High Res to the Camera Roll for use in other Application.

From LR Mobile, you can share/save images to the Camera Roll or Share Collectiions to Social Media or Privately via a link.

Photos uploaded from LR Mobile and LR Web will be Full Resolution and sync back to LR Desktop under 'From LR Mobile'.

[mallardnathan]

Perfect. Thanks a bunch for the info! This has been a huge help.

[mallardnathan]

I tried this out. I was able to sync all my collections (over 7,000 photos) without an issue. So one can sync a bunch of photos with Lightroom Mobile. Everything synced flawlessly between my PC and iPhone.

There is a feature in Lightroom that allows one to add photos from Lightroom to the iOS Photos app Camera Roll, so moving photos back and forth when need be is possible. Adobe apps also integrate very well with Lightroom Mobile.

[dunaz]

Once you have the image open in Lightroom mobile, you can tap on the share button at the top right. On the iPhone there's an option to save to camera roll. As far as I can tell this only works with individual images, not albums.