Canva Relaunches Affinity as Free All-in-One Design App

[MacMorrison]

The latest Affinity update was just a few days ago, 3.2.2, and it works fine on Sequoia.

I think Affinity will ultimately displace Adobe's Creative Cloud apps as AI replaces much of their competition (Canva went full AI a while ago).

 

[Omega Mac]

The latest Affinity update was just a few days ago, 3.2.2, and it works fine on Sequoia.

I think Affinity will ultimately displace Adobe's Creative Cloud apps as AI replaces much of their competition (Canva went full AI a while ago).

Is AF V3 the free one, is that still the same i.e. 3 Affinity apps rolled into one?

 

[ChrisA]

Is AF V3 the free one, is that still the same i.e. 3 Affinity apps rolled into one?

The new June 26 update includes all three. Older software that was written for Intel-based Macs will continue to run forever so long as you don't upgrade macOS. This might not even be a point, as Apple will not offer macOS upgrades for Intel Macs.

 

[MacMorrison]

Is AF V3 the free one, is that still the same i.e. 3 Affinity apps rolled into one?

Yes, it's completely free, also available on Windows, and it has 3 major components, Pixel, Vector and Layout (matching Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign).

 

[BotchQue]

The latest Affinity update was just a few days ago, 3.2.2, and it works fine on Sequoia.

I think Affinity will ultimately displace Adobe's Creative Cloud apps as AI replaces much of their competition (Canva went full AI a while ago).

I saw somewhere just today that the new Chromebooks (EDIT: "Surface" and "Surface Pro" laptops, not chromebooks; my bad) will be coming with Affinity already installed. I don't care how "established" Adobe currently is, once HS and college grads start flooding the labor market with kids who know/love Affinity, Photoshop and Lightrooms' days are numbered.
I just wish some of the aftermarket hardware editing thingies (lookin' at you, LoupeDeck) would start coming with Affinity templates ready-made.

 

[MacMorrison]

Canva just updated Affinity a few days ago to v3.2.3

You might need to sign back in, but it seems fine otherwise. I'll give it a more thorough test soon.

Release notes: https://www.affinity.studio/help/release-notes/#improvements-and-fixes---mid-july--26--4646-

 

[splifingate]

Smooth installation; primary intent (besides Exploration) was for the Trace functionality.

Trace is extremely simplistic, and doesn't have a lot of choice 🤷‍♂️

 

[MacBH928]

I saw somewhere just today that the new Chromebooks (EDIT: "Surface" and "Surface Pro" laptops, not chromebooks; my bad) will be coming with Affinity already installed. I don't care how "established" Adobe currently is, once HS and college grads start flooding the labor market with kids who know/love Affinity, Photoshop and Lightrooms' days are numbered.
I just wish some of the aftermarket hardware editing thingies (lookin' at you, LoupeDeck) would start coming with Affinity templates ready-made.

its a trap. Affinity feels like a web app in desktop form. You have to have an account to login. they are for sure tracking. They even sent me an email telling me why i haven't opened affinity in a long time.

Its free today, but tomorrow it will be kneecapped with "premium" subscription options just like Apple's Apple Creator Studio. They are making money out of it, the only question is how.

 

[MacHeritage]

its a trap. Affinity feels like a web app in desktop form. You have to have an account to login. they are for sure tracking. They even sent me an email telling me why i haven't opened affinity in a long time.

Its free today, but tomorrow it will be kneecapped with "premium" subscription options just like Apple's Apple Creator Studio. They are making money out of it, the only question is how.

After the first connection and logging in, you can use it off the Internet all you want. I have mine setup this way with Little Snitch. Once in a while I will connect and get a large upgrade for v3. I also still have v1 and v2 available and use v1 a lot still because of backwards compatibility with 10.14.

 

[MacBH928]

After the first connection and logging in, you can use it off the Internet all you want.

You might have tricked them because in their mind everyone will be connected to the internet so they didn't see this coming. In the end, you do not matter to them as a single user. They still can track like 99.99% of them but yes you did save yourself.

I have mine setup this way with Little Snitch.

How does little snitch knows how to block one specific app from connecting to the internet? i dont know how software works but i'd imagine they can easily drop some "Ctracker.exe" some where in your computer and little snitch wouldn't know this file is the one Canva uses to track you while using affinity.

i tried running little snitch ones and it gets hard to figure out what is what when you get notices which apps are trying to reach the internet. Also call me paranoid, but how do i stop little snitch from calling the mothership itself ? 😆

 

[MacHeritage]

You might have tricked them because in their mind everyone will be connected to the internet so they didn't see this coming. In the end, you do not matter to them as a single user. They still can track like 99.99% of them but yes you did save yourself.



How does little snitch knows how to block one specific app from connecting to the internet? i dont know how software works but i'd imagine they can easily drop some "Ctracker.exe" some where in your computer and little snitch wouldn't know this file is the one Canva uses to track you while using affinity.

i tried running little snitch ones and it gets hard to figure out what is what when you get notices which apps are trying to reach the internet. Also call me paranoid, but how do i stop little snitch from calling the mothership itself ? 😆

Been using Little Snitch for over a decade and half. I know how it works and how Affinity v1 v2 & v3 works. It is really simple once you learn it, like most Mac software titles.

There is no .exe stuff. After I block it, it thinks the Internet is not available and works as usual. They even made it better that way with the latest updates (no more having to re sign-in after a period of time being disconnected and reconnecting). It is built to be used disconnected from the Internet, after signing in, unlike Adobe. Affinity even talked about that feature when introducing v3.

 

[MacBH928]

It is built to be used disconnected from the Internet, after signing in, unlike Adobe. Affinity even talked about that feature when introducing v3.

Ah i see. they made it like that by design. Adobe will refuse to open with out talking to the mothership. that is a major plus. thanks for the info.