Using Lightroom Mobile on Android for Travel Photography – A Long-Term Experience

When planning my multi-year world bicycle trip, documenting the journey with high-quality photos was a priority. In the past, I had used DSLR cameras, but in recent years, I often relied solely on my smartphone. For this trip, I decided that smartphones weren’t enough and bought a used Nikon Z6 camera.

One major challenge when using a separate camera was finding a reliable way to store and process my photos while traveling. I didn’t want to carry multiple SD cards and constantly worry about losing all my photos due to card failures, damage, or theft. Additionally, I usually don’t have the motivation to sort and edit thousands of photos once I return home. I wanted to be able to use and share them quickly while traveling.

At home, I had always used Lightroom Classic for photo management. When Lightroom CC was released, I wasn’t a fan—it lacked key features compared to the Classic version. So, I was hesitant to rely on Lightroom Mobile, which is almost identical to Lightroom CC.

Choosing a Mobile Photo Management Solution

I considered two options for managing my photos on the road:

Bring a laptop – Use Lightroom Classic and back up photos to a cloud storage provider.
Use an Android tablet – Rely on Lightroom Mobile and upload everything to a cloud storage service.

I ruled out the laptop because it’s heavier and more fragile than a tablet. However, I wasn’t a big fan of Lightroom Mobile, and I wasn’t sure if a tablet would have enough performance. Unfortunately, there weren’t many experience reports online, which is why I hope this blog post helps others facing a similar decision.

My Setup

Camera: Nikon Z6 – A great full-frame camera in a fairly compact body. Used models offer good value. The 24.5 MP resolution is more than enough while still manageable in terms of storage and bandwidth.
Smartphones: Google Pixel 6 & Pixel 7 – Good for places where a large camera isn’t welcomed.
Tablet: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 (256 GB, 12 GB RAM, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) – One of the more powerful options at the time of purchase, with a good screen size and water/dust resistance.
Storage: SanDisk Extreme PRO 1000GB (microSDXC) – The fastest microSD card I could find.
Software: Lightroom Mobile (Version 10.2.0 at the time of writing).

Lightroom Mobile Settings

Storage: Use SD card
Cache Size: Max available
Smart Previews: Disabled
Albums: One main album, local saving activated
Import Options: Custom preset applied

My Workflow

I shoot only in RAW with lossless compression enabled.

Since I travel by bicycle and often sleep in a tent, battery availability and internet access are limited. In the evenings, I’m usually exhausted and don’t have the energy to manage photos. However, about once a week, I stay in a guesthouse or hotel. That’s when I take care of at least backing up my new photos and, if possible, editing them as well.

1. Importing Photos

I connect my Nikon Z6 directly to the tablet via USB.
Photos are imported into a dedicated Travel Album in Lightroom Mobile.
A basic sharpening preset is applied automatically during import.
Lightroom Sync remains paused during import to avoid performance issues.

2. Syncing & Backup

Once the import is complete, I enable syncing to upload everything to the Lightroom Cloud.
After the sync is done, I format the camera’s memory card.

3. Sorting & Editing

I follow a chronological approach, sorting and editing photos by day. Using Lightroom’s daily grid view makes it easy to track progress and select them for bulk operations.
Unwanted shots are marked using the flag feature (X shortcut to select,Esc to undo), then filtered and deleted in bulk. A keyboard is highly recommended for this—otherwise, it’s a hassle.
For editing, I use the pen, which works really well.

4. Exporting & Secondary Backup

Final edits are exported per day in batches of up to 50–70 JPGs with 80% compression into one folder on internal storage.
The export folder is marked for backup in Google Photos. After exporting, I activate Google Photos sync.
Once uploaded, I add the images to a shared album inside Google Photos.

My Experience

The Positives

Surprisingly Efficient Workflow – Despite missing a large monitor, editing with the pen on a tablet turned out to be enjoyable and quite fast.
Tablet Performance – RAW file editing is responsive, with only a slight delay when opening files.
Lightroom Cloud Sync – Upload speeds are good when on a fast connection.
Redundancy – In the worst-case scenario, I would only lose the photos from the last few days. On days when we took particularly noteworthy shots, I would import them in the evening without uploading them. This way, we had at least a second copy on the tablet.

The Downsides

Import Performance Degrades Over Time

Initially, everything felt fast, but after several months, importing and exporting slowed significantly.
Importing first copies everything from the camera to the tablet, which is fairly quick, allowing the camera to be disconnected early. However, Lightroom takes a long time to process the imported files before they are available in the app. During this time, Lightroom is sluggish and editing photos is not possible.

Editing Limitations

Loading a photo for editing takes 2-6 seconds before fully loaded. This makes quick browsing slow.
No thumbnail row while editing, making it harder to compare multiple shots.
No side-by-side comparison like in Lightroom Classic.
Duplicating a photo isn’t straightforward—you have to rely on the Versions tool.

Batch Editing & Exporting Issues

If you navigate away during batch edits, sometimes changes don’t apply to all photos.
Exporting is slow, and the tablet heats up, further reducing speed.
If an export crashes, Lightroom doesn’t track failed images. I usually delete the exported batch and to it again.
If the screen turns off during a background operation, syncing sometimes stops.

Sync Slows Everything Down

I always pause sync while performing edits or exports; otherwise, it drags down performance.

Lightroom Storage Issues

Files are stored in lightroom specific folders on the SD card, making it difficult to use third-party backup solutions.

Data Usage

Uploading RAW files and JPG exports can consume a lot of bandwidth. I always have to ensure that sync options are only active when I have unlimited data.

Verdict

Overall, I’m quite happy with my current workflow and experience using Lightroom Mobile. The performance of the Galaxy Tab S9 is sufficient for RAW editing, but I wouldn’t recommend using a tablet with much weaker hardware or a slower SD card.

The performance issues during import and export were annoying, but they may be solvable by using only internal storage or smaller album sizes.
It’s convenient not having to carry multiple SD cards and adapters since everything is done via USB-C. However, there have been frustrating moments when operations failed randomly, possibly due to Samsung’s Android implementation.

I still miss some of Lightroom Classic’s organizational features, but for me, the advantages of a lightweight tablet outweigh the downsides.

Outlook

At the time of writing, I’m still traveling. Once I return home, I’ll look into merging everything back into my main Lightroom Classic catalog. According to Adobe’s documentation, syncing between Lightroom Mobile and Classic should be possible, but I have yet to test it.

Additionally, I plan to explore self-hosted photo management solutions like Immich to move away from Google Photos. As for RAW management and editing on Android, I’ll stick with Lightroom Mobile, as there aren’t many strong alternatives.