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When OS X Yosemite ships this fall, Apple will stop development of Aperture, its photo editing program aimed and professionals and advanced users.
Instead, the company will work with users to transition to Photos, an application previewed at WWDC 2014.
It appears that iPhoto & Aperture both still run under Mojave, but the new Catalina (10.15.x) is going to break them. I'm not thrilled about being two generations behind in OS, so may bite the bullet and move to Mojave. Apple Aperture 3.2.3 is easy to navigate and easy to use. Its tools and features are effective for refining and polishing the images I make.
See also: With OS X Yosemite, the Mac Comes of Age
The news of Aperture's imminent demise first appeared on Tech Crunch. An Apple spokesperson confirmed the development to Mashable:
![Aperture download for mac Aperture download for mac](/uploads/1/2/7/7/127734925/406992995.jpg)
'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.'
Current Aperture users don't need to worry, the program will get updates to work under OS X Yosemite. Still, active development of the app will end.
Introduced in 2005, Aperture's original audience was professional or advanced photographers. With Aperture, DSLR users gained support for raw image support from a variety of camera vendors, the ability to do tethered-shooting and a variety of non-destructive image editing tools. If Final Cut Pro was the professional version of iMovie, Aperture was the professional version of iPhoto.
Aperture was released at a time when the professional and prosumer DSLR market was really starting to heat up. Originally priced at $499, Aperture gained a loyal early audience because it was a tool built for digital photographers. Unlike Photoshop — which had evolved into a robust graphics package, Aperture allowed photographers to just focus on photos.
Aperture 2.0 was released in 2008 for $199 and it went head-to-head with Adobe's competing Lightroom application.
In 2010, Apple released Aperture 3.0. Since then, the application has received numerous updates, including support for iCloud, Facebook and Flickr.
With the introduction of the Mac App Store in 2011, Apple reduced the price of Aperture to $79.99. It should be noted that Apple has continued to update RAW support for various cameras for Aperture and iPhoto, but Aperture itself hasn't received any significant user-interface updates since 2010.
Adobe steps in for advanced users
At the same time, Adobe's Lightroom — which battled Aperture during the Aperture 2/early Aperture 3 era — has surpassed Aperture in terms of both update frequency and features.
Aperture 3.0 and Lightroom 3.0 were both released in 2010. Since then, however, Adobe has continued to update Lightroom. Lightroom 5.0 was released in 2013 and is available to users as part of Adobe's Creative Cloud or as a stand-alone product.
Adobe also released versions of Lightroom Mobile for iPad and iPhone earlier this spring. Every photographer I know who used to swear by Aperture, switched to Adobe around the time Lightroom 3.0 was released.
For its part, Adobe says it is committed to making Lightroom better and better. On a blog post responding to Apple's decision to retire Aperture, the company wrote:
Put simply, we're doubling down on our investments in Lightroom and the new Creative Cloud Photography plan and you can expect to see a rich roadmap of rapid innovation for desktop, web and device workflows in the coming weeks, months and years. We also continue to invest actively on the iOS and OSX platforms, and are committed to helping interested iPhoto and Aperture customers migrate to our rich solution across desktop, device and web workflows.
Adobe offers a special Creative Cloud subscription bundle for Photographers for $10 a month. That bundle includes access to both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, as well as cloud-storage and sync between desktop and mobile apps.
iPhoto also gets the boot
The new Photos app for OS X Yosemite will also replace iPhoto. iPhoto has received more updates and significant user overhauls over the last few years (unlike Aperture), but it makes little sense to have Photos and iPhoto.
Based on the preview shown at WWDC, Photos for OS X will be more of a hybrid between iPhoto and Aperture, but with an added focus on working well with the iCloud Photo Library.
So what does that mean for iPhoto for iOS? Apple hasn't made any announcements about the app — but its incompatibility with iOS 8 (for now) makes us think it is likely the app will be replaced with something else later this fall.
iPhoto for iOS has always struck me as an app that was more professional than iPhoto for Mac, but not quite as powerful as something like Aperture. It's a good app — great at times even — but in recent years, I've found myself using other photo apps on iOS rather than iPhoto, simply because they have better workflow management and (ironically) faster cloud support.
Aperture users have options
Although I feel bad for any Aperture user who just purchased the application — this news shouldn't come as a surprise to any longtime user.
Apple has overhauled its professional apps, namely Final Cut Pro and Logic in recent years, but Aperture hasn't had an under-the-hood update in years.
Moreover, as more and more users turn to the iPhone as their primary camera, and not a DSLR, it doesn't necessarily makes sense for Apple to focus on the professional imaging market. Especially when competitors such as Capture One and Lightroom exist.
Aperture For Mac Os X 10.10
Making Aperture even more redundant, those applications support importing from Aperture/iPhoto libraries. Plus, Apple will make it possible to use and access edits using Photos for OS X, in the event that you don't want to move nine years worth of photos to a new program.
Aperture For Mac Os X 10.7
I wrote about Aperture 3's release (in the Apple Store — not to be confused with the Mac App Store) back in February 2010. I paid $99 to upgrade from version 2.0.
As someone who shifted to Lightroom in 2012, I can't say I don't feel as if I got my money's worth for nearly five years of updates. Frankly, the photo book I created in 2008 for Mother's Day using Aperture 2.0 was worth the price ten times over.
It's understandable that veteran users will be upset by the news, but the good news is the app will work under Yosemite. It just won't get future development.
Aperture Mac Os
Hopefully in time, users can find a replacement that works for them. I use Lightroom and it fills my needs and then some. I look forward to using Photos for my iPhone-related photo tasks.
If you're an Aperture or former-Aperture user, let us know what you plan to do in the comments.
New applications bearing the Universal symbol will run natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac computers. What about the applications you already own? Enter Rosetta. You’ll never see it, you’ll never configure it, you’ll never have to think about it. It’s built into Mac OS X to ensure that most of your existing applications live a long and fruitful life.
Protect your investment
Here are all the instructions you’ll need: double-click the application icon. Behind the scenes, Rosetta dynamically translates most of your PowerPC-based applications to work with your Intel-based Mac. There’s no emulation. No second-class status. It looks and feels just like it did before. On a Mac, you’d expect nothing less.
The Universal truth
Most of the applications that come on your Intel-based Mac are Universal applications, designed for screaming performance with the Intel Core Duo. That includes Mac OS X, iLife, Safari and Mail. Most existing applications will continue to run, thanks to Rosetta. Pro applications from Apple — including Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Aperture, Logic Pro, Logic Express and Final Cut Express — are not supported by Rosetta. For most applications, you can upgrade to the Universal version for minimal cost (see “Upgrades” to right). Third-party applications that require precision real-time playback may perform better with a Universal version. For the expected arrival dates of Universal versions of third-party applications, check with their manufacturers.