The much heralded ON1 Photo RAW 2026.4 is available today as a free update for all 2026 owners, and it’s the biggest release of the 2026 cycle.
The headline addition is Restore AI, a new module inside Photo RAW MAX that brings old, faded, or any damaged photo back to life. Scan a print from a shoebox, recover a soft or noisy shot from an old phone, or colorize a black and white image with realistic results. Restore AI handles all of it, in seconds, without sending you to a separate app. 2026.4 also redesigns the Home experience to get you into your editing faster, delivers meaningful performance improvements throughout the app, and rounds out the update with new lens profiles and targeted bug fixes.
If you’ve been using ON1 Photo RAW 2026 as your primary photo editing software, this update makes it better in ways you’ll feel every time you open the app. Just launch ON1 Photo RAW 2026 to get the update, or download it from your ON1 account.
Other than ‘Restore’ that we have posted about before and which has been the subject of a video a major addition is the new Home module, now the default starting screen when opening the app. It provides faster access to common tasks such as opening photos, browsing folders, importing images, and returning to recent edits or albums. ON1 has also added built-in training and “What’s New” content to help users discover features more easily over time.
Performance improvements are a key part of the update. Browsing large photo libraries is now noticeably quicker, with thumbnails loading almost instantly and smoother scrolling when reviewing shoots. The interface has also been refined to display more thumbnails at once, while the right-click menu has been simplified for easier navigation. Editing performance has been improved too, especially for projects using multiple local adjustments. Slider movements and brush-based edits now use less memory and respond faster, helping create a smoother editing experience on both Windows and macOS systems.
The release also introduces additional lens profiles, bug fixes, and stability improvements aimed at making the software more reliable overall.ON1 says the 2026 update cycle is focused on “trusted innovation” – improving performance, workflow, AI tools, and compatibility without taking creative control away from photographers.
The company also confirmed that further raw processing enhancements and editing tools are planned throughout 2026, though no details were given.