Published Apr 26, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT Dhruv Bhutani has been writing about consumer technology since 2008, offering deep insights into the personal technology landscape through features and opinion pieces. He writes for XDA-Developers, where he focuses on topics like productivity, networking, self-hosting, and more. Over the years, his work has also appeared in leading publications such as Android Police, Android Authority, CNET, PCMag, and more. Outside of his professional work, Dhruv is an avid fan of horror media spanning films and literature, enjoys fitness activities, collects vinyl records, and plays the guitar. Lightroom is an excellent tool, but there's no denying how expensive it has been getting. Adobe's subscription model keeps pulling you in deeper, and you can't really step away from it. That's something that has been bothering me for quite some time. I don't mind paying for tools that I use, but I do mind when access to my own photos is held locked behind a recurring fee.…