On Pixelmator
On November 1, Pixelmator announced that it was being acquired by Apple.
Apple made many announcements this week: Monday ushered in the new M4 iMac, Tuesday the adorable & redesigned M4/M4 Pro Mac Mini, Wednesday the terrifyingly powerful M4 MacBook Pro lineup, and Thursday's Apple held their quarterly earnings call, but perhaps the most surprising announcement came on Friday when Pixelmator (the company behind Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro, and Photomator), the photo editing and design application that's been available on the Mac since 2007, announced they were being acquired by Apple.
Screenshot of Pixelmator 1.0 in 2007.
In a press release on their website, the team wrote:
"Pixelmator has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval. There will be no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time. Stay tuned for exciting updates to come."
It's unclear at this time what will come out of this. Will this ultimately lead to Apple keeping Pixelmator around as a native application as it did with Shortcuts and having it become part of the pantheon of apps like Garageband or iMovie, or will the apps be dissolved, their technologies migrated into areas like Photos and Apple Intelligence.
Pixelmator is so old it came in boxes.
I have been using Pixelmator since day one, over 17 years! I've watched it grow, advance its capabilities, and add features, becoming my preferred image editing app. You've heard me make countless compliments about the app and how instrumental it is to nearly everything I create for this site. And I’m not alone in singing their praises, their apps have earned numerous accolades from Apple, including three Mac App of the Year Awards (2011, 2018, 2023), a 2014 iPad App of the Year award, and two Apple Design Awards (2011, 2019).
Although there are apps in the Adobe & Affinity suite, Pixelmator has always remained my go-to for its speed, simplicity, and power. I've also always respected the team for offering years of free upgrades, beyond fair pricing, and continually iterating & adding valuable features. The acquisition by Apple is bittersweet because it shows the team that they have created something extraordinary. Still, at the same time, I hope that a monolithic company like Apple appreciates the history & importance of this app and doesn't just tear it apart for its intellectual property. That's my fear because I love these apps and, selfishly, don't want to relearn another image-editing app after nearly two decades of use.
Top: Pixelmator 1.0 launched on the Mac on September 25, 2007. Pixelmator Pro was launched on November 29, 2017 as a paid update from Pixelmator, which was renamed Pixelmator Classic.
Middle: Pixelmator for iOS launched on the iPad on October 23, 2014, with support for the iPhone arriving in 2015.
Bottom: Pixelmator Photo, later Photomator, was released on iOS in 2019 and released as Photomator 3.0 on the Mac on May 16, 2023.
If it were up to me (though it's not), I would prefer Apple keep Pixelmator around as a standalone app and continue its development alongside the founders. And I could see them integrating Photomator into photos, creating an Aperture-esque photo-editing palette of advanced tools and technologies. But that all remains to be seen.
Lastly, a massive congratulations to the Dailide brothers, Saulius and Aidas, for starting something incredible, and a huge thank you for the love and care you've crafted into every pixel and line of code in this app for so many years. I have some worries, but I remain optimistic about a great future and the continued legacy of these fantastic apps.
