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Apple to replace Aperture and iPhoto with Photos for OS X early next year

Apple has told 9to5Mac that that the company will be ceasing development of Aperture and iPhoto, offering Photos for OS X as a replacement, which was first shown at WWDC.

With the introduction of the new Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, enabling you to safely store all of your photos in iCloud and access them from anywhere, there will be no new development of Aperture. When Photos for OS X ships next year, users will be able to migrate their existing Aperture libraries to Photos for OS X.

Apple says libraries will be able to migrate across to the new application when the application ships. Apple is working with Adobe to offer a upgrade path to Lightroom. As noted by TechCrunch, Apple will offer a Yosemite compatibility update for Aperture, but otherwise development has ended.

The new Photos app will include some of the features contained within iPhoto and Aperture, but also offers the big advantage of syncing with iCloud Photo Library, which will sync every photo you take when iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite ship later this year. On the other hand, the lack of many of the professional-oriented features from Aperture will be a disappointment to an important market.

As part of the statement, Apple has given TechCrunch a new image of what the Photos app looks like. It largely reflects what Apple demoed at WWDC, but does show a new thumbnail bar on the left-hand side. Features familiar to Aperture users, like histograms, can also be seen in the screenshot.

The state of iPhoto on iOS is currently unknown, but its outlook doesn’t seem good given the retirement of the application on the Mac. iOS 8 doesn’t let the iPhoto app even open, likely confirming it has also been discontinued. ‘t is important to note that development on Apple’s other ‘professional’ software, Logic and Final Cut Pro, continues as normal.

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Comments

  1. Alex King - 10 years ago

    WTF? This shit better be pretty damn good if it’s gonna replace Aperture.

    • Jacob Alford - 10 years ago

      No kidding!

      • Dafty Punk - 10 years ago

        Better then iPhoto but not full pro….. Where did that happen before… Oh yea, the remake of Final Cut. Better then iMovie but most certainly worse the the old FCP…. Apple has lost the pro market fully now.

      • axecop - 10 years ago

        Actually, FCPX is brilliant now. It took 12 months to get there, then overtook the previous iteration with every point release. I imagine Photos will be the same…

      • dialogdesigneren - 9 years ago

        For almost ten years they’ve had sone thousand engineers raving around in the kitchen opening and closing apps in a fantasy world with fewer and fewer users. Those who stayed saw their valued and beloved images, movies and documents vanish in the drain. And the dreamgineers kept on dreaming big dreams – or chemical provoked Lucies in the skies with diamonds … entertaining, scandalous and very sad, indeed

    • Michael Perry - 10 years ago

      Well… the fact that they are working with Adobe to provide an upgrade path for Aperture is pretty telling if you think about it. So I’m guessing no it won’t be pretty damn good if you’re looking for Aperture level of Pro – – Probably passible for prosumer, but Pro? Probably not…..

      • OneOkami (@OneOkami) - 10 years ago

        I’m also getting the feeling Photos sounds like something better then iPhoto but not quite pro-inclined as Aperture which would be a shame for the users that really take advantage of it. I personally use Lightroom (and hearing this news makes me glad I do) but on a Mac there are some things that lend themselves better to Aperture and again, it would be a shame if it gets watered down through OS X Photos for its users.

    • danbridgland - 10 years ago

      Likely as good as the best iPhoto has to offer. Maybe with a few of the most commonly used and basic Aperture features.

    • aeronperyton - 10 years ago

      Photos won’t replace Aperture, Apple is bowing out of the professional photography application market.

      However, remembering all the fine controls that they demonstrated in what was likely an alpha-build of Photos for Mac means that the final application will probably be a kind of Aperture Express in terms of bells and whistles. It will definitely be an upgrade from iPhoto, but skewed to be consumer-friendly over being pro-capible.

      • Mark Choi - 10 years ago

        Why do you speak with authority when voicing your opinions?

    • FlyMoon (@FlyMe2TheMoon0) - 10 years ago

      It’s obvious to me that Apple is not serious about anything unless it’s related to iPhone! look at Final Cut and iWork. They downgraded iWork to make it comparable with iOS. What a shame! Apple is really annoying me lately!

  2. Christopher Smith - 10 years ago

    I kind of feel like a sucker for paying for Aperture about six months ago.

  3. I just thought of buying Aperture! :(

  4. tilalabubakr - 10 years ago

    NOOOOO
    Not Aperture pleaaaase

  5. Jess B Hutchins II - 10 years ago

    iPhoto has been horrible for a some time now.. Opening it takes forever.. Editing is a nightmare…Loved aperture but that became the same statement.. Opening it was a nightmare.. I have switched to lightroom..

  6. taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

    I thought it was given that iPhoto and Aperture was going away by the demo Apple showed at WWDC. Also Apple hasn’t added a major update to Aperture in nearly 2 years. The photo app will be a blending of Aperture and iPhoto, from the demo or looked like pretty capable editing program.

    My only question is will we have the ability to choose what photos sync to keep below the 5GB of free data. I think Apple should made anything under 20GB free.

    • Jason Olsen - 10 years ago

      “I think Apple should made anything under 20GB free.”

      I think Apple has to do a lot better than that. With my Office 365 account, I get 1TB of cloud storage. Come on Apple, can’t you keep up with Microsoft?!

      • Xavier Poirot (@dalaen) - 10 years ago

        Aren’t you paying for your Office 365 account? (it’s a serious question I have no clue!)

      • aeronperyton - 10 years ago

        You want Apple to give you for free what Microsoft is charging you yearly to access? Talk about entitled.

  7. What I would like to know is if it will carry over my iPhoto Events and Places metadata

  8. Eric Klein Velderman - 10 years ago

    Apart from anything else it was the filing system that impressed me about Aperture. ‘Collections’ etc just won’t cut it in the way that i organise shoots. What a blow. Better start seriously looking at Lightroom again

  9. robertvarga79 - 10 years ago

    I trust them they will bring something very good, maybe even excellent! Let’s see next year

  10. Arnaud Ober (@arnaudober) - 10 years ago

    I hope Photos will really have good functions of Aperture. Interface seems to be enough pro, but what about functionalities ?…
    Where did you find this interface of Photos? There’s no image on internet of it…

  11. Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

    It should have been obvious to anyone who watched the iOS demo at WWDC that iPhoto was going away. The fact that Aperture is now included shouldn’t be much of a surprise given that it is basically iPhoto with a different “look,” and with a tiny smattering of extra features.

    Anytime a company makes two, nearly identical apps, one should really expect a merging of the two eventually. The writing has been on the wall for ages on this one.

    • Mark Choi - 10 years ago

      “The fact that Aperture is now included shouldn’t be much of a surprise given that it is basically iPhoto with a different “look,” and with a tiny smattering of extra features.”

      Um, you have got to be kidding. Clearly you were not an Aperture user.

      • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

        Aperture has enhanced versions of more or less the same features that exist in iPhoto. iPhoto has EXIF information, but not as much and it’s not as easy to edit for example. iPhoto will work with RAW, but not as easily, etc.

        It’s not like they are night and day different programs. Lightroom is very similar to Aperture for that matter and all the programs are essentially the same thing (media library apps), and all operate in essentially the same way. The difference is indeed mostly contained in minor extra features, and speed.

      • Mark Choi - 10 years ago

        Regardless of your contentions of what you believe Aperture “basically is”, a photo cataloguer, the fact remains that it is, in fact, currently much more, and used for much more. I understand your feelings about feature creep, but for those who use those added features, this move is unwelcome, primarily because those features are NOT available in iPhoto. Beyond that, considering the workflow, and the features that ARE in Aperture, the say in which they are used are different enough that it is a bit disingenuous to categorize those differences as simply a “different ‘look'”. Those small differences, even just in the cataloguing functions, makes Aperture a useful tool, and iPhoto a convoluted mess that makes some (if not many) tasks actually more difficult than just doing them by hand.

  12. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    I can hear the screams already.

    But truthfully, there is no need for any other than one simple powerful Photos.app

    As long as key features from Aperture are available in Photos, it makes little difference.

    As noted, an Aperture update for Yosemite will occur, and there will be nothing stopping Aperture users from using that for years to come, I’m sure.

    The “upgrade path from Lightroom to Photos” is also very intriguing. Photos must be a killer app if people would “upgrade” from Lightroom to Photos. Not that Lightroom is anything special really…But I suppose it will be nice to let anyone with a Lightroom, iPhoto, or Aperture Library to migrate it to Photos painlessly.

    • Dmitry Tumanov - 10 years ago

      Mmm, it is actually the other way around. You will be able to upgrade to Lightroom from Aperture.

  13. BaoChao (@BaoMingChao) - 10 years ago

    Do you guys even proof read your articles before publishing them? Reading this one was like eating a cactus.

  14. Jes Kone - 10 years ago

    And the screenshot even reveals the new iTunes icon …

    • aeronperyton - 10 years ago

      I’m hoping that iTunes development is ending, and that icon is for the yet-unannounced Music app.

      • taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

        As long as they don’t have 6 to 7 apps that should be one like on iOS. I can maybe see the music app and App Store app being separate, but can’t see any justification for an App Store, iTunes Store, music, videos, podcasts, remote, and iTunes Radio or beats all being separate apps.

        iTunes is way overdue for a major overhaul and rethinking. Again unfortunately will probably end up with a music app, radio app and store app on OSX instead of an improved media app.

  15. Someboody (@HM77_) - 10 years ago

    So glad to hear iPhoto is being scrapped – this application is one of the SLOWEST apps I have ever used – always hogging memory, lagging and generally slow in performance. Absolutely hated using iPhoto to manage my photos.

    I just hope the new Photos app is much more snappier and faster.

  16. aeronperyton - 10 years ago

    Something tells me there’s going to be a new Movies app that replaces iMovie and causes Final Cut Pro to be discontinued sometime in the near future…

    • Yeah…Photos, Movies and Music (alias Garageband)

      • aeronperyton - 10 years ago

        I have a hard time believing that Music would pull double duty as a media library & content creation platform. GarageBand is such a weird app now because of licensing. You can get half the app for free, but you have to make an in-app purchase to get the rest of it. I like it and it comes in handy for the odd thing now and then, but I think there’s 60% chance GarageBand just dies in the next year or so. …Or Apple rewrites it into a new “Band” app that has large chunk of Logic features.

  17. Peter Wood - 10 years ago

    I have spend years getting Aperture right. I came form Adobe so looks like I’ll be going back. This is poor to be stopping Aperture but the upgrade / migration to Lightroom. Off to get everythingg on my free 1TB at Flikr

  18. Dave Coburn - 10 years ago

    Okay I’m done with Apple apps. I won’t buy any apps put out by Apple only to have them discontinued later. Held out of the longest time for an update to iweb and Aperature as it far more organized and easier to use then Lightroom. But , I picked up lightroom last month when it was on sale as I got tired of waiting. No apple I don’t want my photos in the cloud, no I don’t want a subscription based software that I have to pay for forever. So I’ll use my paid version of lightroom and CS6 forever because I’m not buying subscription software. Stupid companies.

    • Ty Belisle (@Pifman) - 10 years ago

      Apple has no subscription-based software and having your photos sync (and backup) via iCloud is optional. In fact, almost all of their software is free.

      • Mark Choi - 10 years ago

        Shhhhh… facts.

      • DebG.-MASP (@DebGMASP) - 10 years ago

        He means that Adobe software is all subscription based now and without Aperture, Apple is sending pro photographers to Lightroom. I hate subscription based software, too. :(

    • Keith Dixon - 10 years ago

      I agree with you, Dave, absolutely. I want my photos saved on multiple drives – including a pair rotated so one is updated weekly and held at my bank – not on somebody’s servers, the so-called ‘Cloud’. If you know anything about physics and the potential for sunspot activity to disrupt the cozy little ‘Cloud’ chimera you would want to have your own secure storage.

      All this means is that I have to migrate to Lightroom 5. Bought the DVD today – but it going to be a long job. My Aperture Library is 291 GB at this time.

  19. typemrt - 10 years ago

    Bummed to hear the news but glad that a decision’s been made. I can see Apple leaving off support for plug-ins and batch processing for the new Photos app. Those seem like pro features that Lightroom will continue to have. I’m not looking forward to the transition and potentially having all edited RAW photos be exported as huge TIFF files.

  20. Wes - 10 years ago

    I JUST bought Aperture last week. I was pretty surprised at how old it looks. And I guess that’s probably why. Sounds like I got ripped off!

    • macmaniman - 10 years ago

      ask apple for a refund

      • Wes - 10 years ago

        I asked and they refunded within the hour! I’m impressed!

  21. taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

    I just wish Apple would hire more software engineers. The iLife Apps have been neglected forever, hasn’t been much change since iLife 08 and iMovie was really the only major change from life 06.

    The programs have been neglected, must notably iPhoto, the only major edition there was place, no real UI changes or enhancements and poor iCloud integration.

    • xtrememacover - 10 years ago

      Tons of top software engineers left Apple when Forstall was fired almost two years ago. They haven’t been successful in hiring enough talented replacements.

  22. tomsprints - 10 years ago

    Not just the cost of Aperture itself. I spent good money on Nik plug-ins too, and use them regularly. I bet they won’t work with the new product.

  23. John Smith - 10 years ago

    Not good.

    Tends to confirm my view that apple is dumbing down.

    Increasingly their products are targeting children rather than the professional/corporate sector.

    Sad.

    • OneOkami (@OneOkami) - 10 years ago

      I do think they’re catering to their more profitable markets. Their bread and butter are their iOS devices now. Macs take a back seat to those and the professional market is even a small subset of that, that’s why the Mac Pro was neglected for so long.

      Given all this, If I was doing serious video editing and my tool of choice was Final Cut Pro I’d be feeling a bit shaken in my confidence of its support long term. iMovie is still more than what I need for basic video editing I do nowadays (which for the most is just showcasing my photography). But if/when I decide to get more serious about video editing like I do my photography, I’ll be sure to look long and hard at Premiere Pro or some other tool before Final Cut Pro.

      • Mark Choi - 10 years ago

        There is no way anyone paying attention to all the product releases over the last twelve months could continue to have this opinion. The new Mac Pro alone disproves it.

  24. Jab King - 10 years ago

    i just feel sorry for anyone who just brought aperture for $80 and it’ll be gone in a few months GEESH! thats gonna suck unless apple refund their money

    • Ty Belisle (@Pifman) - 10 years ago

      But it won’t be gone. The article says Apple will provide an update to ensure it works in Yosemite (and previous OS versions one assumes) and then stop developing it.

  25. telecastle - 10 years ago

    I’ve been asking for this for several years now. Apple created a monster with Photos and iPhoto on iOS and iPhoto and Aperture in OS X.

    Syncing doesn’t work well between iOS (Photos/iPhoto) and OS X (iPhoto/Aperture) except for when using Photo Stream. But Photo Stream doesn’t sync videos.

    iPhoto uses “Wireless Beaming” but only in iOS to share with other iOS devices running iPhoto, whereas Photos uses Air Drop to share photos from one IOS device to another. Neither protocol works between iOS and OS X.

    iPhoto uses Web Journals, whereas Photos uses Shared Photo Streams to share photos with others. They both live in iCloud, but have completely different looks and tools.

    Don’t even start me on videos and storing videos in iPhoto/Aperture vs in iMovie. Where are you supposed to store movies when you transfer them from your camera? It varies from one version to the next because iMovie is mostly a disaster for organizing content. Publishing movies is a disaster as well. iMovie theater is only available on Apple TV – that’s where iMovie can publish videos for sharing with others. If you don’t have an Apple TV, you are out of luck for movie sharing. Why can’t I access the same space from an iOS device?

    How about streaming personal videos from Photos or iPhoto on an iPhone to Apple TV via Air Play? Why does the video choke every few seconds when streaming from an iPhone, whereas the same video streamed from iCloud the iMovie theater is fine?

    All of this needs a major overhaul and cleanup. This is a first step in the right direction – finally consolidating all of these technologies into one work flow that makes sense. Otherwise, consumers are majorly confused about how to use these wonderful technologies.

  26. telecastle - 10 years ago

    As long as Apple can figure out how to sync and share photos and videos seamlessly between family members living in the same household and other family/friends as well as how to seamlessly sync photos and videos between multiple iOS and OS X devices, that’s all that matters. We can find good third-party tools for editing the content.

  27. Matic Conradi - 10 years ago

    Don’t do this Apple, don’t do this!

  28. Taft Navarro - 10 years ago

    This is great news as I have had much difficulties with iPhoto in Mavericks.

    • weakguy - 10 years ago

      This is HORRIBLE news! iPhoto has been slow since Lion, so I agree on that front. However, if you have used Aperture, you would know how awesome that application is. This is just terrible.

  29. Andrew Douglas Phillips - 10 years ago

    To be honest, its super disappointing. I would have thought with the new MacPro, to have a highly optimised program to take full advantage of the top notch hardware would be great for the professional. I would thought the bundle would be great for sales of the MacPro. Probably its a case of key people working on Aperture leaving Apple and going to Adobe??

  30. Steve Lawrence - 10 years ago

    This is going to be a god-send to be able to export my iPhoto library to iCloud, then delete the local copies of all my older photos, just pulling copies from the cloud if I need them again. Will free up about 150GB of HDD space instantly.

    It will be a god-send for MacBook Air owners especially, given the small storage that iPhoto tends to sap up so quickly. And to then have the complete, same, photo library on all my iOS devices… golden. Flickr and the ilk are going to feel the pain though as Apple users simply won’t need them any more.

  31. tybeejim - 10 years ago

    Just disappointing. I find Aperture 3 so much more intuitive as is most of the Apple stuff. LR5, which I also have is just a tough learn for me.

  32. Wes - 10 years ago

    I just bought it 2 weeks ago…is it possible to get a refund??

  33. Apple please nooooo! I do need Aperture! Just ordered a Photobook created in Aperture.
    I don’t need this sync cloud solution! I never shot pictures with my iPad: it just looks ugly and funny holding a tablet in front of my face (the same is true for all bigger smartphones (> 5″) sorry no iPhone 6 for me).
    The iPhone 5(s) takes great pictures but still not comparable to my different Canon IXUS, PowerShot and EOS devices. Aperture is just the right app for my several 1000 pictures.

    1) I don’t want to share my photos on the internet (no social network) the ones I share are via email in full resolution
    2) Apple iCloud couldn’t even hold all of my photos in RAW format
    2) I don’t want my photos on every device
    3) my photos are on several external HDs (Aperture can access them without any hassle, that was the main reason I didn’t like Adobe Lightroom, perhaps it has changed now)
    4) IMHO Apple will go the same way with Photo as with Pages, loose all the PRO features.
    I know most people do use their iPhones to take pictures, but most people are satisfied with what they have, but don’t know what is really possible, so they don’t care.
    5) the best pictures are printed on a PRO printer or produced as real books.
    6) I don’t want to pay software (Adobe) on subscription. I don’t understand the whole hype for paying for streaming music. Either I own the music CDs or downloaded via iTunes, or I do listen to my favorite Radio stations. But paying for virtual music no thx! That’s just stealing money.

    I hope Photo for OSX gets great but I think I will stay with Aperture as long as possible.

  34. Ard van der Heijden - 10 years ago

    Goddamned Apple. What the f**k are you guys doing?

  35. William Beem - 10 years ago

    So much for the promise of a new version of Aperture made during the launch of the Mac Pro.

  36. Phil Pugliese - 10 years ago

    Having some simple editing tools like layering above the the minimal offered now in iPhoto will be appreciate…by me at least. I hope this will be a free upgrade.

    • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

      We should all hope they *don’t* do this. It’s Adobe’s insistence on putting every feature including the kitchen sink into their products that creates this confusing feature creep. Neither Aperture, nor iPhoto (nor Lightroom for that matter) are “Photo editing apps.”

      As originally conceived, they are media library apps with features that allow some basic tweaking. If you want to edit the photos in layers and use brushes etc., then you should really be using an image editor, not a library app, and if Adobe hadn’t screwed up this distinction with their products, Apple wouldn’t have had to go down that road following them.

      Adobe’s approach to app design is the same as Microsoft’s. Keep adding in requested features every year, regardless of whether it makes sense at all, until every product in the stable can do every single thing under the sun. This is almost the definition of bad design and Apple, (thankfully) seems to have stepped away from the brink and is now instead, intent on designing a really excellent photo management/library tool.

      Personally I hope they leave all that crap out and all you people who fancy yourself as “professionals” (though most of you are not), can all move to Adobe products.

  37. that “that that”

  38. weakguy - 10 years ago

    Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. What a shame.

  39. c1ce091b - 10 years ago

    Here is an interesting take on Aperture and today’s announcement.

    http://www.apertureexpert.com/tips/2014/6/27/aperture-dead-long-live-photos

  40. Does this mean I will not be able to continue using Aperture on my MacBook?

    • zBrain (@joeregular) - 10 years ago

      aperture will continue to work. i am sure bug fixes will be released (i guess until 5 years from now). but no new features will be added (like new presentation templates).

  41. FlyMoon (@FlyMe2TheMoon0) - 10 years ago

    I am glad I ditched Aperture for Lightroom a while ago. It was obvious to me that Apple is not serious about anything unless it’s related to iPhone!

  42. theskepticalsoutherner - 10 years ago

    Eh… Lightroom >> Aperture except the whole library mess.

  43. Thomas Andres - 10 years ago

    I’ve used Aperture since the very beginning. In fact, I heard Steve Jobs announce it in NY. So I am very sad at the news. Sure hope Apple is working with Adobe Lightroom so that Lightroom will be improved to incorporate some Aperture features, and I won’t loose any data or adjustments when I migrate over.

  44. Dan Schmitz - 10 years ago

    This is really upsetting. I manage 30.000+ RAW Documents in a Vault. All workflows and processes have been optimised for Aperture. Non of the other applications like Lightroom, DxO, Capture One come even close to the RAW Performance and Speed of Aperture! Why would you give this advantage away? At least offer the legacy code to a developer that will continue the System to soften the blow to many Photographers out there!

  45. charilaosmulder - 10 years ago

    Wait, where did Apple ever say anything about killing iPhoto (the Mac version specifically). In any case killing it would make more sense than killing Aperture, but I guess we just have to wait and see how capable the new Photos app is.

    The iPhoto app on iOS shouldn’t be killed though. Being able to order all sorts of prints, create web journals and advanced slideshows is great but should remain outside of the main, lightweight Photos app.

    • David Nyrén - 10 years ago

      I also wondering if Apple ever have said they going to “kill” iPhoto. Suicide in that case… iPhoto is one of the number one reason i love Mac.

  46. freediverx - 10 years ago

    “Apple is working with Adobe to offer a upgrade path to Lightroom”

    Source?

  47. freediverx - 10 years ago

    “There is NO EVIDENCE that Apple is working with Adobe to transition Aperture users to Lightroom.”
    http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/29b0wa/there_is_no_evidence_that_apple_is_working_with/

  48. I personally like that they are putting Aperture & iPhoto in to one single application, since both of them originally costs money (Besides from iPhoto, which you get for free with the purchase of a new Mac). Btw if you recently bought Aperture, Apple will refund you.

    This could also mean that they are not separating iTunes like many believes. Having Music and iTunes separated on OS X would just make things more cluttered and confusing.

    I don’t want to open a completely different app to buy new songs and movies, that works in iOS because if Music and iTunes Store was one app, it would be cluttered and packed. While on OS X you have a much bigger multi-task capability which makes separating those two, useless.

    Besides, isn’t there enough stock apps on OS X already?

  49. David Nyrén - 10 years ago

    I hope all the “Faces” and “Places” I have out pointed in my library of 35’000 images not being wasted. Hope “Photos” will remain the functions Faces and Places and can import them from iPhoto…

  50. dr3459 - 10 years ago

    Honestly it just gets annoying Apple keeps changing everything! Originally just Camera Role, then Photo Stream, now iCloud Photos and this new Photos app. Who really wants all their photos on every device. If Apple had expandable storage it’s one thing but i don’t need every picture I take everywhere just to take up storage. That’s why even though photo stream got annoying it was simple and i could chose to put what pictures I want to on each device or keep them on a single device. Worst case scenario there always is Airdrop too. At this point this Photos application doesn’t seem to have photo editing options at all beyond the small options you get on iOS 8 devices with the lighting and coloring that is “automatically done. Maybe some how they’ll add the mobile editing from a 3rd party application to it or else my hopes aren’t getting up and I’ll just continue using Aperture or iPhoto.

    • freediverx - 10 years ago

      You’ve completely misunderstood Apple’s direction here. They are not going to force you to sync all your photos on all your devices. That would be impossible considering the limited storage space. Also, expandable storage is pointless since no SD card will be able to hold your entire library either, and dealing with multiple SD cards on a phone is akin to working with floppy disks on a PC – so 1990s.

      Here’s what iCloud Drive and the new Photos app will give you…

      All your photos (and videos) will be stored in the cloud in their original, native format, including RAW images. You will be able to browse your entire library from any device without using any local storage space. You will still have the option to download any desired images to any specific device for offline viewing. Any image in the cloud can be edited on any device and the changes will be saved, non-destructively, in the cloud.

      Think of this as a massive expansion of Photo Stream. Instead of just storing one month’s worth of photos in the cloud, they can store ALL your photos AND VIDEOS in the cloud. Not only will this let you access your library from anywhere but it will also dramatically free up storage space on your devices. Your cloud will be limited only by whatever storage option you elect. You only get 5GB for free but there will be added cost options for up to 1TB.

      In short, this will supplement but not necessarily replace whatever process you have now for storing your images. You will still be in control.

      Additionally, Apple has opened up a flurry of extensions on iOS8 and Yosemite. This might sound like boring developer-speak to you, but it means that soon you will be able to open and edit almost any file with almost any app on any of your devices. All your apps will be given the power to open and save documents not only in Apple’s cloud, but in others like Dropbox as well. Extensions will also let developers offer an infinite selection of editing capabilities to the upcoming Photos app.

      In other words, this will provide the “openness” of Android without the ridiculously complex and inconsistent interfaces and without giving up your privacy and security.

  51. Anna - 10 years ago

    WTF I don’t want EVERYTHING (i.e. all my photos – or even some of them) stored in a g***d*mn CLOUD for goodness sakes! I’m getting truly peeved at all these formerly good programs suddenly trying to become cloud storage/sync competitors. Ugh!

    • charilaosmulder - 10 years ago

      Calm down. Neither the iOS photos app nor the upcoming Mac version force you to use iCloud. You can still use Macs and iOS devices as they were during the Snow Leopard days – everything local and sync by cable whenever desired.

  52. Anything is better than iPhoto on the OS X right now. I mean it… *anything*. Even Finder.app!

  53. Lemme guess, it involves buying something, typical Apple http://where-is-my-refund.net

    • Mark Choi - 10 years ago

      Let me guess, you don’t know what you’re talking about, but it doesn’t matter, because you’re really just spamming.

  54. Last fall I decided to pass from Aperture to Lightroom. The passage has not been difficult and – on the other hand – the editing features of LR and its perfect integration with PS make much more easy, proficient, effective and pleasant the post production work. So – even if I loved Aperture – let’s close the past and let’s deal the present and future of pro photo application with. Up with LR and PS!

    • Keith Dixon - 10 years ago

      Thanks for your encouraging information. I am about to start changing over. Migrating my 290 GB Aperture Library to Lightroom looks to be rather daunting, however, and I look forward to the promised migration path from Apple and Adobe.

      • dialogdesigneren - 9 years ago

        Me too. Only I won’t wait for a migration path. I will hurry up and release those merely 60 percent of my 340 GB originals that has not yet been destroyed by untrustworthy and buggy Apple software, Aperture included. Ten years ago Apple Inc. was about values and profits. Now they’re only about profits. They’ve left ordinary people, Einsteins, Lennons and Gandhis behind. And me too!

  55. Chantel Albiston Milne - 9 years ago

    I am angry that I can no longer select focus or highlight colour using my finger to select specifically where I want it. Now I have a Photo app that will not let me select anything except the whole photo like the desktop version which is good for nothing…. as far as I am concerned it is a HUGE step backwards

  56. Zach Weisman - 9 years ago

    iCloud and Photostream are GARBAGE. They consume space on all devices and automatically delete things when they exceed your storage capacity. Its not easy to share items with non Apple users. The best service will be one that functions more like Flickr or Google Plus. It will synch with you Aperture library and actually work. It will allow for sharing, e-mailing, fb-messengering, of images. It will allow for recipients to download full-res images or entire folders of images…or port the images directly into their own accounts as DUPLICATES that are not tied to the original image and not susceptible to deletion from the sender.

  57. Dave Marsden - 9 years ago

    Great, a new operating system….click install. I was just finishing up 5 different Apple books after scouring 30 thousand family images in four different Aperture libraries and two external hard drives. Next morning, whamo, all the books were in the clouds. After panic subsided, I found them on Photo. I am making a giant assumption, is it best to migrate all of Aperture and IPhoto to Photo so I can finish the books. My biggest problem is that I can not move the final images into Photo like I did from Aperture to iPhoto. Maybe to the proper question would be, does Photo have a guide or comprehensive tutorial?

  58. Leroy Arthur - 9 years ago

    Without a doubt what i have experienced with photos is poor compared to iPhoto. I have much more than a thousand photos. iPhoto is so much better organized and I don’t have to put a name to a face to view it, Imagine name hundreds of faces to scan what you have. My photos are shared many ways, I don’t need iCloud. other means sharing or organizing. Please don’t make similar changes to iMovie, the older version using the green star icon.

    • Keith Dixon - 9 years ago

      This is a thoroughly thoughtless, unnecessary, unwelcome and inconvenient move by Apple. Photos is a primitive offering in itself, certainly not up to Professional use, and for anyone such as myself with a largish Aperture Library implies a ‘cloud’ stage charge. Thank you Apple – but No thank you. Adobe Lightroom and Capture One especially, offer far better alternatives. But beware Adobe moving to the subscription based ‘cloud’ model.

  59. bev101 (@bev101) - 9 years ago

    I have never used iPhoto if I can help it, and now I feel photos will be the same. I do not want a slide show of photos. I use image capture, I can resize my photos in photoshop and add names and mega data. Leave the slide shows to those who show people there one inch photos. Poor upgrade.

    • charilaosmulder - 9 years ago

      Sounds like Photos is a much, much faster and cleaner tool for the kind of tasks you’re using Photoshop for (importing, resizing and adding names/metadata). It also organises and syncs your library through iCloud, preserving your non-destructive edits in the sync.

      And yes, like any other photo organiser, it does feature a slideshow. You can just ignore that button.

  60. Corey Hampton - 9 years ago

    This program sucks. F you apple for find my mac up. I can never find where anything I import goes. Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave right now.

  61. Lisa O'daniel - 9 years ago

    Where are my photos??? They disappeared from my Iphoto!!!

  62. Brittany Ross - 8 years ago

    guys please help.. i dont ave iphoto or the actual photo app at all and cant seem to get one?? ;(

    • charilaosmulder - 8 years ago

      If you have the latest version of OSX, iPhoto and Aperture do not exist anymore. You should be able to find the new Photos app either in your dock, or if you’ve accidentally removed it from there, in your applications folder and in Launchpad. You can also search for it using Spotlight. The icon is very similar to the Photos app on iOS.

      If it’s not there at all, consider copying the Photos app from someone else’s Mac and move it to your applications folder.

      • Keith Dixon - 8 years ago

        Photos is a dumbed down offering that in no way matches the capabilities of Aperture – organizational or for image optimization. Thumbs down from me. Apple have made a catastrophic error in deciding to ‘retire’ Aperture and not to support it under OS X 12 ‘Sierra’. I shall not be downgrading to Sierra for this reason.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.