A recent update to the official Aperture website points to the end of the pro app. On the product page Apple has stated that “When Photos for OS X is available this spring, Aperture will no longer be available for purchase from the Mac App Store”. We were warned that this day would come during 2014’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) where Apple briefly showed on stage Photos for OS X – the successor of both Aperture and iPhoto.
Photos for OS X is the desktop counterpart to the Photos app that ships with your iOS device. Just like its mobile version, the software will have built-in support for iCloud Photo Library – Apple’s solution to storing all of your photos and their non-destructive edits in the cloud and making them available on all of your devices. In terms of functionality, we expect that Photos for OS X will be a suitable replacement and even an upgrade for iPhoto users, but may leave professional photographers and fans of Aperture disappointed. In addition to the built-in features, the app will also serve as a system-wide platform for photo manipulation by allowing OS X and iOS developers to create photo extensions which can be used directly inside the Photos app.
In terms of visuals, Photos for OS X feels at home in Yosemite thanks to its flat and translucent interface. The app’s layout is very similar to its iOS counterpart – you have all of your photos organized into Moments, Collections and Years. The Shared and Albums tabs are also present and allow you to organize the photos you’ve taken and view images shared by your friends and family. A new addition that’s only available on Photos for OS X is the Project tab, a place where you can create slideshows, calendars, photo books, cards, print orders, etc.
The new desktop application is expected to ship this spring with the release of Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.3, most likely during a special event where it will be demonstrated on stage once again. Apple recently released its first beta of 10.10.3 to developers and Photos for OS X is indeed present.
Even though the introduction of the desktop Photos app marks the end of Aperture, The Loop reports that Apple has no plans to discontinue their other pro apps – Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. So you need not worry if one of those two apps is critical to your workflow – they’re not going anywhere. If you’re a photographer, on the other hand, you may want to look into alternatives to Aperture like Adobe Lightroom. While the current version of Aperture does work on Yosemite and will continue to do so after it’s retired, there are no guarantees that it will support the next major version of Apple’s desktop operating system.