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Adobe
Basic information
Founded 1982
Legal Structure Public
Industry Software
Also known as
Official website https://adobe.com/

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). [1]

Consumer impact summary

Lack of ownership

In 2013, Adobe switched from a perpetual license model to a subscription model (Creative Cloud).[2][3][4]

Proprietary file formats

Works created in Adobe software come in Adobe-exclusive file formats such as .psd for Photoshop[5][6] and .indd for InDesign.[7]

Data breaches

In 2013, Adobe disclosed a data breach affecting approximately 3 million customers. This number was later revised to approximately 38 million. [8] This incident resulted in a $1,000,000 settlement and a commitment to implementing new security policies. [9] In 2019, researchers discovered that Adobe's Elasticsearch database was insecure, potentially exposing the information of approximately 7.5 million users. [10] Breaches impacting U.S. federal agencies and Adobe Commerce/Magento stores also occurred in 2023 and 2024, respectively. [11][12]

Incidents

Transition to subscription-based software

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.[2][3][4]

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 article: 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[13] and the document scanning application Adobe Scan[14], 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.[15]

User information leaks and data breaches

In 2013, credit card information and personal data of 38 million users were exposed in a data breach.[16]

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.[17]

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. [18][19]

Adobe Animate discontinuation

On February 2, 2026, Adobe announced to users via e-mail that Adobe Animate, formerly the Adobe Flash Professional series of apps, was announced to be discontinued starting March 1, 2026. The full text of the e-mail reads as follows:

We’re contacting you to let you know that Adobe will be discontinuing Adobe Animate on March 1, 2026. As an existing Animate user, you may continue to use Animate, but please note that technical support will no longer be available after March 1, 2027.

Please note that access to your Animate files and project data will end on March 1, 2027. To ensure a smooth transition, we encourage you to export your Animate FLA and XFL files to other formats such as SWF, SVG, and MP4 files before this date.

Customers with a Creative Cloud Pro plan can use other apps to replace some Animate functionality, including Adobe Express Premium for quick creation of animated videos and graphics and Adobe After Effects for more complex keyframe animation using the Puppet tool. All Creative Cloud members can also use free animation presets in Adobe Express to animate text, images, and design elements.

For more information about the discontinuation of Adobe Animate, review this Adobe Help Center article. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Adobe Support.

We thank you for being an Animate user and a valued Creative Cloud member,

The Creative Cloud Team

The e-mail contained a link to a now-deleted help article, stating that the reason for this was their belief that "as technologies evolve, new platforms and paradigms emerge that better serve the needs of the users." 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. [20] 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. [21][22][23]

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

  1. ↑ "ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934" (PDF). Adobe. 2024-11-29. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2025-04-30. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cunningham, Andrew (2013-05-06). "Adobe's Creative Suite is dead, long live the Creative Cloud". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 16 Jun 2013. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Campbell-Dollaghan, Kelsey (2013-05-06). "Say Goodbye to Creative Suite: Adobe CS Is Now Creative Cloud". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 16 Jun 2013. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Adobe heralds subscription-only future for Photoshop and Creative Suite". Digital Photography Review. 2013-05-06. Archived from the original on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  5. ↑ Smith, Colin. "Most commonly used file types in Photoshop". Photoshop CAFE. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  6. ↑ Williams, Brendan (2023-10-12). "File Formats In Photoshop Explained (Complete List)". Brendan Williams Creative. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  7. ↑ "Which File Format?: A Guide to INDD, IDML, INX and Everything In-Between". InDesign Skills. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  8. ↑ Finkle, Jim (29 Oct 2013). "Adobe data breach more extensive than previously disclosed". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2026-01-23.
  9. ↑ "Adobe to Pay $1 Million, Update Security Policies to Resolve Multistate Investigation Into Data Breach". mass.gov. 15 Nov 2016. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026.
  10. ↑ Khandelwal, Swati (26 Oct 2019). "Unsecured Adobe Server Exposes Data for 7.5 Million Creative Cloud Users". Archived from the original on 12 Apr 2020.
  11. ↑ "Threat Actors Exploit Adobe ColdFusion CVE-2023-26360 for Initial Access to Government Servers". cisa.gov. 5 Dec 2023. Archived from the original on 15 Jan 2024.
  12. ↑ Sansec Forensics Team (1 Oct 2024). "Thousands of Adobe Commerce stores hacked in competing CosmicSting campaigns". sansec.io. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026.
  13. ↑ PaulaArtist2 (2021-12-13). "[How To] Save work locally / work offline". Adobe Community. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Tagra, Ria (2021-06-14). "Does Adobe Scan offer a way to not utilize the Adobe Cloud". Adobe Community. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  15. ↑ Gallagher, Sean (8 Oct 2014). "Adobe's e-book reader sends your reading logs back to Adobe—in plain text". ArsTechnica. Archived from the original on 28 Nov 2024. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
  16. ↑ Patel, Maaz (26 Mar 2023). "The Adobe Attack of 2013: A Cautionary Tale of Cybersecurity Failure". Medium. Archived from the original on 11 Jun 2024. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
  17. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin (26 Oct 2019). "Adobe left 7.5 million Creative Cloud user records exposed online". [ZDNet]. Archived from the original on 5 Jan 2026. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
  18. ↑ "You now have to pay to use Pantone colors in Adobe products". The Verge. Archived from the original on 1 Nov 2022.
  19. ↑ "Adobe Just Held a Bunch of Colors Hostage". Wired. Archived from the original on 10 Nov 2022.
  20. ↑ "Animate End of Life FAQs". Adobe Help Center. 2026-02-02. Archived from the original on 2026-02-03. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  21. ↑ "Adobe Animate maintenance mode FAQs". Adobe Help Center. 2026-02-03. Archived from the original on 5 Feb 2026. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  22. ↑ Smith, Felecia (2026-02-03). "Adobe will discontinue its Animate software after 25 years". technobezz. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-03.
  23. ↑ Preran (2026-02-03). "Update on the status of Adobe Animate". Adobe Community. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Retrieved 2026-02-03.
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