Pixelmator, a company that develops popular image editing software for macOS and iOS, is officially being acquired by Apple. Although at first I was skeptical about the deal, I now hope that Apple will use Pixelmator’s expertise to bring Aperture back.
With Pixelmator under Apple’s control, it’s time for Aperture to make a comeback
For those unfamiliar, Aperture was a professional photo editing software developed by Apple. Essentially, it competed with apps like Adobe Lightroom with advanced features to not only organize photos, but also edit them with different controls. In 2014, with the introduction of the new Photos app, Apple discontinued both Aperture and iPhoto.
Until then, Apple had never shown any interest in building a replacement for Aperture. Instead, the company has been adding more features and controls to the Photos app, which now lets users quickly change things like exposure, shadows, contrast, and sharpness of a photo.
That’s why I was concerned about Apple’s acquisition of Pixelmator. Currently, Pixelmator has an app called Photomator, which is focused on photo editing and also competes with Lightroom. Personally, I use Photomator a lot, especially on the iPad. The app works great with touch and Apple Pencil.
I’m not a fan of the new Photos app in iOS 18, and I still prefer to edit photos in a dedicated app rather than using Apple’s Photos. With this acquisition, I really hope Apple uses the foundation of Pixelmator and Photomator to bring back a professional photo editing software rather than making the Photos app even more complicated.
Pixelmator has excellent software, and I’m sure some of its features would work very well in Apple’s Photos app. I believe Apple will implement things like Super Resolution to upscale photos using machine learning, which is a very popular feature of Pixelmator. But I still hope to see a dedicated app like the old Aperture or current Photomator.
For now, Pixelmator says that nothing will change in its software, especially since the deal still depends on regulatory approval. But based on previous Apple acquisitions, the company will most likely kill the app and slowly bring its technologies to the company’s own apps.
What do you think would be the best solution for Pixelmator’s future under Apple? Let me know in the comments section below.
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