Pro photo workflow tool Aperture won't work after macOS Mojave, Apple says

AppleInsider

Flagging the end of an era, Aperture -- Apple's pro-oriented photo workflow software -- will no longer work in the next major version of macOS following Mojave, the company says.

The end-of-life announcement was made quietly through a new support document. Aperture owners are encouraged to migrate their libraries to the macOS Photos app or Adobe Lightroom Classic. With the latter, features like Smart Albums and custom metadata fields can't be converted.

Aperture's non-destructive layers can be carried over to Lightroom, though only by importing files after the rest of a library has been migrated.

Apple killed further development of Aperture in 2014, and pulled it from the Mac App Store in April the next year. The product was likely impacted by Apple's distance from pro software at the time, combined with the growing popularity of Lightroom. Lightroom is not only integrated with other Adobe tools like Photoshop, but cross-platform, whereas Aperture was always Mac-only.

The ultimate fate of Aperture was clear, but a loyal core of users tested beta releases of macOS prior to release over the last five years and reported back to a larger community. MacRumors found Apple's updated page on early Tuesday.

The next major macOS update should be announced at WWDC 2019 and launch this fall. The software will complete Apple's transition away from 32-bit support, and in fact the company is warning people now to convert older iMovie, Final Cut, and Motion files if they want that media to remain useable.

razorpit

Add QuickTime Pro 7 to that list of useful apps no more...

maestro64

This whole transition is totally unclear. I did not update to Mojave due to statements made by Apple saying older apps will no long work due to the migration to 64 bit only. I get the warning on some apps in High Sierra saying it was not longer supported and need to contact the developer to get a version that support Mojave. I also ran the utility that Apple has which tells you all the apps you have installed and indicated whether is support 64 bits and there are Apps that I know work but the utility says they should not work. I also check app compatibility websites and people there claim most of these apps work on Mojave. 


So does Mojave kill all apps which are not 64 bits or is there something else going on. I am just pissed I can no longer sync books between my computer and IOS device when I updated my IOS devices to iOS 12 which said you need Mojave on your computer to make it work. Apple had be kind stuck between a rock and a hard place at this point. Just unclear what will break with the next update. I have a number of older apps and utilities I use and do not wish to spend more money to get subscription based apps.

I think this is the dirty little secret Apple had with the developer world. They will eventually kill any old apps from work in OSX and if users want to keep up to date they will be force to go to a software subscription model. Quicken did it to me since they disable online access to any financial institutions for the standalone app. You had to go to a subscription base app to maintain online access. They also said the standalone app would no longer work in Mojave so they tied to the two things together.

edited April 2019

heavypound

Mojave can run 32-bit apps just fine. I don’t think I had any more compatibility issues with old software running under Mojave that weren’t already there in High Sierra.

Do not upgrade to the replacement for Mojave coming later this year until you have found suitable replacements for your 32-bit software or are prepared to dual-boot your computer or use a VM for the handful of 32-bit programs you still use.

I’ve finally found replacements for my primary 32-bit apps. Quicken 2007 was replaced with GnuCash and Pastor was replaced with MacPass.

edited April 2019

macplusplus

razorpit said:

Add QuickTime Pro 7 to that list of useful apps no more...

QuickTime was 32-bit. Besides, it became a standard, namely mp4. We don’t need it anymore. There are a lot of great apps that do a lot of great things with the actual AV Foundation.

eric_wvgg

What really sucks is that Apple won't/can't sell off the product.

lkrupp

maestro64 said:

This whole transition is totally unclear. I did not update to Mojave due to statements made by Apple saying older apps will no long work due to the migration to 64 bit only. I get the warning on some apps in High Sierra saying it was not longer supported and need to contact the developer to get a version that support Mojave. I also ran the utility that Apple has which tells you all the apps you have installed and indicated whether is support 64 bits and there are Apps that I know work but the utility says they should not work. I also check app compatibility websites and people there claim most of these apps work on Mojave. 


So does Mojave kill all apps which are not 64 bits or is there something else going on. I am just pissed I can no longer sync books between my computer and IOS device when I updated my IOS devices to iOS 12 which said you need Mojave on your computer to make it work. Apple had be kind stuck between a rock and a hard place at this point. Just unclear what will break with the next update. I have a number of older apps and utilities I use and do not wish to spend more money to get subscription based apps.

I think this is the dirty little secret Apple had with the developer world. They will eventually kill any old apps from work in OSX and if users want to keep up to date they will be force to go to a software subscription model. Quicken did it to me since they disable online access to any financial institutions for the standalone app. You had to go to a subscription base app to maintain online access. They also said the standalone app would no longer work in Mojave so they tied to the two things together.

“Does Mojave kill all apps which are not 64 bits...” NO it does not. 32 bit apps work just fine with Mojave. Mojave notifies you of 32 bit apps that need updating because the next version of macOS, namely 10.15.x WILL kill all 32 bit apps. It’s simply a warning about the future. If you are unwilling to update your older apps and utilities then DON’T install macOS 10.15.x when it is released. Stay locked in the past if you so desire. If/when your current Mac craps out DON'T buy a new one because it will run only the latest macOS. Buy a used Mac somewhere that will still run macOS prior to 10.15.x. Trying to dual-boot or using a VM will be a kludge and totally annoying, especially with olde utilities. As for subscription based software it is the future like it or not. All of the worthwhile software is already or is in the process of going to the subscription model, including Adobe, 1Password, Quicken, etc. I’ve been using personal computers since 1982 and have been online since then too. I have chosen to remain up to date and current with my hardware and software and have not regretted it one iota.

lkrupp

Can someone quote the basic law of the universe that states all software must be maintained in perpetuity once it exists? Is it some rule that software must be immortal and that an operating system must continue to support legacy software until the last user of it decides to delete it? Does the same go for hardware too? Do legacy ports need to remain until the last peripheral that uses them stops working? Apparently that’s how some here think, no?

As an anecdote I’ll tell you about a friend of mine who worked for IBM during the Y2K frenzy. He supported older IBM hardware that needed both hardware and software updates to continue working after the infamous date change. He told me about small companies who stubbornly refused to pay for or install the updates for reasons beyond his comprehension. He had to inform them that as of 1/1/2000 their machines would no longer function properly. A few went as far as to say they would simply go out of business when that happened. How’s that for stubbornness?

edited April 2019

robbybaehr

I wish they would have open sourced it if they weren't going to keep making it. Aperture was amazing and defined a category Adobe had originally neglected. I wish so badly they would open source.

bennettvista

lkrupp said:

Can someone quote the basic law of the universe that states all software must be maintained in perpetuity once it exists? Is it some rule that software must be immortal and that an operating system must continue to support legacy software until the last user of it decides to delete it? Does the same go for hardware too? Do legacy ports need to remain until the last peripheral that uses them stops working? Apparently that’s how some here think, no?

It's still a basic flaw. Computers are tools meant (in this case) to serve creative individuals - writers, photographers, filmmakers, artists, etc...  You can still read a letter that Ernest Hemingway typed in 1930 or a photograph that Ansel Adams made in 1940, but you can't watch a film created in Final Cut in 2009 or a story written in Word in 1989.  There will be more lost works of art in the digital era - either because the file can't be opened or the work remains lost on some hard drive without the dead owner's password.

hammeroftruth

lkrupp said:

Can someone quote the basic law of the universe that states all software must be maintained in perpetuity once it exists? Is it some rule that software must be immortal and that an operating system must continue to support legacy software until the last user of it decides to delete it? Does the same go for hardware too? Do legacy ports need to remain until the last peripheral that uses them stops working? Apparently that’s how some here think, no?

As an anecdote I’ll tell you about a friend of mine who worked for IBM during the Y2K frenzy. He supported older IBM hardware that needed both hardware and software updates to continue working after the infamous date change. He told me about small companies who stubbornly refused to pay for or install the updates for reasons beyond his comprehension. He had to inform them that as of 1/1/2000 their machines would no longer function properly. A few went as far as to say they would simply go out of business when that happened. How’s that for stubbornness?

Just wait until you see an old CRT iMac show up at your local Genius Bar and watch the customer come unglued when they are told it’s not supported anymore. 

hammeroftruth

I think the consensus is that it was and still is a shock that Apple killed off Aperture when it was for most people better than Lightroom and they kept iWork even after they messed it up and never really fixed it. Yet it still exists. 

Maybe there was an ultimatum secretly given to Apple from Adobe to kill it, or CS would go PC only. 

The fact that a lot of people still use Aperture shows that it was a decent application that Apple made and yet they decided to kill it instead of making it open source or selling it outright. 

macplusplus

hammeroftruth said:

I think the consensus is that it was and still is a shock that Apple killed off Aperture when it was for most people better than Lightroom and they kept iWork even after they messed it up and never really fixed it. Yet it still exists. 

Maybe there was an ultimatum secretly given to Apple from Adobe to kill it, or CS would go PC only. 

The fact that a lot of people still use Aperture shows that it was a decent application that Apple made and yet they decided to kill it instead of making it open source or selling it outright. 

If your only tool is a hammer you get every problem as nail, err... Aperture.

andrehinds

What are you saying? You mean my MacWrite, MacPaint and MacDraw won't work anymore? All my Luddite friends will be utterly horrified! We've been running System 5.3 just fine on our Mac SE's all these years. (Black and White 4ever!)

macplusplus

bennettvista said:

lkrupp said:

Can someone quote the basic law of the universe that states all software must be maintained in perpetuity once it exists? Is it some rule that software must be immortal and that an operating system must continue to support legacy software until the last user of it decides to delete it? Does the same go for hardware too? Do legacy ports need to remain until the last peripheral that uses them stops working? Apparently that’s how some here think, no?

It's still a basic flaw. Computers are tools meant (in this case) to serve creative individuals - writers, photographers, filmmakers, artists, etc...  You can still read a letter that Ernest Hemingway typed in 1930 or a photograph that Ansel Adams made in 1940, but you can't watch a film created in Final Cut in 2009 or a story written in Word in 1989.  There will be more lost works of art in the digital era - either because the file can't be opened or the work remains lost on some hard drive without the dead owner's password.

It doesn’t work like that. Libraries collect digital works and store them on persistent media. There are established procedures for that job.

sportyguy209

I miss Aperture, but I won't be moving to Adobe for anything. I'd recommend ON1 Photo RAW 2019 (terrible name). It's a viable competitor, although the company doesn't market it that well as a replacement for Aperture or substitute for Lightroom, in that app space and it's not software for rent.

edited April 2019

dav

It always seemed odd to me that Apple eliminated Aperture.  Why not do the same to Final Cut Pro -- kill Final Cut Pro and iMovie and make a new app "Movies"?
Hopefully Photos will continue to improve.

nealc5

Apple created Aperture to push the industry, especially Adobe, into making similar apps, and not force everyone to learn Photoshop.  Now that there's a plethora of photo editing and catalog apps (Lightroom, Luminar, DxO PhotoLab, Affinity Photo, Pixelmator, etc.) and a lot of what Aperture did is in the Photos app, Aperture isn't as needed as it once was, and Apple is backing out of that business.  I know Aperture had a lot of cool features for pros, but I suppose those features are available elsewhere now.

If you kept all your photos in Aperture, the best thing to do is export high quality JPG's or TIFF's from the edits, and and save the files outside of the Aperture catalog.  Eventually, someone may develop an app that can open Aperture catalogs. 

elijahg

dav said:

It always seemed odd to me that Apple eliminated Aperture.  Why not do the same to Final Cut Pro -- kill Final Cut Pro and iMovie and make a new app "Movies"?
Hopefully Photos will continue to improve.

Don't give them ideas... 

A well written app can be recompiled with minimal fuss to be 64-bit, not sure why Apple won't just do that as it still is quite popular.

samrod

bennettvista said:

It's still a basic flaw. Computers are tools meant (in this case) to serve creative individuals - writers, photographers, filmmakers, artists, etc...  You can still read a letter that Ernest Hemingway typed in 1930 or a photograph that Ansel Adams made in 1940, but you can't watch a film created in Final Cut in 2009 or a story written in Word in 1989.  There will be more lost works of art in the digital era - either because the file can't be opened or the work remains lost on some hard drive without the dead owner's password.

Of course you can watch movies cut on FCP 2009. You just can't open the project file and edit them. Also, I think modern versions of Word can open all older versions' documents.

lkrupp

samrod said:

bennettvista said:

It's still a basic flaw. Computers are tools meant (in this case) to serve creative individuals - writers, photographers, filmmakers, artists, etc...  You can still read a letter that Ernest Hemingway typed in 1930 or a photograph that Ansel Adams made in 1940, but you can't watch a film created in Final Cut in 2009 or a story written in Word in 1989.  There will be more lost works of art in the digital era - either because the file can't be opened or the work remains lost on some hard drive without the dead owner's password.

Of course you can watch movies cut on FCP 2009. You just can't open the project file and edit them. Also, I think modern versions of Word can open all older versions' documents.

With invalid premises come invalid examples.