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Apple announces new Photos app for Mac

Screen Shot 2014-06-02 at 1.19.56 PM

As part of OS X Yosemite, Apple announced an all new Photos app for Mac today at WWDC. The new app, which integrates iCloud sharing and many editing features, shares many of the same benefits of the Photos app built into iOS 8.

While Apple hasn’t announced a specific release date for Photos yet, they mentioned it will be coming “early next year.”

Screenshot 2014-06-02 14.19.36

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Comments

  1. I guess this means that iPhoto is dead then?

    • Tallest Skil - 10 years ago

      I’m worried that it ISN’T and that there will unnecessarily be two applications, like on iOS.

      • SaphrynShikaze - 10 years ago

        That’s exactly what I’m worried about…

    • macmaniman - 10 years ago

      no, iphoto is way more comprehensive, and the users won’t go for aperture, this won’t be logical.

      i hope….

    • Miłosz Michałowski - 10 years ago

      I really hope it is going away. iPhoto is one of the most clunky and awkward apps Apple has released. I’ve been able to grasp it after a while, but my girlfriend and my mom cringe whenever they have to use it – like when you share a photo stream it opens in iPhoto and makes you waste a couple of minutes before you can just copy the files onto your hard drive. Why can’t it be just a nice software to organise he photos on my drive + iCloud? Why does it have to be so clunky, counterintuitive and weird? It copies photos into its library (awful idea that in most cases I know just ends up with people having each photo doubled – regular file on HDD + a copy in iPhoto library and they usually don’t even know it since they don’t use iPhoto, except for when it pop us on it own. Yeah, they have to turn it off, but by then it could’ve copied lots of GBs to its library). And to turn off the “copying to library” option you gotta go into advanced settings, which doesn’t make things easier for most non-tech savvy users. Compared to Picasa or even Bridge, it makes organising photos a real pain. It’s basically Picasa/Bridge with a horrible management philosophy, but without any worthwhile features. And it’s truly one of the very few Apple apps that I feel ashamed for – I remember when I was introducing my girlfriend and then my mom to OSX as they’ve had it with Windows. They really loved how easy, intuitive and smooth the OSX experience was. And then when asked about picture handling and there was this awkward moment of silence. I turned red and had to explain to them that there’s iPhoto, but they should avoid it at all times and maybe use Picasa instead… At first they wouldn’t believe, but the instant they started playing with it they just gave up… :)
      So really, iPhoto can die. Hopefully the Photos in Yosemite will make organising your photos on Mc they it always should’ve been – it just amazes me that a company so focused on “photos” in terms of the iPhone (world’s most popular camera, as I believe they’d once claimed), was so bad at this on their OS.

      • SaphrynShikaze - 10 years ago

        You make some great points here, Miłosz.

        My ultimate hope as far as Apple’s entire OSX / iOS app suite is that they integrate all the studio apps into an iLife sort of bundle. Most professional photographers wouldn’t agree, but here’s how I see it.

        Apple has always used a 2 tier structure for all their “studio” style apps. This was an ingenious way to market their apps, but in this day and age of in-app purchases, it makes no sense to have 2 names for 1 app (which is essentially how it is Garage Band and Logic, as well as iPhoto and Aperture, and iMovie and Final Cut).

        I think what Apple is gonna do is offer INTER-APP purchases, which are sort of like plug-ins for their Photos app. They’ll provide basic editing tools, but the pro-level tuning will come from Adobe, Corel, and other image editing companies. Instagram functionality might even be provided within the ecosystem.

        This way, they can still be completely involved in the photo space (through both hardware and software), but quell the destructive competition they have with Adobe.

        They might not do the same with GarageBand/Logic and iMovie/FinalCut, but they like to proliferate their structure throughout their ecosystem, so I’m sure they’re considering it quite a bit.

        And they befriended IBM!!! So I’m sure Adobe’s a cake walk compared to that ;)

    • James Noon - 10 years ago

      Yes, Apple is discontinuing iPhoto and Aperture and replacing it with Photos. But Apple will update iPhoto and Aperture for OS X 10.10 Yosemite for those who still prefer to use them

  2. any one know what going on with aperture? i hope is not dead

  3. Leif Eliasson - 9 years ago

    Really hope Apple makes it work for pros meaning creating good told for editing, sharing and storing and not look us in to their iCloud soloution.

  4. A missing feature from iPhoto that I use all the time is in the creation of Smart Albums.

    In iPhoto, I could create an album that had: Face—>is—>unnamed. Then in one album I could easily run thru photos and add names with out scouring thru every single image to find unnamed faces. Now you can only select previously named faces and you would think that at least I could type the letters of a person’s name and have the drop down whittle down as you typed. Yes, an annoyance but it is/was a tool I used constantly.

  5. Ruth Yee - 9 years ago

    Can i delete this new photo app and keep the old one?

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Avatar for Michael Steeber Michael Steeber

Michael is a Creative Editor who covered Apple Retail and design on 9to5Mac. His stories highlighted the work of talented artists, designers, and customers through a unique lens of architecture, creativity, and community.

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