Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Completes Pixelmator Acquisition
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple is going to kill Pixelmator aren't they?
I've always used Acorn. It's still a solid Mac-only, functions like a Mac, Mac application.
Just really hope Apple's Pixelmator avoids the extremes of:
1. iTunes. Made into the very definition of bloatware, then broken up with usability taken out. And: 2. Siri. Pushed into a corner and left to languish for years.
Hope the Pixelmator team has latitude, and as long as they make Apple money they get left alone.
There is zero chance these apps remain innovative. Sadly, Apple don't innovate through software anymore.
Why would they? Pixelmator wasn't competing with Apple, it was augmenting it. It was designed so closely within Apple's own API and UX guidelines that it might as well have been a first party app. Apple didn't kill Final Cut Pro or Logic, they kept both (honouring existing licenses) and improved them over the years.
We may however see a rebrand to fit within Apple's ecosystem and naming schemes. My guesses:
Pixelmator → Apple Creative Pro
Photomator → Photos Pro
id like to Photomator somehow become part of the editing photo process in Photos App
I'd like it to just be a complete replacement for the Photos app.
I'm not sure integrating it into iOS is part of the plan. They have plenty of creative apps that are sold separately, like Logic Pro and a Final Cut Pro. Pixelmator could be another Apple product that is sold separately.
Last edited:
"Photos Pro" is fine, but I really hope they don't go with "Apple Creative Pro" - none of those three words has anything to do with photos, images, or pixels, or the editing/manipulating thereof. Might as well name it "Apple Good App".
Pixelmator is a graphic design app first. Photoshop started off as a program for editing photos but Lightroom gradually took that role in a more efficient manner for a large number of photos (i.e. a wedding) and Photoshop became more of a manipulate layered photo compositions and draw from scratch app.
Pixelmator is Illustrator + Photoshop in one app. I'm a creative director and I perform graphic design work + photography and editing, hence why I think of everything Pixelmator does as "Creative".
I considered Apple Pixels Pro but I think Google might take issue with that. Either way, I think the awkward names Pixelmator and Photomator are not long for this world.
Photomator already does this. It integrates seamlessly into the Photos app, kind of brilliant how they accomplished that as a third party app. The Pixelmator Team were like an Apple team offsite, using every API to its fullest.
That said, professional photographers need a separate app that handles large volume of photos that are not mixed in with their Photos App Library. The way Photomator handles this, allows you to import a shoot into a folder on your local drive or iCloud (or another cloud drive) and edit that entire shoot with sidecar files saved in the folder. It works brilliantly and on day one already fits into Apple's ecosystem like a native app.
I think so too but cautioned given how Apple is handling Final Cut Pro for iPad. It's a subscription app. I feel like they may take this opportunity to convert their pro apps to subscriptions across Mac/iPadOS.
Having paid thousands of dollars for Photoshop and Illustrator in the 90s, I have no issue with how Adobe has moved to subscriptions, which are far more affordable and you get frequent updates but their penny pinching has riled up creatives and Apple might want to tread carefully if they want to win that industry over.
He's right. Apple software is appalling bilge. It's been many years since Apple produced even remotely passable software.
There's no reason for hope. Apple is a lousy software innovator. All these years along and the rules in Apple Mail doesn't work. Siri is still cloddish. There's a good OS and nothing else remarkable.
These apps are not competitors with Adobe products; they aren't even close. I don't think Apple wants to compete with Adobe, it just wants a version of Photos that is a bit more capable but made for family use.
Nobody has shown the willingness or capability to compete with Adobe, which is a shame since a huge chunk of creative computing is dominated by one company, and that company is now one of the most aggressive censors among the tech companies.
Shhh, we don't talk about Adobe's censorship of generative fill.
These apps are not competitors with Adobe products; they aren't even close. I don't think Apple wants to compete with Adobe, it just wants a version of Photos that is a bit more capable but made for family use.
Nobody has shown the willingness or capability to compete with Adobe, which is a shame since a huge chunk of creative computing is dominated by one company, and that company is now one of the most aggressive censors among the tech companies.
Shhh, we don't talk about Adobe's censorship of generative fill.
That's exactly right. Surely people who rely on Pixelmator and Affinity don't make a living doing photography. I detest Adobe and refuse to subscribe again, but nothing comes close to Adobe's photo products.
Yet Music and Books are worse and yet even worse than iTunes was. The first thing I discovered was that my 170,000 song iTunes collection wouldn't even load into Music. At least now I can load my rips into Music that aren't part of Apple's library, but try doing that with audiobooks in the pitiful Books app. Of course, I loaded the rips into Music on the Mac, and when I try to play one on the Mac, the app first tells me it can't find the file. then I close the dialog and it starts to play. That's the quality of Apple's software engineering, and this from a company that has been swimming in revenue for many years.
All of the excitement of having the first Mac in 1984 is gone for me. It made sense that there were a lot of glitches at the beginning, but there's no excuse today. I use a Mac because Apple's hardware is reliable and the OS is pretty sound. The rest of it is unremarkable.
You really think having just one company dominating quality photo software is a good thing?
Afinity is the most dreadful UI I've used in years. But you really think Pixelmator compares to any of Photoshop's AI features? I think Photopea is actually better than Photometer. The simply act of blurring a background, which can be done it two ways, and with great precision using Photoshop, is a remarkable feat in other photo software.
Does Apple normally make its apps rich with extraordinary features and reliability?
My free trial ran out before I tried it. Does Pixelmator have a Blur Background feature, and, if so, is that adjustable as it is in Photoshop?