Lightroom Mobile: Syncing Your Presets From Your Desktop

Photog peeps!  Maybe you're like me and obsessed with your presets on your desktop version of Lightroom (Tribe Archipelago are my current faves!)...however, you're bummed that the mobile version of Lightroom doesn't allow you to add your favorites as presets.

Well, fear now!  I've found a safe hack that allows you to get your favorite presets onto your mobile Lightroom app and therefore onto your mobile snaps!

Ever since discovering this almost every.single.one. of my photos I take and post have been edited in Lightroom mobile with my favorite presets and my photog heart smiles that I can make my everyday iPhone snaps look a lot similar to the ones I take with my big camera!

So I thought I'd whip up a tutorial for you on how to do this in case there are any other peeps out there looking to get their Lightroom presets on their mobile LR app too.

*Note: you need to have Adobe Creative Cloud Account AND be signed in to it with Lightroom for this to be able to work.

Open Lightroom on your computer and hit the + next to collections, then select "Create Collection."  This is the collection you will make to put photos in to sync your presets to Lightroom mobile.

Name your collection something so you'll know that's the collection you're syncing (hint: mine is named LR Mobile Presets)

Pick one RAW unprocessed photo file and drag it into your new collection folder...it's wise to choose a simple outdoor photo for this.

Select the one RAW file and right click (control + click on a Mac) and select "Create Virtual Copy".  Do this for the number of presets you are wanting to sync to LR mobile (ex: I have 12 photos synced in my LR Mobile Presets folder for the 12 LR presets I want synced).

Go through the number of photos you just copied and apply the presets you'd like to each of the different pictures.  Black and white and color presets both work!

While you're still selected on that collection, go up to your name (why it's important you have a Creative Cloud account AND are signed in!) and right click to select "Sync with Lightroom CC".  Your pics will begin to sync!  

You can double check that that collection is being synced by right clicking on the collection and making sure there is a checkmark next to "Sync with Lightroom mobile" option as well as the little arrows next to your collection, indicating your pics are being synced.

Now grab your phone and open the Lightroom mobile app.  Make sure you are signed in with your Creative Cloud account -- the same one you sign into Lightroom on your desktop with.

Once you are in LR mobile you'll notice the cloud in the upper left corner...when it is a solid white cloud the sync is complete, if it has little dots in it it's currently syncing, so when you first open LR mobile it'll probably take a minute or two to sync your LR Mobile Presets folder from LR.

Once it is done syncing select "Camera Roll" at the bottom and you can import photo(s) from your camera roll that you want to edit in the LR mobile app.

Once you have your pics in there that you want to edit, navigate to the LR Mobile Presets folder (the one you synced from your desktop) and select the preset you want to apply to your photos.  Note: the presets aren't titled like they are in the desktop LR so you'll just have to use your eyes to see what preset coloring you are wanting to apply.

Once you've picked a preset and selected it, watch the cloud in the upper left: you'll want it to go from a blue 'syncing' circle to a solid white one.  That means the preset has been synced.

Next navigate back (hit the back arrow in the upper left corner) and go back into the Lightroom Photos folder (where the pics you just imported from your camera roll should be) and select a picture you are wanting to apply that preset to.

Once in the editor for that photo, navigate on the bottom toll bar over to "Previous" and select it; then select "All from Previous" and BAM!  Your preset that you just clicked on from your synced folder is now applied to your photo!

You will do this for every preset you want to apply; LR mobile is literally copying the last photo you clicked on's 'editing' and then when you select a new photo you are able to apply that same 'edit' to it.  So not necessarily "applying a preset" but kind of a hack/work around that you actually are.

You can then make fine-tune adjustments, crops, etc... once you've applied the "previous" (preset) to your picture. 

When you are finished editing, simply select the arrow box in the upper right corner and save to your camera roll!

BOOM! That's it!  You now have an edited photo on your iPhone using your LR computer presets!  Woo hoo!  

If you ever want to add more presets to your LR mobile app simply add more RAW files to that synced folder on your desktop LR, apply the presets, make sure it's syncing, and you're good to go!

I promise you this seems like a lot of steps but once you do it and use it a few times it becomes old hat and is SO EASY to do and edit photos quickly on your mobile phone via the LR mobile app that will have that same preset look you use for photos in your LR desktop app!  

Hope this little tutorial was helpful to all of my Creative Cloud Lightroom users!!