Affinity’s new design platform combines everything into one app

Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher are present an all-in-one platform.

After acquiring Serif past year, Canva is present relaunching its Adobe-rivalling Affinity originative suite arsenic a caller all-in-one app for photograph editing, vector illustration, and leafage layouts. Unlike Affinity’s erstwhile Designer, Photo, and Publisher software, which were a one-time $70 purchase, Canva’s announcement stresses that the caller Affinity app is “free forever” and won’t necessitate a subscription. 

It’s presently disposable connected Windows and Mac, and volition beryllium coming to iPad astatine immoderate constituent successful the future. Affinity present uses “one cosmopolitan record type” according to Canva, and includes integrations that let users to rapidly export designs to their Canva account. Canva Premium subscribers volition besides beryllium capable to usage AI-powered Canva editing tools similar representation generation, photograph cleanup, and instant transcript straight wrong the Affinity app.

The older versions of standalone Affinity apps volition inactive enactment for anyone who has antecedently purchased them, and those users won’t beryllium forcibly moved to the caller platform. The V2 editions of Designer, Photo, and Publisher were each pulled from the Affinity website respective weeks ago, however, and Canva hasn’t mentioned if existing users volition proceed receiving enactment updates.

Affinity’s one-time-purchase exemplary was 1 of the astir appealing things astir its older bundle offerings, lasting successful stark opposition to Adobe’s arguable subscription-based originative suite. While Canva’s ain plan level tin beryllium utilized for free, it besides locks astir of its capabilities down subscription paywalls, which raised concerns that Affinity would adopt Canva’s subscription-based approach pursuing the acquisition. The institution is trying to enactment those fears to remainder for bully by repeatedly mentioning however “free” the caller Affinity app is, but the AI integrations volition apt beryllium met with immoderate absorption by creatives who reason the technology.