Design on a phone or tablet
On a phone the Editor becomes a thumb-first layout with five modes and short sheets. Learn the layout, the touch gestures and what works differently.
Beginner3 min readUpdated 25 September 2026Mobile Editor
On this page
You can make and export a full design on a phone. This page explains the phone layout, the gestures, and where the desktop tools went, so you are not hunting for them. It also covers tablets and pens.
Phone, tablet or desktop layout
The Editor picks its layout from the width of the window. Below 768 pixels wide (most phones held upright) you get the phone layout described here. Wider than that, including most tablets, you get the full desktop Editor with menus, tool rail and panels, and touch still works.
The phone layout
- Top bar: back to the start screen, the design name (tap to rename), Undo, Redo and Share.
- Canvas in the middle. A Layers button with the layer count sits at the top right.
- Mode bar along the bottom: Select, Text, Image, Shape and Effects. Each opens a short sheet with the controls that matter. Tap Done or tap the mode again to close it.
Tapping a layer on the canvas opens the Select sheet for it, and tapping empty canvas closes that sheet again. While you type on the canvas the sheets and mode bar hide to make room for the keyboard.
What each mode does
| Mode | Controls |
|---|---|
| Select | For the selected layer: Edit text, Crop, Remove background, Filters, fill or text colour, Duplicate, Delete, Opacity, and under Order: Bring forward, Send back, Flip, Centre. More tools shows the other desktop tools. |
| Text | Add heading or Add paragraph. With a text layer selected: font, Size (8 to 400), Regular or Bold, Left, Center or Right, and Colour. |
| Image | Add photo from your files, or Camera to take one. With a photo selected: Crop, Remove background, Flip. |
| Shape | Rectangle, Circle, Line, Polygon. With a shape selected: Fill and Stroke colours. |
| Effects | Filters opens the filter gallery; Adjustments adds an adjustment. Both go on as their own layers, so you can change or remove them later. |
Using the full tool set
The desktop tools are still there, one step further away. Open Select, tap More tools, and pick one: brush, eraser, selections, heal, clone stamp, pen, gradient and the rest. A pill appears at the top of the canvas with the tool's name and a Done button. Tap Done to go back to moving and selecting.
Gestures
- Pinch
- Zoom in and out around your fingers
- Two-finger drag
- Pan around the design
- Two-finger tap
- Undo
- Three-finger tap
- Redo
- Tap
- Select a layer
- Drag a layer
- Move it; drag a handle to resize
The two and three finger taps count only when they are quick and your fingers do not move. These gestures work in the desktop layout on a tablet too.
Pens and pressure
With a pen or stylus that reports pressure, pressing harder makes brush strokes bigger. In the desktop layout, the options bar for brush tools has Pen size (on by default) and, for Brush and Eraser, Pen opacity.
On a tablet, turn on Touch mode (View menu, Touch mode (bigger controls), or Preferences, Interface). It makes controls bigger, and once you have used a pen, your fingers pan and zoom instead of painting, so resting your hand on the screen does not leave marks.
Sharing and exporting
Tap Share in the top bar. Share PNG, JPG and PDF open your phone's share sheet, so you can send the file to messages, mail or photos. If the phone cannot share files from the browser, the button reads Save PNG and downloads instead. Under Size, pick 1x or 2x. More options opens the full export dialog.
Good to know
- Photos, PSDs and PDFs open as layers on a phone too. Everything stays on the phone.
- Phones have less memory than computers. If the Editor slows down, work at a smaller size or with fewer large photos. See Troubleshooting.
- Installing Voidcanvas to your home screen gives you more room on screen. See Install Voidcanvas as an app.