iPhone 17’s selfie camera is the cause of Project Indigo’s delay

The iPhone 17 series launched just over a month ago, but Adobe’s Project Indigo camera app still doesn’t support the latest iPhones: you can run it on an iPhone 12 Pro if you have one handy, but I can’t use it on the iPhone 17 Pro on my desktop. The delay appears to be due in part to issues with the phone’s new selfie camera, according to a post on Adobe’s forum (spotted by a keen-eyed editor). And while it looks like the wait will soon be over, support for the selfie camera might not be available right away.

Product manager Boris Ajdin has been relaying information about Project Indigo updates to eager fans on the Adobe Community Forums, and he posted an update on October 16 with more information about delayed iPhone 17 support. 26.1. Unfortunately, this means we have to consider disabling the front-facing camera in Indigo until this version of iOS ships,” his post read.

The team hoped to release this update “in a few days”, although it is now clear that it will take longer. Responding to another comment in today’s thread, Ajdin says he “hopes we can post an update this week.” I contacted Adobe to ask for more details on the challenges posed by the selfie camera; Adobe spokesperson Erin Di Leva referred me to the aforementioned forum posts.

Project Indigo gained a loyal following when it debuted this summer, offering a more natural treatment compared to the typical smartphone camera “look” that most native camera apps produce. It’s the product of a team led by Marc Levoy, known for his work on the Google Pixel camera and his pioneering use of computational photography. Indigo is an “experimental” app and is so far only available on iOS; Android owners are still waiting for help, which Levoy said earlier this year is “definitely on the wish list,” although it’s also quite difficult. I have a feeling iPhone 17 owners will benefit from their Indigo support before Android.