Apple Replacing ‘iPhoto’ With ‘Photos For OS X’

Updated on

Apple has built the new photo library from scratch for Mac users, and a developer seed version of the new program will be sent out today.

Non-developers will soon be able to use the public Photos beta, and the final Photos program will be sent out in a free software update scheduled for spring. Development on iPhoto, the Apple photo library, and Aperture, the company’s professional photo editing suite, was ended last year. The company promised to develop a completely new product which would integrate with the cloud.

A strong successor to iPhoto

Most users will notice an improvement over the old iPhoto program, but those who made use of Aperture’s powerful editing and organisational suite may find Photos lacking in that department.

He says that the software interface is simple and clean, and will look very familiar to Apple iPhone users as it borrows heavily from the Photos app for iOS. Photos will link closely with the iCloud Photo Library, as promised. The photo backup service allows users to store their first 5GB of photos for free, with a sliding pricing scale beyond that point depending on the amount of storage required.

Better synchronization between Apple devices

One possible gripe with Apple’s photo products is that they do not integrate with other photo sources. For example, Apple products will not automatically download your Facebook, Instagram or Flickr photos like other programs do. However between Apple devices synchronization is a strong point, with changes effected on one device almost immediately mirrored on other devices connected to your Cloud.

During the last few years of its life, users had started to grow increasingly frustrated with iPhoto. One common complaint concerned its lack of synchronization with users’ iPhones, despite the fact that a growing proportion of pictures were being taken using smartphones. As Newton rightly says, Photos looks to be a move in the right direction, albeit overdue.

Leave a Comment