Introducing Preset Sync & Backup to Darkroom

We're excited to introduce automatic preset syncing and backup in Darkroom. Now all your custom and community presets will automatically synchronize across your devices, along with the favorites, arrangement, and even the sets you've chosen to hide. It's a significant step forward in enhancing your photo editing workflow, offering consistency and convenience on your iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Previously, Darkroom's preset management across multiple devices was a manual process that disrupted your creative workflow. Now all your presets are always accessible, eliminating the need for manual backing up, restoring, or manually sharing between devices. And because it's backed by iCloud, syncing works out of the box without a user account. It's as easy as that!

Presets in Darkroom

Presets are at the core of photo editing in Darkroom, helping you get consistent results quickly. With Darkroom presets, you can create your signature style, save it as a preset, and easily apply the whole look with one tap. You can also share your presets publicly, or install a preset shared by the Darkroom community. Select multiple photos and paste edits to swiftly edit an entire photo shoot. Over the years, we've been investing a lot into making Presets in Darkroom customizable, giving you tools to cureate what you see and where, and we're excited to finally take it cross-platform.

Built on Apple iCloud

Sync in Darkroom is built on the well-known and trusted Apple iCloud, ensuring the security and privacy of your data, similar to iCloud Photos. It uses fairly minimal space within your existing iCloud plan, which means doesn't come at any additional cost, and is not even part of Darkroom+.

Our Broader Sync Vision

While preset syncing and backup is a big leap, our goals extend further. As discussed last year, we're working towards comprehensive sync and backup support for all Darkroom data, utilizing iCloud to enhance your experience in managing and editing photos, as well as in sharing and installing presets, no matter your device or location.

Last year has been about laying the groundwork. We began with quietly releasing flag and reject sync, gathering insights to refine our approach. Now, with preset sync, we're taking another major step. Next will be syncing all edits made to your photos and videos, aiming to synchronize the core of your Darkroom experience. We're proceeding carefully, testing each phase to ensure the best possible implementation.

As part of this update, we've completely rebuilt the preset tool from its very core, setting a solid foundation for the future. This marks our third release of this type, following the introduction of mask previews in which we rebuilt the adjustment tool and the revamped album list. These updates are part of a series dedicated to enhancing and modernizing the core user experiences in Darkroom. As such we where also able to make some additional smaller improvements that you can read about on our updates page.

Preset Search

Enjoy exploring the wide variety of Darkroom Community Presets in a more efficient way! Looking for presets that emulate Polaroid, Fuji Film (FF), Kodak, or Ilford? Or perhaps specific films like Estia, Velvia, or Classic Chrome? Maybe your friend has created an awesome preset like Glass Pop, Asteroid City, or harder to remember name like HP5, A1 or C2? Now, all of these are just a quick few taps to search away.

This is just one of the many smaller improvements we have made, and will continue to make, to Darkroom's Preset Discovery over the past few months. These improvements include indicators for installed presets, a larger discovery window on Mac, and the ability to preview presets before and after on mobile. For a full detailed list of all changes please visit our updates page.

Darkroom+ Bonus

We're excited to introduce six new app icon variants, exclusively for our Darkroom+ subscribers! Explorer leads the way with its outdoor-inspired design, perfect for the adventurous. Our first seasonal offering, Fall, captures the essence of the season. Sunset symbolizes the magical moments photographers cherish, reflecting the stunning hues of the day's end. Safelight pays homage to the quintessential darkroom lamps, a nostalgic nod to our version 3 icon. It's surprising we didn't think of it sooner! Point Cloud draws inspiration from the AI-generated depth point clouds used in our smart masks, blending technology with art. Lastly, Doodle offers a fun and imaginative twist, adding a dash of playfulness to your Darkroom app.

We hope these new icons, bringing our total to an impressive 39, add even more joy and personalization to your Darkroom experience. Enjoy the variety and let your app shine!

Do you want to use any of these six new app icons on Mac? You can! Follow the instructions in our Mac app icon guide.

We're excited about these improvements and believe they'll make a noticeable difference in your photo editing journey. Keep an eye out for further updates as we continue enhancing Darkroom to offer a more connected and intuitive editing experience.

If there’s something you’d like to see in the future please let us know by leaving it on our suggestion board, or by sending us an email or tweet at us.

As always, we’re very thankful for your continued loyalty and support, and look forward to sharing everything else we have in store for you soon.

The Darkroom Team