You can easily capture and edit RAW photos on the best Android phones. And while Google's mid-range Pixel A-series don't have the best camera hardware, they can still shoot RAW images for greater flexibility in post. While there are plenty of photo editing apps for Android with RAW support, it is tough to beat the flexibility and prowess of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. While editing RAW/DNG photos shot from a mid-range Pixel phone in Lightroom for mobile was already possible, Adobe has updated its Camera Raw extension to add official support for these phones.

Thanks to this, you can now directly import and edit RAW photos taken from a mid-range Pixel A-series phone in Adobe Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop Elements, After Effects, and other Adobe apps. The improvement comes as a part of the April 2023 update from Adobe, which adds compatibility for the Pixel 4a, 5a, and Pixel 6a (via 9to5Google).

For comparison, Adobe updated Lightroom with Pixel 7 support within weeks of its release, whereas Pixel 6a support is being added almost 10 months after its launch. As for Pixel 4a, official Lightroom compatibility comes when the device is just a few months away from the end of its software support.

Support for camera matching profile and Lens Correction is missing, though. On the bright side, the Raw extension works with all cameras of compatible phones, including the front shooter and the ultrawide.

To edit RAW photos shot using your mid-range Pixel properly using Lightroom, you must install the latest version of the Camera Raw extension (15.3) and Lightroom 6.3 or Lightroom Classic 12.3. You can find the complete list of supported devices here.

You can follow our guide on capturing and editing RAW photos on Android if you have never captured Digital Negative (DNG) using your phone before.