Adobe

2026-02-05T04:59:16Z

2601:58B:4800:3580:E0C4:6105:78DC:4259: /* Adobe Animate discontinuation */

{{CompanyCargo
|Description=American software company popular for programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, and Acrobat.
|Founded=1982
|Industry=Software
|Logo=Adobe.svg
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Public
|Website=https://adobe.com/
}}
[[wikipedia:Adobe_Inc.|'''Adobe''']] is a software company based in San Jose, California, that specializes in creative software, including photo editing, video editing, animation, illustration, web development, and more. Founded in 1982, the company developed the Portable Document Format (PDF) in 1992, along with a comprehensive suite of creative software. Widespread adoption of their products by novices, industry professionals, and nation-states has enabled Adobe to carve out a significant market share in the creative software industry. In FY24, Adobe's Digital Media Segment reported $15.86 billion in revenue to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). <ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-29 |title=ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |url=https://www.adobe.com/cc-shared/assets/investor-relations/pdfs/adbe-2024-annual-report.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250430145007/https://www.adobe.com/cc-shared/assets/investor-relations/pdfs/adbe-2024-annual-report.pdf |archive-date=2025-04-30 |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=Adobe}}</ref>

==Consumer impact summary==

===Lack of ownership===
In 2013, Adobe switched from a perpetual license model to a subscription model (Creative Cloud).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Cunningham |first=Andrew |date=2013-05-06 |title=Adobe’s Creative Suite is dead, long live the Creative Cloud |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/05/adobes-creative-suite-is-dead-long-live-the-creative-cloud/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/cxcNR |archive-date=16 Jun 2013 |access-date=2025-09-30 |website=Ars Technica}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Campbell-Dollaghan |first=Kelsey |date=2013-05-06 |title=Say Goodbye to Creative Suite: Adobe CS Is Now Creative Cloud |url=https://gizmodo.com/say-goodbye-to-creative-suite-adobe-rebrands-cs-as-cre-493155052 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/0LcBS |archive-date=16 Jun 2013 |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Gizmodo}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2013-05-06 |title=Adobe heralds subscription-only future for Photoshop and Creative Suite |url=http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/05/06/Adobe-kills-perpetual-licenses-as-creative-suite-moves-to-creative-cloud-cc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622072403/http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/05/06/Adobe-kills-perpetual-licenses-as-creative-suite-moves-to-creative-cloud-cc |archive-date=2013-06-22 |access-date=2025-09-30 |website=Digital Photography Review}}</ref>

===Proprietary file formats===
Works created in Adobe software come in Adobe-exclusive file formats such as .psd for Photoshop<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Colin |date= |title=Most commonly used file types in Photoshop |url=https://photoshopcafe.com/commonly-used-file-types-photoshop/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/0ZT6H |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |access-date=2025-09-30 |website=Photoshop CAFE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Brendan |date=2023-10-12 |title=File Formats In Photoshop Explained (Complete List) |url=https://www.bwillcreative.com/file-formats-in-photoshop-explained/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/mTNlg |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |access-date=2025-09-30 |website=Brendan Williams Creative}}</ref> and .indd for InDesign.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Which File Format?: A Guide to INDD, IDML, INX and Everything In-Between |url=https://indesignskills.com/tutorials/open-indesign-files-in-earlier-versions/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/SumKq |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |access-date=2025-09-30 |website=InDesign Skills}}</ref>

===Data breaches===
In 2013, Adobe disclosed a data breach affecting approximately 3 million customers. This number was later revised to approximately 38 million. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Finkle |first=Jim |date=29 Oct 2013 |title=Adobe data breach more extensive than previously disclosed |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/adobe-data-breach-more-extensive-than-previously-disclosed-idUSBRE99S1DJ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/rH59d |archive-date=2026-01-23 |website=Reuters}}</ref> This incident resulted in a $1,000,000 settlement and a commitment to implementing new security policies. <ref>{{Cite web |date=15 Nov 2016 |title=Adobe to Pay $1 Million, Update Security Policies to Resolve Multistate Investigation Into Data Breach |url=https://www.mass.gov/news/adobe-to-pay-1-million-update-security-policies-to-resolve-multistate-investigation-into-data-breach |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/nSVpL |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |website=mass.gov}}</ref> In 2019, researchers discovered that Adobe's Elasticsearch database was insecure, potentially exposing the information of approximately 7.5 million users. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Khandelwal |first=Swati |date=26 Oct 2019 |title=Unsecured Adobe Server Exposes Data for 7.5 Million Creative Cloud Users |url=https://thehackernews.com/2019/10/adobe-database-leaked.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/UfO7n |archive-date=12 Apr 2020}}</ref> Breaches impacting U.S. federal agencies and Adobe Commerce/Magento stores also occurred in 2023 and 2024, respectively. <ref>{{Cite web |date=5 Dec 2023 |title=Threat Actors Exploit Adobe ColdFusion CVE-2023-26360 for Initial Access to Government Servers |url=https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-339a |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/8g4C3 |archive-date=15 Jan 2024 |website=cisa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sansec Forensics Team |date=1 Oct 2024 |title=Thousands of Adobe Commerce stores hacked in competing CosmicSting campaigns |url=https://sansec.io/research/cosmicsting-fallout |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/vj2if |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |website=sansec.io}}</ref>

==Incidents==

===Transition to subscription-based software===
{{Hatnote|Read More: [[Adobe Lightroom]], [[Adobe Subscriptions]], [[Adobe CS Activation]] and
[[Adobe sued by FTC over hidden fees in subscription plans]]
}}

Adobe initially distributed its software with perpetual licenses, allowing its users to make a one-time payment to own and access a specific application or, through Adobe's Creative Suite, a collection of applications. In 2011, Adobe introduced Creative Cloud, a subscription service that provides users with access to individual applications or multiple applications for a monthly or yearly fee. In 2013, Adobe discontinued Creative Suite.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

As of 2025, the only means to access up-to-date versions of many Adobe applications legally is through Creative Cloud. Additionally, the activation servers for perpetual licenses of previous versions of these applications have been shut down, which prevents consumers from activating the software using a legitimate copy and a serial number.

Creative Cloud offers various subscription options, including monthly plans (with monthly or annual billing) or prepaid yearly plans. There are also plans for individual applications and bundles containing multiple applications. Prices of individual applications range from $22.99 per month or $263.88 prepaid annually. The Creative Cloud Pro subscription, which includes 22 applications and additional extras such as 100 GB of cloud storage, is priced at $69.99 per month or $779.88 per year prepaid.

Plans billed annually but paid monthly have a cancellation fee 14 days after purchase. This fee is set at 50% of the remaining contract balance. For example, if the user cancels the plan in the seventh month of an annual plan that costs $69.99 per month, they will incur a fee of $174.98. Prepaid annual plans do not offer refunds or cancellation options after the 14-day period.

===Alleged use of user data for AI training===
{{main|Adobe's AI policy}}
Adobe has been accused of using user information for the purpose of training artificial intelligence. In 2024, Adobe updated its Terms of Service, granting itself a "non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license" to users' content. This grants Adobe permission to reproduce, distribute, create derivative works from, publicly display, publicly perform, and sublicense their users' content. This change raises concerns over conflicts with existing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and intellectual property rights. Users were required to accept the new Terms of Service to access their previously stored content.

Adobe has stated that it does not use user content to train generative AI, but Adobe may use it for improving its machine learning systems, with an opt-out available. However, no opt-out option was presented during acceptance of the Terms of Service. 

===User documents forced into the cloud with no opt-out===
Some of Adobe's iPad applications, including, but not limited to, the digital painting application Adobe Fresco<ref>{{Cite web |author=PaulaArtist2 |date=2021-12-13 |title=[How To] Save work locally / work offline |url=https://community.adobe.com/t5/fresco-discussions/how-to-save-work-locally-work-offline/m-p/12390252 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/WreAh |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=Adobe Community}}</ref> and the document scanning application Adobe Scan<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tagra |first=Ria |date=2021-06-14 |title=Does Adobe Scan offer a way to not utilize the Adobe Cloud |url=https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-scan-discussions/does-adobe-scan-offer-a-way-to-not-utilize-the-adobe-cloud/m-p/12104402 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/cO5G1 |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=Adobe Community}}</ref>, require an account to access and do not offer any option to opt out of syncing all documents created in these applications with Adobe's cloud servers. Similarly, the new non-Classic versions of Lightroom are fundamentally built around uploading all images to Adobe's cloud.

There is no end-to-end encryption, i.e., Adobe has full access to all of these files. Disabling internet access allows the user to work offline, but any files created in the affected apps will immediately sync to the cloud in the background as soon as the device is connected to a network again.

As an American company, Adobe is subject to the United States Cloud Act, which requires all US companies to grant the US government access to any user data, even if stored on servers outside their jurisdiction, and to comply with requests to help with spy operations upon request.

===Tracking users' eBook reading activities===
In 2014, it was revealed that Adobe Digital Editions, Adobe’s e-book reading application, reported extensive information about users' reading habits back to Adobe. This included several unique identifiers, such as which e-books were added to the application, when each one was opened, and for how long, as well as the percentage read and page navigation information.

All of this information was transmitted completely unencrypted in plain text. This meant that someone else using the same public Wi-Fi as another user would have been able to track their reading activities in real-time, entirely undetected.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gallagher |first=Sean |date=8 Oct 2014 |title=Adobe’s e-book reader sends your reading logs back to Adobe—in plain text |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/10/adobes-e-book-reader-sends-your-reading-logs-back-to-adobe-in-plain-text/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/gwRVe |archive-date=28 Nov 2024 |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[ArsTechnica]]}}</ref>

===User information leaks and data breaches===
In 2013, credit card information and personal data of 38 million users were exposed in a data breach.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Patel |first=Maaz |date=26 Mar 2023 |title=The Adobe Attack of 2013: A Cautionary Tale of Cybersecurity Failure |url=https://medium.com/@maazptl240602/the-adobe-attack-of-2013-a-cautionary-tale-of-cybersecurity-failure-1ef4ec74eb64 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/xqXwd |archive-date=11 Jun 2024 |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[Medium]]}}</ref>

In 2019, Adobe left approximately 7.5 million Creative Cloud customer records publicly accessible online due to gross negligence. The database was not protected with a password.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cimpanu |first=Catalin |date=26 Oct 2019 |title=Adobe left 7.5 million Creative Cloud user records exposed online |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/adobe-left-7-5-million-creative-cloud-user-records-exposed-online/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/KDsVc |archive-date=5 Jan 2026 |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[ZDNet]}}</ref>

===Paywalls Pantone colors and changes user files===
Adobe and Pantone change colors in users' existing files in Photoshop and Illustrator to black unless they pay an additional $15/month. <ref>{{Cite web |title=You now have to pay to use Pantone colors in Adobe products |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/1/23434305/adobe-pantone-subscription-announcement-photoshop-illustrator |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/uoPg0 |archive-date=1 Nov 2022 |website=The Verge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Adobe Just Held a Bunch of Colors Hostage |url=https://www.wired.com/story/adobe-pantone-color-subscription-fee/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.ph/mh7w6 |archive-date=10 Nov 2022 |website=Wired}}</ref>

===Adobe Animate discontinuation===
On February 2, 2026, Adobe announced that Adobe Animate, formerly the Adobe Flash Professional series of apps, was announced to be discontinued starting March 1, 2026. According to a now-deleted help article, the stated reason for this was their belief that "as technologies evolve, new platforms and paradigms emerge that better serve the needs of the users." This meant that new customers would no longer be able to download Animate after March 1, 2026, and existing customers would have until March 1, 2027 to download the software that they had paid for. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-02 |title=Animate End of Life FAQs |url=https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/kb/end-of-life.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260203121443/https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/kb/end-of-life.html |archive-date=2026-02-02 |access-date=2026-02-04 |website=Adobe Help Center}}</ref> This means that users who purchased licenses to use Adobe Animate had the ability to download that software taken from them despite paying for a license to do so. However, after backlash from artists using the software, Adobe backtracked and stated that Animate would be in "maintenance mode", claiming that they will provide security fixes for the software but no new features. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-03 |title=Adobe Animate maintenance mode FAQs |url=https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/kb/maintenance-mode.html |url-status=live |access-date=2026-02-04 |website=Adobe Help Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Felecia |date=2026-02-03 |title=Adobe will discontinue its Animate software after 25 years |url=https://www.technobezz.com/news/adobe-will-discontinue-its-animate-software-after-25-years-2026-02-03-zg2t |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.is/pOiuR |archive-date=2026-02-04 |access-date=2026-02-03 |website=technobezz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Preran |date=2026-02-03 |title=Update on the status of Adobe Animate |url=https://community.adobe.com/announcements-539/update-on-the-status-of-adobe-animate-1548459 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.is/HQgK0 |archive-date=2026-02-04 |access-date=2026-02-03 |website=Adobe Community}}</ref>

==Products==

===Adobe Creative Cloud===
Adobe's previous line of creative software has been joined into a broader ecosystem called the ''Adobe Creative Cloud.'' The Creative Cloud includes updated versions of the previously purchasable software:

*Photoshop
*Lightroom
*InDesign
*After Effects
*Dreamweaver
*Illustrator
*XD
*and many more

Included with the Creative Cloud, depending on plan options, Adobe also offers cloud-based storage, typefaces, stock photos, and other stock files.

==References==
<references />
*{{cite web |author=((Wikipedia contributors)) |date=2025-02-03 |title=Adobe Inc. |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adobe_Inc.&oldid=1273676016 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=Wikipedia}}
*{{cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Adobe roofies all of their customers |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXxMCm941WA |date=2024-06-07 |website=YouTube |access-date=2025-01-15}}

[[Category:Adobe]]

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