The Easiest Way to Install Lightroom Presets on iPhone (2026)

You’ve downloaded your presets.

Now you’re wondering how to actually use them on your phone.

This is easily one of the most common questions we get — and the good news is, once you do this once, you’ll never really think about it again.

You don’t need a computer.

You don’t need extra apps.

And you don’t need to know Lightroom already.

Just your iPhone, the Lightroom app, and your preset files.

What you need before you start

You’ll need three things:

• your iPhone
• the Lightroom Mobile app (free to download; RAW editing, cloud sync and other premium features may require a paid Adobe plan)
• the preset files you downloaded (they come as .DNG files)

That’s it.

You don’t need a Lightroom subscription, and you don’t need to understand editing yet.

If you can download a file and tap a few buttons, you’re fine.

Step 1: Download the preset files

When you download the presets, you’ll get a .zip file.

Tap it once and your iPhone will unzip it automatically.

Inside, you’ll see a folder with a bunch of files ending in .DNG.

Those files are the presets.

They might look like blank images — that’s normal.

Don’t worry about how they look.

Step 2: Open Lightroom and create an album

Now open the Lightroom Mobile app.

If it’s your first time using Lightroom, you’ll be asked to create a free Adobe account. That only takes a minute.

Once you’re in:

• go to All Photos
• tap Create New
• create a new album
• name it something like Presets

This just keeps things organised.

Step 3: Import the DNG files

Open the album you just created.

Tap the add photos icon, then choose From Files.

Find the folder you unzipped earlier and select all the DNG files.

They’ll now appear inside Lightroom as images.

You’re almost there.

Step 4: Save each one as a preset

This is the part people usually think is confusing — but it’s actually very simple.

Tap the first DNG image.

Then:

• tap the three dots in the top corner
• choose Create Preset
• give it a name
• save it to a group (we recommend creating one called iPhone Creator Kit)

Repeat this for the rest of the DNG files.

Once you’ve done that, your presets are saved forever.

You don’t need to do this again.

Step 5: Use the presets on your photos

Now comes the best part.

Open any photo you want to edit.

Tap Presets at the bottom.

Choose your preset group.

Tap a preset.

That’s it.

The full look is applied instantly.

You can still make small tweaks to brightness or white balance if you want — but the main work is already done.

A few helpful tips

If a preset looks too bright or too dark, just adjust exposure slightly. Every photo has different lighting.

If colours feel a bit off, adjust white balance. Warmer for sunsets, cooler for indoor or cloudy shots.

Once a preset is saved, you don’t need the DNG files anymore. You can delete them if you want — the presets stay in Lightroom.

Why we made these presets

We built the presets inside iPhone Creator Kit specifically for iPhone photos — not big cameras.

Most of us are shooting on our phones, in everyday lighting, with real-world scenes.

These presets are designed to work well in Lightroom Mobile, without needing editing experience or technical knowledge.

They’re the same ones we use ourselves.

The easiest way to keep your photos consistent

Once presets are installed, they just become part of how you edit.

Open photo.

Tap preset.

Adjust if needed.

Done.

It’s one of the easiest ways to make your iPhone photos look more consistent and put together — especially if you don’t want to spend time editing every image from scratch.

If you want to check out the full preset collection, you can find everything here:

→ iPhone Creator Kit

And if anything doesn’t work or you get stuck, just reach out. We’re always happy to help.

See current iPhone preset collections, compatibility and kit prices

Adobe’s Lightroom mobile premium features