AppleInsider Staff
Mac users are expected to get a major mid-cycle software upgrade later Wednesday with the free release of OS X 10.10.3, featuring the all-new Photos app for Yosemite.
The apparent impending public release of OS X 10.10.3 and OS X Photos was revealed in an overview published Wednesday by The Associated Press. The report also said that Wednesday will signal the launch of iCloud Photo Library, suggesting that the cloud-based service might exit its beta period.
Thus far, developers have been provided with six beta builds of OS X 10.10.3, the most recent version arriving last week. In addition to the new Photos app, the latest version of Yosemite also features developer tools for the new Force Touch trackpad found in the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the soon-to-arrive 12-inch MacBook.
Members of the public have been able to test the new Photos for OS X app since early March thanks to Apple's public beta program. But Wednesday's apparent release will mark the first time that Photos and the accompanying iCloud syncing service will be available to the masses.
The new Photos app serves as Apple's replacement for iPhoto. It organizes a user's photo library and helps to perfect photos with comprehensive editing tools.
And with iCloud Photo Library, users can store all of their photos and videos in the cloud and then access them across all of their devices, including iPhones and iPads running iOS 8 and above.
Features of the new Photos app, according to Apple, include the ability to:
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
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23 Comments
Nice. Have to check it out ...wonder what else is in the update
Right... Backup your library first... Obviously
Can anyone confirm if they fixed the bug of missing "Media" section when trying to access pictures from Aperture (or iPhoto) in Finder for uploading to websites? Oh, and the inability to access pictures in Photos in the same instance without requiring to actually launch Photos? I was running the beta, but decided to revert back due to those issues, and when I discovered my complete iTunes was empty... I really hope that's all sorted before I update.
[quote name="RedGeminiPA" url="/t/185646/apple-to-release-os-x-10-10-3-update-with-new-photos-app-today#post_2705927"]Can anyone confirm if they fixed the bug of missing "Media" section when trying to access pictures from Aperture (or iPhoto) in Finder for uploading to websites? Oh, and the inability to access pictures in Photos in the same instance without requiring to actually launch Photos? I was running the beta, but decided to revert back due to those issues, and when I discovered my complete iTunes was empty... I really hope that's all sorted before I update.[/quote] I am saying this to anyone new to Photos not just yourself ... Hard to say as I had none of those issues with the beta. I'd suggest running repair Library on iPhoto or Aperture Library before doing anything (hold Option and Command when launching Library) and then backing up. I'd also run Disk Warrior on whatever drive held the library as well as your boot drive. Photos doesn't have to convert by the way, you can create a new Library from the old one thus retaining the old one if you wish and you can create it on an external drive if space is limited on the boot drive. In Photos, note that the EDIT mode required you to open up the sections and ADD more if required (you can save your own set up). It seems at first to have limited edit controls but Apple ship Photos with nearly all but the basics hidden! It has far more than iPhoto ever had and far more powerful. In fact it only lacks a handful of features to be as good as Aperture. I hope over time Apple add in Stacks, Loupe, full Meta data and EXIF window, Stamping and brushes and I also miss seeing the versions as well as the edited version, but at least all edits are nondestructive. It would seem to me simply having an 'Advanced' setting that invoked all the Edits plus adding in the missing features from Aperture would not be too much to hope for in future updates. 10.10.3 fixes a few bugs i had (as did others I know) in 10.10.2, most annoying of which was a typing issue where in Mail the input would go into a delay sporadically, most likely a networking issue.
In general, what access will iphoto or Aperture have to the cloud photos now? Personally, I will NOT be importing either app's photos to the cloud - I don't need to try to migrate thousands of SLR photos up into the cloud space, but it would be nice if Aperture could still see the phone photos in the cloud...