Just like last year, the App Store on the iPhone and Mac was again bursting with countless new apps. Also in 2018, every editor of iPhoned will again choose one app as favorite of the year. In our opinion, these are the very best iOS and macOS apps of the year. Today it is Lars’s turn with Pixelmator Pro.
Pixelmator Pro: my app of the year
For the first time this year I don’t have an iPhone app, but a Mac app is at the top of my list of favorite apps. As far as I’m concerned, there have been remarkably few really new iOS apps that I’ve been using for more than a few weeks.
This is different on the Mac. Apple finally revamped the Mac App Store, which also includes my most used and favorite app of the year: Pixelmator Pro.
Graphic designers will no doubt disagree with me, but I didn’t use Photoshop for years, but the original Pixelmator for all things image editing. The app was regularly updated with useful new features, and had everything I was looking for without cluttering it with menus and buttons.
A step further
As the name suggests, Pixelmator Pro goes one step further. The design has been adjusted so that it fits even better with macOS, with sleek menus and smooth animations. If Apple made a photo editing app, it would probably differ very little from Pixelmator Pro.
The big difference between Pixelmator and Photoshop is that the former is specially and exclusively designed for the Mac. As a result, not only does the appearance fit with macOS, but the program also runs on Apple’s Metal 2, so that it runs optimally on the GPU in your iMac or MacBook.
In addition, the app uses all APIs from Apple itself. This results in good performance and fast updates, as a result of which Pixelmator Pro has regularly received major new functions and adjustments in recent months.
What makes Pixelmator Pro so good in my opinion is the ease of use. Since the options are vast, such an app can seem overwhelming. Pro is so logical that many functions work as you expect them to.
So if you don’t know exactly how something works, chances are that the app will do exactly what you want if you think logically. This eliminates the need to search for online tutorials if you want to try something new, which makes it a very accessible app despite its extensive functions.
Worth the money (or test it yourself)
For that reason, I have been using Pixelmator Pro extensively every day since its release for all the images you upload iPhone sees. The purchase price of 44 euros is not cheap, but for a program that is so extensive and can count on free updates for a long time, Pixelmator Pro is well worth this price in my opinion.
Especially if you are busy editing images and photos every week. If you are curious, you can also try the app for free for a period via the developer’s website.