Aqua by Adobe frequently asked questions

Aqua by Adobe is a creativity app for kids 5-12, designed to spark imagination and build confidence through art. Available on iPhone and iPad, Aqua by Adobe gives kids access to professional creative tools with step-by-step tutorials and activities take their art to the next level. It’s built just for kids, and completely ad-free.

Continue learning about Aqua by Adobe on our YouTube: youtube.com/@projectaquaofficial

Aqua by Adobe is currently available for iPhone and iPad. You can download the app and start creating today at aqua.adobe.com.

Aqua by Adobe works on all iPhones and iPads running iOS 17 or later. For the best experience, make sure your device is up to date.

Aqua is currently available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, in English, Spanish, French, and Japanese.

Yes, you can download the free app or head to aqua.adobe.com and access thousands of templates, brushes, stickers, and more.

No, a parent or guardian must create their own Adobe account, then set up profiles for each child within the Aqua by Adobe app. Educators and students can access Aqua by Adobe by logging in with their school-provided Adobe account. For more information about setting up school-provided Adobe accounts, visit Adobe Education Support: https://helpx.adobe.com/support/education.html

Yes! Aqua by Adobe is designed for both home and classroom use. It is Common Sense Certified and includes a growing library of learning activities that help educators and students express learning through creative projects. Aqua by Adobe doesn't currently integrate with learning management systems. Educators and students with access to Adobe Express can use Aqua with their school-provided Adobe account in accordance with the policies configured in the Adobe Admin Console. More information about setting this up for your school is available here.

It seems that you’re trying to create an account for your child. This is not the way Aqua by Adobe works! Aqua by Adobe accounts are managed by a parent or guardian. Just sign up with your own name, email, and date of birth. You’ll manage everything from your account.

Most creative tools in Aqua by Adobe can be enjoyed offline. However, you’ll need an internet connection for the following:

Logging in or signing up
Creating and saving child profiles
Adding Magic to a creation
Accessing new items in the Shell Shop
Seeing your current Aqua by Adobe credit count
Using 3D creation features
Viewing the Spotlight gallery
Syncing creations to the cloud

No. Adobe does not use any content created in Aqua by Adobe to train its generative AI models.

During setup, you’ll create your profile, which you'll use to manage the child or student profiles in your account. From this profile, you can:

View all artwork made by any child profile.
See which child created each piece.
Edit or delete any artwork .
Manage child profiles from a single adult account.

To help keep kids safe, Aqua by Adobe also:

Prevents child profiles from sharing creations outside the app.
Automatically blocks photos that contain recognizable human faces.

Aqua by Adobe is ad-free and designed with privacy and safety in mind. Learn more in our privacy policy. Learn more about our approach to responsible AI in our generative AI user guidelines.

Aqua by Adobe is designed with children's privacy and safety in mind. Adobe complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and only collects the minimum information necessary to operate the app.

What information is collected? When you set up a profile for a child, you'll provide a name and birth year. You don't need to use their real name — a nickname or made-up name works just as well. Beyond that, Aqua collects:

Artwork and creative content made in the app, only to save it within the account, never to train our generative AI models.
How the app is used (features accessed, activities completed)
Basic device information (device model, operating system, app version)

Information is used only to operate and improve the app.

Note

Questions or data requests? To review, correct, or delete information associated with a child or student profile, contact Adobe's privacy team at privacy@adobe.com or call 1-800-833-6687. For full details, see the Aqua by Adobe Children's Privacy Notice and Adobe Privacy Policy.

At this time, there isn’t a way to delete just your Aqua by Adobe account—or to delete the parent adult profile without deleting the entire Adobe account.

To delete your Adobe account: You can delete your Adobe account directly from the Aqua app in Settings. This will remove all data associated with Aqua by Adobe, as well as data from other Adobe services linked to that account. Learn more about how to delete your Adobe Account.
To delete child profiles: From the parent profile, you can delete individual child profiles from the app. This permanently removes all artwork and data associated with that profile.
Educator and Student accounts: These accounts are managed by the institution they belong to. To delete or modify an existing educator or student account, please contact your IT administrator.

All free Adobe accounts include 5GB of Creative Cloud storage by default. Aqua by Adobe uses this storage to safely save your artwork. If you’re running low on space, you have two options:

Free up storage: Go to adobe.com/files to manage and delete files you no longer need.

Upgrade your plan: Increase your storage by upgrading your Creative Cloud plan. Learn how here: Upgrade Creative Cloud storage

Starting bonus: Each new parent or child profile begins with 10 magic credits and 30 shells to kick off their journey.

Magic credits: After the starting bonus has run out, every profile refills to 5 magic credits per day. Each credit can be used to add magic to one image, or make one 3D creation. Credits refill daily and don’t roll over to the next day. Every profile can earn more credits (3 per day) after the daily 5 magic credits have been used up, by having a parent share a creation with friends and families via share functions available to parents.

Shell rewards: Completing daily activities earns you 3 shells per day. Shells can be redeemed for brushes, stickers, backgrounds, and magic filters in the Shell Shop. Shells are earned and redeemed per profile, and shells cannot be shared or transferred between profiles. Any items you unlock with shells are only available in the profile that redeemed them. In addition to daily activities, you can earn shells by completing Quests. Each quest card provides simple instructions and shows the corresponding shell reward. Once the quest is complete, the shells are added to your profile's shell count.

At this time, magic credits and shells cannot be purchased—they can only be earned through activities in Aqua.

Note

For education users: Magic features are available only if your IT Admin enables the use of Adobe Firefly in the Adobe Admin Console.

Only parents can share or export content in Aqua by Adobe.

To share individual creations: Open a creation in your gallery, select the Share button, then Send to create a shareable link.

To share a museum gallery: Go to Your Galleries, select the three dots on the gallery you want to share, and choose Share to create a shareable link.

Note

For education users: Creating a shareable link is available only if your IT admin sets the Sharing Policy to “No restrictions.” in the Adobe Admin Console.

To download your artwork as an image, open the creation in your gallery, then select Download.

Issue: If your child is signed in with an Apple Child account (a parent-managed Apple ID), certain website restrictions may be turned on by default. These restrictions can sometimes block Aqua by Adobe from connecting and cause errors in the app. This happens when Parental Controls > Web Content is set to “Only Approved Websites.”

Workaround:

Open the Settings app on your iPad.

Go to Screen Time (or Parental Controls).

Select Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content.

Select either Limit Adult Websites or Unrestricted Access.

You must be 13 or older to register for an Adobe ID.

You don't need to create an Adobe ID for your child. Parents should create an Adobe ID using their own name, email, and date of birth.

You’ll be able to create profiles for your children inside the Aqua app.

The Apple account on the device is an Apple child account (parent-managed), and Apple parental restrictions are preventing the creation of an Adobe ID.

Parents should select Continue with Email and use their name and email address.

Aqua accounts are managed by parents/guardians. You’ll be able to create profiles for your children inside the Aqua app

Aqua by Adobe frequently asked questions

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