July 13, 2026
Adobe? More like Adios-be
An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop
Fans say Photoshop turned from beloved classic into a buggy, clingy ex
TLDR: A longtime Photoshop user finally uninstalled the app after years of growing frustration with bugs, bad updates, and trust-breaking behavior. In the comments, readers pile on with horror stories, “malware” jokes, and a flood of replacement apps, turning one goodbye into a full-on public breakup.
After three decades of loyalty, one longtime user finally rage-quit Photoshop—and the crowd in the comments basically showed up with breakup playlists, rebound suggestions, and a few flaming torches. The post tells the story of a once-beloved creative tool that slowly became harder to live with: slow updates, failed installs, settings that kept resetting, and the final eyebrow-raiser—Adobe reportedly changing a system file behind the scenes. For many readers, that was the moment the story stopped being “annoying software” and started sounding, as one commenter put it, a little too much like “malware”.
But the real show is the comment section, where the community mood swings between vindication, mockery, and escape-planning. One camp says this decline has been obvious for years, especially on Mac, with complaints about bizarre save windows and the app yanking people back to the wrong screen like an attention-starved ex. Another group arrived with replacement recommendations in hand: Photopea got pitched as the “it still feels like Photoshop” option, while Acorn and Affinity were praised as the no-drama alternatives. One veteran declared they switched after 30 years and “miss absolutely nothing,” which is about as brutal as a software review gets.
There’s even a little side-eye drama over Affinity, with one commenter claiming its redesign now works just like Photoshop and that it’s free—basically the kind of comment designed to start a stampede. The overall verdict from the peanut gallery? Photoshop didn’t just lose a user. It may have become the software equivalent of a toxic relationship people are weirdly relieved to leave.
Key Points
- •The author says they used Photoshop for roughly three decades, including boxed versions CS2 and CS5, before subscribing to Creative Cloud in 2013 and later uninstalling it.
- •The article states that Adobe’s Creative Cloud app became less usable over time and that the discontinuation of Creative Cloud Synced Files in 2023 triggered concerns about the subscription.
- •The author evaluated alternative image-editing tools including Pixelmator Pro, Acorn, and Affinity Photo but initially remained with Photoshop due to familiarity.
- •The article says the author’s workflow changed as PSD-based handoffs gave way to Sketch files and then Figma documents, reducing the practical need for Photoshop.
- •The author reports repeated Photoshop maintenance issues, including missed updates, stuck updates requiring reinstallations, preference resets after updates, and Adobe modifying the /etc/hosts file.