The developer of the Pixelmator family of image-editing applications for Mac, iPad, and iPhone announced Friday that the company has been acquired by Apple.
The move leaves the many fans of the apps nervous about the fate of the software.
Pixelmator acquired by Apple
Pixelmator Team makes Pixelmator Pro for Mac, plus Pixelmator and Photomator for iPhone and iPad. As the developer says, these are “designed to make the most powerful professional image editing tools accessible to everyone.”
While not as feature-rich as the rival applications from the likes of Adobe, these apps are highly rated by average users, and are considerably more affordable. The most expensive is Pixelmator Pro at $49.99. Pixelmator for iPad costs only $9.99.
But Friday brought a huge shift. The company blog announced, “Pixelmator has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval.”
Good news or bad news?
The development team’s announcement went on to say, “There will be no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time.”
Nevertheless, users of the company’s applications are understandably nervous about their long-term prospects.
A worst case scenario is that Apple will merge some of the features of Pixelmator into its existing Photos application and toss out the rest. For example, the third-party app’s Repair tool is noticeably superior to the similar one recently added to Photos. Theoretically, the whole reason for the purchase could be so Apple could integrate just that one feature into its software.
Fortunately, that’s not the only option. And perhaps not the most likely, because Apple acquired popular third-party applications in the past and didn’t kill them.
There’s no better example than Shazam. Apple acquired the music-recognition app in 2018 and integrated it into its devices. But it’s also still a standalone application.
Or there’s Dark Sky Weather, which Apple acquired in 2020. This essentially replaced the iPhone’s weather app. So while the name changed, the functionality lives on.
But only time can tell what happens with Pixelmator.
