A few weeks ago Numbers for Mac told me I needed to download a whole new app to keep using new features, and that’s how I discovered the apps formerly known as iWork are now part of the new Creator Studio suite.
The good is that iWork apps can still be used for free on all devices, so no loss there. Also no loss in just using the free version, since the paid version is largely about building content using Apple Intelligence, which no one should ever do anyway. Oddly enough, the iOS/iPadOS apps will automatically update to the new versions, but on the Mac you’re going to have to download the new ones separately. Apple likes to add some friction these days, to keep us all on our toes.
The bad is that Creator Studio (on top of smelling heavily of Adobe shit) also includes Pixelmator Pro, but only as part of the subscription. The old version won’t be updated but it will keep working as long as the OS allows. I guess the same is true for Final Cut Pro, with the main difference that Final Cut was always a fairly hefty investment, while Pixelmator could easily be an impulse purchase. I suspect I’m going to be fine using the old version while it works, since I’m not editing images daily, but I’m definitely not going to subscribe to the full suite just for that.
The ugly is the awful icons—Liquid Glass at its absolute worst.