Newly-discovered App Store IDs suggest that Apple may bring popular Mac apps including Pixelmator Pro and Motion 5 to iPadOS.

When Apple acquired the Pixelmator company in November 2024, the fear was that it would asset-strip it the way it did Dark Sky. But the hope was that with all of its resources, Apple might instead bring Pixelmator Pro to the iPad.

So far there's been no sign of Apple shutting down Pixelmator Pro. But now there is at least a little sign that the iPad might finally see this powerful image editor.

Pixelmator Pro is among a set of professional Mac apps that have reportedly now have App Store IDs for iPad versions. As first spotted by MacRumors, the apps are:

  • Pixelmator Pro
  • Compressor
  • Motion
  • MainStage

Of these, Pixelmator Pro is the only truly standalone app. It's a more advanced version of Pixelmator, which is the currently more basic image editor and has been on the iPad for some years.

Compressor and Motion are companion apps to the Final Cut Pro video editor. Compressor is used to produce final output for various platforms such as Blu-ray and broadcast.

Motion is an extremely powerful effects generator. It's used with Final Cut Pro on the Mac to make titles, transitions and animations.

Similarly, MainStage is a companion to the Logic Pro audio editing app. It's used to rework recordings for live performance.

When they're coming

It's not confirmed that these apps are coming at all. But at least with the Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro ones, it makes sense to bring them to the iPad now that both of those editing apps are on the platform.

Then all four having these App Store IDs does suggest that a launch could be imminent. Conceivably, they were intended to launch alongside the new M5 iPad Pro, but now it could just be at any time.

There's no indication of pricing, either. Each of these apps is a one-time purchase on the Mac, but Apple has moved to subscriptions for its iPad editing apps.

So at present, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro each cost $4.99 per month, or $49 per year, on the iPad. Pixelmator Pro has no direct iPad equivalent, but currently costs $60 for the Mac.

It's no exaggeration to say that each of these apps coming to the iPad would be significant — not to mention wished for. With these on iPadOS, image editors, video editors and musicians would be that much more able to do all of their work on an iPad.