Due to the nature of how iOS has been designed, it isn’t quite as “open” compared to Android where accessing files on an iOS device can be a bit tricky and slightly convoluted. This means that when it comes to using photo editing apps such as Adobe’s Lightroom isn’t as straightforward.
For example, trying to import photos into Lightroom, especially from your camera, means that you will first need to transfer it into your Camera Roll first, which could be troublesome as it can take up a lot of space and result in duplicates. The good news is that Adobe has heard your concerns and in an update to Lightroom for the iPad, users can now directly import photos from their camera into the app itself.
According to the company, “Direct Import means you can edit your full resolution raw photos, using the exact same raw conversion and editing capabilities found in the desktop versions of Lightroom and Camera Raw, all without having to bring your desktop or laptop on the road with you.”
As to why Adobe did not introduce this feature before, it seems that this is also largely thanks to some of the changes Apple has made in iOS and iPadOS 13.2, where some of the new features makes it possible to bypass the need to go through the Camera Roll. These changes should already be live, so update your app if you haven’t done so already.