What Has Canva Done to the Affinity Apps? The Complete 2026 Answer

ThatPainter is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn More

Canva bought Serif, retired the separate desktop versions of Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher, and replaced them with one free Affinity application. The new app combines their capabilities in Vector, Pixel and Layout Studios. The core professional tools do not require a subscription, but current users need a Canva account, the new licence is account-linked rather than perpetual, and files saved in the new .af format cannot be opened by the old V1/V2 applications.

That means this is more than a rebrand. It is a change to Affinity’s product structure, licensing, account requirements and file compatibility. Existing V2 owners should keep the old apps and preserve their original files until their workflows and collaborators have moved over.

The short version

As of 10 August 2026, Canva has done five consequential things to Affinity:

1. Acquired Serif, the British company that created Affinity, on 26 March 2024.
2. Combined Designer, Photo and Publisher into one desktop application called simply Affinity.
3. Made the core app free, including the main vector, raster and page-layout tools.
4. Replaced the old pay-once model for new users with a free, Canva-account-linked licence. Existing V1/V2 purchasers retain access to their purchased versions.
5. Added optional Canva services and paid AI, as well as integrations with Canva’s Brand System, Capture One, DaVinci Resolve and Claude.

So the accurate answer is not that Canva “killed” Affinity or turned it into Canva’s browser-based template editor. Canva has kept Affinity as a professional desktop product, but has made it part of Canva’s account, licensing and services ecosystem.

What Canva actually bought

Canva announced the acquisition of Serif, Affinity’s developer, on 26 March 2024. Canva said the deal brought in Serif’s approximately 90-person team and a professional suite used by more than three million creative professionals. Its stated reason was to add serious photo editing, vector design and page-layout capabilities to the wider Canva ecosystem.

The acquisition announcement is available in Canva’s announcement about Affinity. From that point on, Affinity was no longer owned by an independent Serif; Canva controlled the product, its commercial direction and, eventually, its account and licensing model.

What Canva promised in 2024

The acquisition initially came with four important commitments. Canva and Affinity said they would:

• continue offering perpetual licences;
• keep investing in Affinity as a standalone professional product;
• provide free access for eligible schools and nonprofits; and
• keep development influenced by the Affinity community.

Canva also said that existing V2 customers would continue receiving updates without having to buy a subscription. Those promises shaped the understandable expectation that Affinity would remain a conventional professional suite: buy it once, install it locally and continue using the purchased version.

The later free release changed the practical meaning of the licensing promise for new users. Existing V1/V2 purchases were not simply erased, but Canva stopped selling the old perpetual products and the new Affinity is not itself sold as a perpetual licence. This is why both of the following statements can be true:

• Canva preserved access to old V1/V2 purchases for people who already bought them.
• The current Affinity application is free to use but is licensed through a Canva account, not owned through a new perpetual purchase.

Read the original commitments in Canva’s Affinity pledge, then compare them with the current Affinity Additional Terms.

What changed in October 2025?

On 29 October 2025, Canva launched the all-new Affinity desktop app for Mac and Windows. The former products were no longer presented as three separate applications. Their major capabilities were brought together as three Studios:

Former product	Current Studio	Main purpose
Affinity Designer	Vector Studio	Vector illustration, shapes, curves, logos and vector-based design
Affinity Photo	Pixel Studio	Photo editing, compositing, painting, image manipulation and RAW work
Affinity Publisher	Layout Studio	Page layout, typography, multipage documents and publishing

The tools did not disappear merely because the product packaging changed. The new application is a genuine consolidation of the three applications, rather than a Canva template editor with a few Affinity features bolted on. However, users coming from V2 should expect to customise their workspace and relearn where some controls and workflows now live. Canva describes the change in its all-new Affinity announcement; independent launch coverage from AppleInsider also describes the three-app consolidation.

Before and after

	Affinity V1/V2	Current Affinity
Structure	Separate Designer, Photo and Publisher applications	One app with Vector, Pixel and Layout Studios
Price model	Perpetual purchase	Free account-linked access for the core app
New purchases	No longer available	Free download
Account	Not originally central to using the apps	Canva account required for current access
Native files	.afdesign, .afphoto and .afpub	New unified .af format
AI	Some selected machine-learning features in later V2 releases	Optional Canva AI Studio features, generally requiring a paid Canva plan

Media coverage sometimes calls the new application “Affinity V3”. That is useful shorthand, but it should not be treated as the official product name unless current Affinity documentation uses it. The public product is now simply Affinity, sometimes described as “Affinity by Canva”.

Is the new Affinity really free?

Yes: the core Vector, Pixel and Layout toolsets are free for all users. There is no stated time limit on the free core application and no indication that ordinary vector, photo or layout work is a trial or a deliberately crippled tier.

Canva’s current pricing page lists Affinity access with the free Canva plan and distinguishes it from “Affinity with AI”, which is available through paid plans. The US pricing displayed at the research cutoff was:

Plan	Displayed US price	Relevance to Affinity
Canva Free	US$0	Core Affinity access
Canva Pro	US$144 per year	Includes paid Canva AI access and other Pro benefits
Canva Business	US$250 per year per person	Team and business features, subject to the plan’s current terms

Prices, plan names, regional availability and included allowances can change. Check Canva’s pricing page for your country before making a purchase decision.

The most precise description is therefore:

Affinity’s professional editing tools are free; optional Canva AI and connected Canva services may be paid.

Calling the whole application “freemium” without explaining that distinction is misleading. It suggests that basic photo editing, vector design or page layout is locked behind payment, which is not the current model. Conversely, saying that Affinity has no paid relationship at all ignores Canva AI and the wider Canva ecosystem.

What happened to perpetual licences?

This is the most important licensing distinction for existing owners and people choosing software for long-term archives.

Existing V1 and V2 owners

People who previously bought Affinity V1 or V2 can still download their purchased applications through the relevant account:

• their Affinity Store account;
• the Purchased Apps area of their Apple account; or
• their Microsoft Store account.

The old versions are no longer available for new purchase, but a missing public store listing does not by itself remove a previous purchase. Canva’s support article explains the V1/V2 purchase and redownload position.

New Affinity users

There is no new perpetual licence to buy. The current terms say that:

• the right to use Affinity is linked to a Canva account;
• no ownership rights in the software are sold to the user;
• online entitlement verification may be required; and
• Canva does not guarantee that the software will always remain available or maintained.

The terms also reserve Canva’s ability to suspend, remove, modify or disable access in the circumstances covered by those terms. That does not show that Canva plans to withdraw Affinity. It does mean that “free forever” is best understood as Canva’s public product promise, not an irrevocable perpetual licence in the old legal sense.

The fairest summary is: Canva preserved the old purchased software for existing customers, but the new free Affinity is account-based rather than a perpetual-license product.

Do you need a Canva account?

Yes. The current Affinity application requires users to create or sign in to a Canva account. A practical setup is:

1. Create or sign in to a free Canva account.
2. Download Affinity for macOS or Windows.
3. Activate the application with that account.
4. Use Vector, Pixel and Layout Studios without paying for a Canva subscription.
5. Connect a qualifying paid Canva plan only if you need Canva AI Studio or other premium Canva services.

This is a meaningful change for users who bought V2 specifically because it did not require a Canva identity. The free price does not mean that the current product is account-free.

Does Affinity work offline?

Independent reporting says that the core desktop application can be used offline after activation. Canva AI Studio, by contrast, requires an internet connection because it uses Canva’s online services.

The safer explanation is not “Affinity works forever with no internet.” Canva’s terms permit entitlement checks, so the app remains connected to an account even when the day-to-day editing work is local. A user may be able to continue editing offline after activation, but should not treat that as a permanent guarantee that authentication will never be requested.

What does this mean for privacy and cloud work?

Canva says that the Affinity application is designed to respect users’ control of their creative work and that creative work in Affinity is not used to train Canva AI features. That statement should be attributed to Canva rather than expanded into a claim that every Affinity workflow is completely disconnected from Canva.

The current terms establish a more complicated reality:

• the licence is connected to a Canva account;
• Canva services can supply optional AI and other integrations;
• use is subject to Canva’s Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy; and
• Canva’s terms govern access and entitlement checks.

Canva’s broader Terms of Use and Privacy Policy should be read alongside the Affinity-specific terms. Canva also says that privacy settings can affect whether user content is used to develop or improve AI products.

For confidential client work, the practical approach is straightforward: keep local master files, use the core desktop tools offline where practical, and do not enable Canva AI, cloud transfer or collaboration integrations until your organisation has reviewed the relevant privacy and AI terms. The available evidence does not support saying that Canva trains AI on every Affinity file. It also does not support saying that Affinity has no connection to Canva services.

The file-format change: the upgrade is one-way

The new Affinity can open legacy files from the older applications. The problem occurs when you save the converted file.

• Old Affinity can open old formats such as .afdesign, .afphoto and .afpub.
• Current Affinity can open those legacy files.
• Current Affinity saves its unified documents as .af.
• V1/V2 applications cannot open files saved in the new .af format.

This is backward compatibility, not two-way compatibility. The new application looks back to the old format, but the old applications cannot look forward to the new one.

A safe migration procedure

1. Keep the old V2 applications installed if you exchange editable files with V1/V2 users or still use the old iPad apps.
2. Make a separate backup of every legacy document.
3. Open a copy in current Affinity.
4. Save the converted copy as .af.
5. Keep the original .afdesign, .afphoto or .afpub file untouched.
6. Use the legacy file for V1/V2 collaborators, or export a suitable neutral format such as PDF, SVG, PSD, TIFF or PNG.
7. Test the final export, especially where the document contains live text, linked resources, masks, blend modes, live filters, effects or unusual typography.

Do not expect a PDF, SVG or PSD export to preserve every live Affinity feature. Export choice should depend on what the recipient needs to edit: PDF may suit print delivery, SVG may suit vector artwork, PSD may suit an image-editing handoff, and a flattened TIFF or PNG may be appropriate when editability is not required.

The one-way conversion has been identified as a major migration issue by AppleInsider, Creative Bloq and CG Channel.

What formats can the new Affinity open?

Canva’s launch material lists support for:

• PSD;
• AI;
• PDF;
• SVG;
• TIFF;
• IDML; and
• Affinity’s own formats.

Opening a format is not the same as perfectly round-tripping it. Testing reported that PSD and AI files generally open, but Adobe-specific features may not reproduce exactly. In particular:

• Adobe InDesign .indd files cannot be opened directly; IDML is the relevant interchange route.
• Adobe Fonts that are not installed locally will not automatically transfer as usable local fonts.
• Features such as Photoshop Smart Objects may not reproduce perfectly.

For an Adobe handoff, request IDML rather than INDD for InDesign work, install the required fonts locally, and proof complex files visually. Affinity is a broad alternative for many vector, raster and layout tasks, but it is not a guaranteed drop-in replacement for every proprietary Adobe workflow. TechRadar’s review also notes that Affinity does not provide the same kind of asset-management workflow as a dedicated digital asset manager.

What new features and services did Canva add?

Canva AI Studio

Paid Canva plans can unlock Canva AI tools inside Affinity, including features such as:

• Generative Fill;
• Expand and Edit;
• Remove Background; and
• other AI-based image tools.

These are optional additions. They do not turn the basic Vector, Pixel and Layout toolsets into a subscription-only product. The current Canva pricing page is the appropriate place to check the plan and regional availability before subscribing.

Export to Canva and collaboration

Affinity can move work into Canva so it can be collaborated on, adapted, published and distributed through Canva’s wider platform. This creates a useful division of labour: a designer can build precise artwork locally in Affinity, while a team can use Canva for review, brand management, publishing and distribution.

That is also a strategic change. The integrations suggest that Canva is positioning Affinity as a precision-authoring layer within a larger creative workflow. This is an inference from Canva’s product announcements, not a separately stated guarantee about Canva’s corporate strategy.

Brand System integration

The April 2026 update added Canva Brand System integration. According to Affinity, users can access approved brand colours, fonts, imagery and brand voice, then move assets into Canva for team collaboration and distribution. This matters most to studios and organisations that already manage their brand assets in Canva.

Capture One and DaVinci Resolve

Affinity’s April update says that Capture One can pass .af files into Affinity while preserving layers, masks, metadata, annotations, overlays and guides. It also says DaVinci Resolve can open native .af files and refresh them when they are updated and saved in Affinity.

These are documented first-party integration claims. They are useful capabilities, but teams should test them with their own colour-management, layer and production workflows before making them a critical dependency.

Claude automation

The April 2026 release introduced an Affinity AI Connector for Claude. It can turn natural-language instructions into reusable scripts for repetitive operations such as batch editing, layer renaming and print preparation. The connector was described as free during beta in Affinity’s explanation of the Claude connector.

This is separate from Canva AI Studio’s paid generative tools. It is an automation route for Affinity tasks, not evidence that every AI feature in Affinity is free or local.

What changed in the 2026 updates?

16 March 2026

Affinity’s March update added or improved:

• a Light UI with adjustable brightness;
• Convert to Curves in the Vector menu, which converts pixel selections into editable vector curves;
• Live Tone Blend Groups for nondestructive compositing;
• a right-click menu for brushes;
• additional brush-library controls; and
• right-click controls for document tabs, including colour format, size and window-management options.

16 April 2026

The April update added:

• Canva Brand System integration;
• Capture One support for .af workflows;
• native .af support in DaVinci Resolve;
• the Affinity AI Connector for Claude; and
• free access to Cavalry through a Canva account.

These updates are evidence that Canva is actively developing Affinity rather than merely maintaining the October 2025 launch build. The exact current desktop build number should be checked in the app’s About dialog or on the official Affinity release notes immediately before publication; the public release-notes page is dynamically rendered and should not be guessed from unofficial version references.

What about Affinity on iPad?

The desktop launch came first. Canva announced the unified Affinity application for Mac and Windows and said the iPad version was coming later. Independent reporting said the existing iPad applications would remain available until the new iPad version arrived.

That created a particularly awkward transition for iPad users:

• the old iPad apps were built around the V2 file formats;
• the new desktop application uses .af;
• the old iPad apps cannot be assumed to open new desktop files; and
• the unified iPad release must be checked directly rather than inferred from the desktop launch.

At the stated research cutoff, the supplied official launch material does not provide a definitive current unified-iPad release confirmation or stable release date. iPad users should therefore keep the V2 apps installed and avoid converting the only copy of a document to .af until their desktop-to-iPad workflow has been tested. Check current availability before relying on a new iPad version.

AppleInsider’s launch coverage explains the desktop-first timing and the resulting format problem.

Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

What happened to schools and nonprofits?

Before the universal free release, Canva made Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher available at no cost to eligible Canva Education and Canva Nonprofits accounts. The offer covered verified teachers, schools and registered nonprofits, subject to Canva’s eligibility rules and regional availability. Details were published in Canva’s education and nonprofit announcement.

Once the core Affinity app became free to everyone, that special offer became less important for the core editing tools. Education and nonprofit status may still matter for Canva’s broader premium services, team features, collaboration controls and AI allowances. It should not be assumed that every student, college or nonprofit automatically qualifies for those wider services.

Is Affinity still independent?

It depends on what “independent” means:

• As a product and brand: yes. Canva says Affinity remains a distinct professional product and that the expert team behind it continues developing it.
• As a company: no. Canva owns Serif and Affinity.
• As a licensing ecosystem: no. Current access is governed by Canva’s account system, Affinity terms and entitlement model.

The accurate wording is: Affinity remains a distinct professional application, but it is no longer an independent company or fully independent licensing ecosystem.

Who should use the new Affinity?

If you are a new user

The current Affinity is an unusually attractive starting point if you want serious vector design, photo editing or page layout without a recurring software fee. Before adopting it, check four things:

• you are comfortable creating a Canva account;
• your Mac or Windows system is supported;
• your workflow does not depend on Adobe-specific features that import imperfectly; and
• your collaborators can handle .af, or you have agreed export formats.

If you need Canva’s AI tools, include the relevant paid-plan cost in your comparison. If you only need the professional editing tools, the core application does not require that subscription.

If you already own V2

Do not treat the new app as a forced immediate replacement. Install it alongside V2 and migrate selectively.

Reasons to try the current app:

• the three Studios are available in one application;
• the core tools are free;
• the March and April 2026 updates add useful features;
• Canva collaboration and Brand System integration may simplify team workflows; and
• Capture One, DaVinci Resolve and Claude integrations may be valuable in specialist pipelines.

Reasons to keep V2:

• your production archive is in legacy formats;
• clients or collaborators still use V1/V2;
• you need to save files back to the old format;
• your iPad workflow still depends on the V2 applications; or
• you prefer the old purchase model and do not want every current project tied to a Canva account.

Keeping V2 is not pointless: previous purchasers can still redownload it from their existing Affinity, Apple or Microsoft accounts, even though new purchases are no longer offered.

If you run a studio or team

The new Affinity may be especially useful when your workflow benefits from Canva Brand System, team collaboration and distribution. But establish these policies before moving production files:

• which Canva account or organisation owns the work;
• how access is transferred when an employee leaves;
• what happens if an account is suspended or unavailable;
• whether .af or a legacy Affinity format is the archival master;
• which export formats will be supplied to older Affinity or Adobe users; and
• which projects may use online AI or cloud integrations.

For a studio, the account relationship is an operational consideration, not just a login inconvenience. Canva’s Affinity terms should be reviewed by whoever is responsible for software procurement and file retention.

Common failure modes and how to avoid them

You overwrite the only V2 file

Problem: saving it in the new app converts it to .af, which V1/V2 cannot open.

Fix: reopen the untouched legacy original in V2. If it was overwritten, restore a backup or use an export, understanding that exports may not retain live Affinity features.

You send a current file to a V2 collaborator

Problem: the recipient cannot open the .af file.

Fix: send a legacy Affinity file or an appropriate PDF, SVG, PSD, TIFF or PNG export after testing it.

You assume Adobe imports are exact

Problem: missing fonts, Smart Objects, linked resources, effects or other proprietary features change the appearance or editability.

Fix: use IDML rather than INDD for InDesign handoff, install required fonts locally and proof the imported document before production.

You mistake offline editing for no account dependency

Problem: you expect the software never to need an entitlement check.

Fix: activate the app before going offline, keep account access secure and understand that Canva’s terms allow entitlement verification.

You enable AI on confidential work without review

Problem: Canva AI is an online service with its own terms and privacy implications.

Fix: keep AI disabled for sensitive projects unless your organisation has approved the service and its current terms.

You follow old forum instructions

Problem: the old Affinity support forum is no longer an active posting venue.

Fix: the forum became read-only on 6 October 2025. Use it as a searchable archive, but look for current support and community channels for new questions. See the support notice about the forum closure.

Bottom line for painters, designers and studios

Canva has made Affinity substantially more accessible: a new user can now download one professional desktop application and use its core vector, pixel and layout tools without buying a licence or paying a subscription. The 2026 updates also show genuine ongoing development, not a one-off rebrand.

But “free” conceals three changes that matter to professionals:

1. the current licence is connected to a Canva account rather than owned perpetually;
2. the new .af format does not save backward to V1/V2; and
3. Canva AI and collaboration features connect the local application to Canva’s online ecosystem.

For new users, that is probably a strong trade-off. For V2 owners, the sensible approach is coexistence: keep V2, back up legacy files, test the unified Affinity on copies and standardise your team’s file and account policies before converting important work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still buy Affinity Designer, Photo or Publisher V2?

No. Canva and Affinity no longer sell V1 or V2 as new products. If you previously purchased them, you can generally redownload them through your Affinity Store, Apple or Microsoft account. The current replacement is the free unified Affinity application.

Can old Affinity apps open files made in the new Affinity?

No. The new Affinity can open older files, but documents saved in its native .af format cannot be opened by Affinity V1/V2. Keep the original legacy file and work from a copy during migration.

Do I have to pay for Canva Pro to use Affinity?

No. A free Canva account provides the core Vector, Pixel and Layout tools. Canva Pro or another qualifying paid plan is relevant when you want Canva AI Studio or other premium Canva services inside the Affinity workflow.

Can I use Affinity without an internet connection?

The core desktop app can be used offline after activation according to independent reporting, but it remains linked to a Canva account and Canva’s terms allow entitlement checks. Canva AI features require an internet connection.

Is Affinity now just Canva?

No. Affinity remains a separate professional desktop application with its own Vector, Pixel and Layout Studios. However, Canva owns it, controls the current licensing terms and has added Canva account, AI, Brand System and collaboration integrations.

The Bottom Line

Canva did not turn Affinity into a subscription-only Canva editor. It bought Serif, merged Designer, Photo and Publisher into one free desktop application, tied current access to a Canva account, added optional paid AI and changed the native format to .af. New users gain a powerful free tool; existing V2 users should migrate cautiously because compatibility only works forward from the old apps, not backward from the new one.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.