Photo, video and design4 picks
The best photo apps for Mac and iPhone
Pixelmator Pro is the photo editor most Mac users should buy, and Darkroom is the best free one on iPhone and Mac.
Pixelmator ProPick it if you edit photos and make graphics on a Mac and refuse to pay for Photoshop.$49.99 oncePixelmator Pro puts photo editing, RAW, design and AI cleanup tools in 1 Mac app for $49.99 once. Darkroom edits your Apple Photos library directly on iPhone and Mac, and its free tier already handles RAW. Photomator suits batch RAW editing with a lifetime license option, and Halide is a camera app for natural, less processed iPhone shots.
How we chose
- 1Edits that work inside Apple Photos
- 2One-time price instead of Adobe's subscription
- 3RAW support and pro color tools
Compare at a glance
Tap a name to jump to its write-up.
| App | Price | How you pay | Mac | iPhone | iPad | App Store | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pixelmator Pro | $49.99 once | Pay once | Too few ratings | ||||
 Darkroom | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.8 | ||||
 Photomator | From $7.99 | Subscription | 4.5 | ||||
 Halide | From $19.99 | Subscription | 4.4 |
Swipe the table sideways to see more
The picks, in order
-
Pick it if you edit photos and make graphics on a Mac and refuse to pay for Photoshop.
Apple owns this editor now, and for $49.99 once you get photo retouching, RAW editing for 750+ cameras, layered design, vector drawing and painting in a single Mac app. Its AI tools remove backgrounds, erase objects, upscale and denoise, and it opens and exports layered Photoshop files. The iPad version only comes with the $12.99-a-month Apple Creator Studio, and Affinity is the free alternative if you don't mind a Canva account.
-
Pick this if you shoot on iPhone and want serious edits on your Photos library without paying up front.
Lightroom wants your photos in its own library, which is a hassle when everything already lives in Apple Photos. Darkroom edits that library directly on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and the free version covers RAW files, exposure, crop, presets and batch edits. AI masks, curves and color grading need Darkroom+, and the $99.99 lifetime option beats paying $39.99 every year if you keep editing.
-
Pick it if you edit RAW photos in batches and want a lifetime license for Lightroom-style tools.
If you shoot RAW and want Lightroom-style color tools without an Adobe subscription, Photomator edits right inside your Photos library on Mac, iPhone and iPad. It reads over 750 RAW formats, batch edits hundreds of shots and uses AI to select skies, remove objects, cut noise and upscale. The $119.99 lifetime license equals 4 years of the $29.99 plan, so it is the cheaper route if you edit longer than that.
-
Pick it if your iPhone photos look over-processed and you want manual control over shutter speed and ISO.
If your iPhone photos look over-sharpened and smoothed, Process Zero in Halide switches off Apple's computational processing for natural, film-like shots. Looks built with Hollywood colorist Cullen Kelly change processing at capture, and you get manual shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus with peaking. There is no free tier after the 7-day trial, but $69.99 once costs less than 4 years of the $19.99 subscription.
Head to head
Stuck between 2 of these? Each comparison lines up price, devices and who should pick which.
- Pixelmator Pro vs DarkroomPick this if you shoot on iPhone and want serious edits on your Photos library without paying up front.
- Pixelmator Pro vs PhotomatorPick it if you edit RAW photos in batches and want a lifetime license for Lightroom-style tools.
- Darkroom vs PhotomatorPick it if you edit RAW photos in batches and want a lifetime license for Lightroom-style tools.
