When Apple unveiled its first-ever smartwatch back in 2014, it’s fair to say that the world wasn’t exactly sure what it was for… and neither was Apple. In those early days, along with the fitness elements which would remain an enduring part of the product’s appeal, the company talked enthusiastically about sharing taps, sketches, and heartbeats with friends, which would not. It took time for users and third-party developers to teach Apple what they wanted from a smartwatch, and for the company to take that on board.

Today, the Apple Watch is a mature and versatile product. It’s so versatile, indeed, that you may not be aware of some of its most useful capabilities. In this article, we’re going to catch you up.

Take better iPhone photos

This was a superb piece of lateral thinking. There have always been situations where it’s difficult or impossible to trigger a camera because it needs to be out of reach, or out of sight, of the person taking the picture: when you’re trying to photograph the ports around the back of your Mac, for example, or when setting up a formal group photo that everyone wants to be in. Timers used to be the main solution, but often resulted in a mad scramble to place the camera correctly and get back in time before the time ran out. But the Apple Watch offers something better.

Open the Camera Remote app on your watch, and it will simultaneously open the Camera app on the paired iPhone. Whatever the iPhone’s camera can see, you can now see on your watch; you can switch between the front and rear cameras (and toggle some other settings) using the options button at the bottom right. Once you’re happy, hit the three-second timer button, look up and smile, and enjoy your perfect photo.

Unlock other Apple devices

An Apple Watch, once you’ve unlocked it with a single passcode input, remains unlocked as long as it stays on your wrist. It can thus act as a handy digital key that’s on you at all times, unlocking your Mac and iPhone by proximity alone.

On iPhone, open the Settings app and go to Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode on older devices), then scroll down and tap the toggle under Unlock With Apple Watch. On Mac, open System Settings and go to Touch ID & Password and click the toggle next to your Apple Watch.

Play games

As small as the Apple Watch’s screen may be, it can still support some fun games; they just need to be designed with that limitation in mind. You need to be selective. We’d recommend Deep Golf and Lifeline, both of which make perfect sense in this format, but there are some more excellent suggestions here.

Talk to ChatGPT

You probably have your own thoughts on the ethics of AI, but it’s hard to deny that ChatGPT is fun to play with. Thanks to the Petey app, you can now have those conversations on Apple Watch. Tap the ‘Ask me Anything’ button then type in a query (or better still, use the dictation button and save your tapping finger) and you’ll soon hear what our future AI overlord thinks of the matter. There’s even a complication, which means Petey is never more than a tap away.

Control navigation with air gestures

The standard control method for Apple Watch involves having the device on one wrist, and then tapping the screen and pressing and rotating the buttons and dials with the other hand. But there are situations where you need to control the watch with the same hand it’s on. And this is possible, thanks to AssistiveTouch, one of Apple’s handy accessibility features.

Open the Watch app on the paired iPhone. (Alternatively, you can set the feature up in the Apple Watch’s own Settings app, but I found this fiddly.) In the My Watch tab, select Accessibility, then scroll down until you see AssistiveTouch. Tap this, then tap the toggle at the top of the next screen to turn it on.

By default, doing a pinch gesture with the watch-bearing hand will take you forwards in menus, while double-pinching (pinching twice, rather than pinching once with two fingers) will take you back; clenching your fist will act as a tap, while double-clenching will open a menu of actions, which takes a little getting used to. In fact, the whole thing has a learning curve, but practice makes perfect, and you can change the actions tied to each gesture.

Tell the time without looking

If for whatever reason you are unable to look at your Apple Watch but you’d still like to know the time, Speak Time is the lesser-known feature for you. To set it up, open the Settings app on the watch and go to Clock, scroll down until you see Speak Time, then tap to turn it on. (Again, this can also be done in the Watch app on a paired iPhone; again, go to Clock then hit Speak Time.) Now you need only hold two fingers on the watch face for a second or so and it will tell you the time out loud.

Conversely, if you’d like to know the time silently without looking at the screen, consider Taptic Time. (You can turn this on in the Watch app by going to Clock > Taptic Time, or following a similar route in the Apple Watch’s Settings app.) There are various options but I find the Digits format easiest: this would for example give one long tap, followed by four short taps, followed by three long taps, followed by six short taps, to give you the time 14:36.

Quickly reply to messages

The Apple Watch probably doesn’t seem like the optimal device for writing out messages, but watchOS has been cleverly designed to help. Tap a notification of an incoming message (or open the Messages app on your Apple Watch and tap a message there) and you’ll see the option to reply. This is easier than it sounds.

The easiest method is to select one of the pre-written replies, such as yes, no, and “Can I call you later?” One tap and the canned reply is winging its way to the recipient: easy. And if these replies seem too limited, write some of your own by opening the Watch app on your paired iPhone and going to Messages > Default Replies.

If you’d rather be spontaneous, you can type out a reply on your wrist in the onscreen keyboard, but we’d recommend that you instead swipe up and select the Scribble keyboard instead: this has you scrawl a letter at a time using the entire screen, which is much easier than hitting tiny keys. Or best of all, tap the dictation button and speak your thoughts out loud.

Make your battery last much longer

Hardly anyone seems to know that the Apple Watch now has a Low Power mode–perhaps because it already had a Power Reserve mode, which was far more drastic and made the watch basically unusable. But Low Power, finally added in watchOS 9 in 2022, is much closer to the equivalent iPhone feature, simply cutting back on features and settings to eke out a little more battery life.

To turn on Low Power mode, open Control Center by swiping up from the clock face, then tap the battery percentage. Just below the Battery Remaining figure, you’ll see a toggle labeled Low Power Mode. (Note that in watchOS 10, Control Center is instead accessed by pressing the side button.)

Preserve your privacy

The always-on screen offered on the Series 5 onwards has many good qualities, but you might be worried that it means personal data may be visible to other people. Fortunately, you can adjust the settings so that sensitive complications and notifications only appear when your wrist is raised.

Let’s start with complications, which could display personal data such as calendar appointments or health information. Open the Watch app on your paired iPhone. From the My Watch tab, go to Display & Brightness > Always On > Show Complications Data. From here you can pick and choose which complications are allowed to display their data when the always-on screen is in dimmed mode.

Similarly, if you go to Display & Brightness > Always On > Show Notifications you can fine-tune the notifications which appear in dimmed mode, and which are only allowed to reveal their information when you’ve raised your wrist.

Get discreet directions

When you’re lost in a new city, the last thing you want to do is advertise the fact that you’re a tourist (or indeed the fact that you’ve got an expensive smartwatch on your wrist and an expensive smartphone in your pocket). For this reason, it’s desirable to have Maps advise you of turnings in a way that’s discreet and doesn’t require that you look at the screen of your Apple Watch or iPhone.

While you’re still somewhere safe, open Maps on your iPhone and select a destination and the type of directions you want. Start the journey, and make sure you turn off the sound alerts by tapping the mute/unmute button on the right-hand side. Tuck the iPhone away in a pocket.

Now, as you walk along, the Apple Watch will alert you to left turns by giving you three sets of two short buzzes and signal right turns with a rapid and even series of 10 to 12 haptic taps. (You don’t need to count them, it’s the rhythm that gives it away.) When you reach your destination you get a long vibration.

Apple Watch

For a product that isn’t debuting until 2024, Apple has said a lot about the Vision Pro, its mixed reality headset. Apple spent nearly an hour in the WWDC keynote discussing it. It has rolled out developer tools for visionOS, which has given us even more clarity about what visionOS can and can’t do.

And yet I remain firmly convinced that Apple hasn’t told us the whole story. The WWDC keynote was the time to make a first impression–but there’s half a year to go before the final story is told. As a result, Apple emphasized the features of the device that it felt would best represent the device. It emphasized the fact that it’s an augmented-reality product that keeps you connected with people around you as a way to blunt criticism that Apple’s trying to use its technology to wall people off from each other.

With the Vision Pro, there’s more to come. Here’s where I think Apple will have a much larger story to tell.

Yes, it’s really a VR headset

By defaulting to a view of the world around you and requiring that the user dial reality out via the Digital Crown, Apple sends the signal that the Vision Pro is an augmented-reality headset. But the truth is, it’s a VR headset that emulates AR, and that emulation can be dropped easily. If you don’t want to work in the very spacious rooms on display in Apple’s demo video, you can just as easily work in a virtual-reality environment.

But even more than that, app developers can create entire VR experiences within their apps. While Apple will strongly encourage apps to work in augmented reality–and if you want to walk around objects, it’s required–that won’t stop the ability for apps that do what we think of as “traditional” VR experiences.

In other words, Apple didn’t talk about VR games, the most popular category of software in existing VR hardware, but VR games will absolutely be a part of the Vision Pro experience. No, we don’t know how good Apple’s hand- and eye-tracking technology will be when it comes to the needs of various VR games. But we will certainly find out.

Yes, there will be fitness apps

Apple didn’t announce any Vision Pro integration with its Fitness+ service, which I admit was a bit of a surprise. On Meta’s headsets, apps like Supernatural and Beat Saber have gained huge followings as ways to spice up the drudgery of regular workouts.

I can’t say whether Fitness+ will appear on Vision Pro at launch–Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests it won’t–but if Apple doesn’t fill the gap, someone else will. Savvy app developers will try to be the next Beat Saber. And no matter how heavy or awkward the Vision Pro might be, no matter how much sweat the Vision Pro’s 3-D-knit headband might soak in, people will try to use VR for workouts. It’s going to happen.

Yes, there will be Memoji

Apple wanted to impress everyone with the Digital Persona, a replica of your face created via an in-depth initial scan that’s animated by Vision Pro sensors looking at your eye, face, and body gestures. I found them creepy, and I definitely wasn’t the only person who used the Vision Pro at WWDC who thought so.

I’m pretty sure Apple has never intended the Digital Persona to be the only option for users who need a proxy for interaction with other people when wearing the Vision Pro. It’s technology Apple was proud of, so it showed it off as a way to boast–as well as a way of explaining how the EyeSight feature was created.

But it can’t be the only option. Let’s start with the fact that not everyone will feel comfortable using a representation of themselves as they are if they can help it. There’s a good reason why Apple’s Memoji creation interface lets you choose a wide range of characteristics, including many that don’t even exist in human beings! Or you can choose to be an animated emoji character.

And really, if we’re being honest, it’s highly likely that the entire Memoji project was an early move in the direction of avatars for the Vision Pro. Do we really think Apple’s going to insist on Digital Personas for everyone, even if they’d rather just be an elephant? Not gonna happen.

Yes, Siri will be involved

Apple’s film about the Vision Pro shows a user reading out a website address via voice at one point. It’s pretty much the only example of Apple’s voice assistant being shown with the headset. But it’s almost inconceivable that voice control won’t be a major portion of the device’s interface.

When I used the Vision Pro, there were numerous moments when I realized that rather than manipulating a virtual interface via hand gesture, I’d probably be better off just issuing a voice command. But Siri wasn’t active on our demo headsets, probably because it’s just not good enough–and because if Apple leaned into it too much, it would make the rest of the Vision Pro interface work the company has done look a little less special.

A reliance on voice control by all of those people in solitary environments, sprawled on couches or sitting in chairs, might also reinforce the antisocial nature of these devices–if you’re comfortable constantly interjecting to Siri, that implies that nobody else is within earshot–and that’s very much not the impression Apple wants to give right now.

But there’s just no way that visionOS is a platform that isn’t strongly linked to voice commands. It just makes too much sense.

Yes your other Apple devices will play a role

The Vision Pro appears to be a peer to the iPad and iPhone, capable of running iOS apps itself without any connection to those devices. Still, we didn’t see much direct integration between Apple’s most popular product and the Vision Pro.

Perhaps it won’t be there on day one, but I have a hard time believing that the iPhone won’t work tightly with Vision Pro. In macOS Sonoma, Apple’s introducing the concept of iPhone widgets that are projected right onto your Mac desktop. Why not extend that to Vision Pro? What about launching apps on your iPhone and viewing them right within Vision Pro? Maybe even more than one at a time?

Sure, you can look down and use your iPhone while using Vision Pro, but that’s always going to be a pretty limited experience. I have to think that Apple is working hard to figure out the best ways to use Continuity features to attach all of its devices to the Vision Pro–but most especially the iPhone.

The Vision Pro won’t be here for some time yet. We’ve heard Apple’s opening sales pitch, but it isn’t nearly time for the company to close the deal. There’s more to this story than we’ve heard so far. Stay tuned.

Virtual Reality

For a product that isn’t debuting until 2024, Apple has said a lot about the Vision Pro, its mixed reality headset. Apple spent nearly an hour in the WWDC keynote discussing it. It has rolled out developer tools for visionOS, which has given us even more clarity about what visionOS can and can’t do.

And yet I remain firmly convinced that Apple hasn’t told us the whole story. The WWDC keynote was the time to make a first impression–but there’s half a year to go before the final story is told. As a result, Apple emphasized the features of the device that it felt would best represent the device. It emphasized the fact that it’s an augmented-reality product that keeps you connected with people around you as a way to blunt criticism that Apple’s trying to use its technology to wall people off from each other.

With the Vision Pro, there’s more to come. Here’s where I think Apple will have a much larger story to tell.

Yes, it’s really a VR headset

By defaulting to a view of the world around you and requiring that the user dial reality out via the Digital Crown, Apple sends the signal that the Vision Pro is an augmented-reality headset. But the truth is, it’s a VR headset that emulates AR, and that emulation can be dropped easily. If you don’t want to work in the very spacious rooms on display in Apple’s demo video, you can just as easily work in a virtual-reality environment.

But even more than that, app developers can create entire VR experiences within their apps. While Apple will strongly encourage apps to work in augmented reality–and if you want to walk around objects, it’s required–that won’t stop the ability for apps that do what we think of as “traditional” VR experiences.

In other words, Apple didn’t talk about VR games, the most popular category of software in existing VR hardware, but VR games will absolutely be a part of the Vision Pro experience. No, we don’t know how good Apple’s hand- and eye-tracking technology will be when it comes to the needs of various VR games. But we will certainly find out.

Yes, there will be fitness apps

Apple didn’t announce any Vision Pro integration with its Fitness+ service, which I admit was a bit of a surprise. On Meta’s headsets, apps like Supernatural and Beat Saber have gained huge followings as ways to spice up the drudgery of regular workouts.

I can’t say whether Fitness+ will appear on Vision Pro at launch–Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests it won’t–but if Apple doesn’t fill the gap, someone else will. Savvy app developers will try to be the next Beat Saber. And no matter how heavy or awkward the Vision Pro might be, no matter how much sweat the Vision Pro’s 3-D-knit headband might soak in, people will try to use VR for workouts. It’s going to happen.

Yes, there will be Memoji

Apple wanted to impress everyone with the Digital Persona, a replica of your face created via an in-depth initial scan that’s animated by Vision Pro sensors looking at your eye, face, and body gestures. I found them creepy, and I definitely wasn’t the only person who used the Vision Pro at WWDC who thought so.

I’m pretty sure Apple has never intended the Digital Persona to be the only option for users who need a proxy for interaction with other people when wearing the Vision Pro. It’s technology Apple was proud of, so it showed it off as a way to boast–as well as a way of explaining how the EyeSight feature was created.

But it can’t be the only option. Let’s start with the fact that not everyone will feel comfortable using a representation of themselves as they are if they can help it. There’s a good reason why Apple’s Memoji creation interface lets you choose a wide range of characteristics, including many that don’t even exist in human beings! Or you can choose to be an animated emoji character.

And really, if we’re being honest, it’s highly likely that the entire Memoji project was an early move in the direction of avatars for the Vision Pro. Do we really think Apple’s going to insist on Digital Personas for everyone, even if they’d rather just be an elephant? Not gonna happen.

Yes, Siri will be involved

Apple’s film about the Vision Pro shows a user reading out a website address via voice at one point. It’s pretty much the only example of Apple’s voice assistant being shown with the headset. But it’s almost inconceivable that voice control won’t be a major portion of the device’s interface.

When I used the Vision Pro, there were numerous moments when I realized that rather than manipulating a virtual interface via hand gesture, I’d probably be better off just issuing a voice command. But Siri wasn’t active on our demo headsets, probably because it’s just not good enough–and because if Apple leaned into it too much, it would make the rest of the Vision Pro interface work the company has done look a little less special.

A reliance on voice control by all of those people in solitary environments, sprawled on couches or sitting in chairs, might also reinforce the antisocial nature of these devices–if you’re comfortable constantly interjecting to Siri, that implies that nobody else is within earshot–and that’s very much not the impression Apple wants to give right now.

But there’s just no way that visionOS is a platform that isn’t strongly linked to voice commands. It just makes too much sense.

Your other Apple devices will probably be more involved

The Vision Pro appears to be a peer to the iPad and iPhone, capable of running iOS apps itself without any connection to those devices. Still, we didn’t see much direct integration between Apple’s most popular product and the Vision Pro.

Perhaps it won’t be there on day one, but I have a hard time believing that the iPhone won’t work tightly with Vision Pro. In macOS Sonoma, Apple’s introducing the concept of iPhone widgets that are projected right onto your Mac desktop. Why not extend that to Vision Pro? What about launching apps on your iPhone and viewing them right within Vision Pro? Maybe even more than one at a time?

Sure, you can look down and use your iPhone while using Vision Pro, but that’s always going to be a pretty limited experience. I have to think that Apple is working hard to figure out the best ways to use Continuity features to attach all of its devices to the Vision Pro–but most especially the iPhone.

The Vision Pro won’t be here for some time yet. We’ve heard Apple’s opening sales pitch, but it isn’t nearly time for the company to close the deal. There’s more to this story than we’ve heard so far. Stay tuned.

Virtual Reality

In any business there are ups and downs. As you’d expect, ups and downs in Apple’s world can be pretty big.

(It’s just a theme to pull two mostly unrelated stories together, people. Don’t think about it too hard.)

Fortunately for Apple, the down here is actually for another company, but it’s a whopper.

“Goldman Is Looking for a Way Out of Its Partnership With Apple”

Apple Pay was just another in a long string of Apple products that pundits told us were doomed from the start.

This comes after reports that Goldman Sachs has lost billions in the relationship. The Macalope doesn’t know about you, but when he gets into business deals that lose him billions of dollars, he considers those bad deals and attempts to get out of them. Moreover, he tries not to get into similar deals in the future.

That’s just him though. And, um, Goldman Sachs, apparently. You can’t really blame them for trying to squirm out of the deal. The company is reportedly looking to American Express to take over its entire credit card business, although a deal has not gone through yet.

Seems like a bit of a tough sell. “Heyyy, buddy. You got any interest in taking over this Apple Pay thing? Good business. No, really… uh… really good business. We’d looove to keep doing it but… just sooo busy with the other stuff.” Well, the Macalope wishes them both the best of luck in this billion-dollar game of hot potato.

The one company that Apple Pay has been really good for is… anyone? Yeah, it’s Apple. It somehow managed to not get destroyed by CurrentC. Remember CurrentC? Oh, how we laughed. You laughed so hard milk came out of your nose! And you weren’t even drinking milk! That was very weird. Anyway, Apple Pay has gone on to be a big contributor to Apple’s services revenue.

With downs like that, who needs ups? Well, not Apple, but here it is anyway.

“Apple’s Market Valuation Returns to $3 Trillion After Almost 18 Months”

So what? If you’re an Apple customer, it affects you not in the slightest. It doesn’t change the quality of Apple’s products, it doesn’t change the user experience, and it doesn’t make Craig Federighi’s hair any more full and lustrous.

That’s just genetics. Nothing you can do about that.

Now, if you’re an Apple employee with stock options (or an Apple investor) it matters, and maybe some of that circles back around to better products. (Still not hair, though.) But it’s not a relationship that’s easy to calculate.

So, no big deal, right? Sure. However, if you’re a long-time watcher of Apple like the Macalope is, it’s funny to see the company become the most valuable in the world when we were told for the better part of two decades or more that it was minutes from going out of business. This wasn’t an unreasonable thing to say in the mid-1990s, but pundits hung onto the notion far longer than it seemed possible given the assumption that all human beings operate with at least a baseline understanding of logic. “Are these people serious?” we wondered in the early 2000s. “How do these people dress themselves?” we pondered around 2008. “CAN THESE PEOPLE EVEN HANDLE BASIC CONCEPTS LIKE HOW SOUP WORKS?!” we shouted around 2016.

Once Apple passed $1 trillion in valuation, though, things began to change. The very idea it could go out of business was less and less publishable. When it passed $2 trillion, you needed to be selling a book or something and just trying to get attention. Now that it’s back at $3 trillion, don’t expect to see it floated much if at all.

So, maybe as an Apple customer, there is a benefit after all.

Apple Inc

Apple’s free Mac apps: Photos and Preview can get the basics of editing an image or photograph, but if you want to do anything more advanced you’ll need a dedicated image editing app. Adobe’s Photoshop is the industry standard, due to its wide range of features and capabilities.

Here’s how to get a copy of Photoshop on your Mac, or, failing that, the next best thing. Plus, because you can’t beat free, we’ll also explain your options for getting Photoshop on Mac for free. We have also rounded up the Best Mac free image and photo editors if you just want a free photo editor and it doesn’t have to be Photoshop.

If you’d like to get the same software on your tablet, read How to get Photoshop on iPad.

How to get Photoshop free on a Mac

A lot of people will be wondering if there is a way to get Photoshop for free on a Mac. First a warning: if you find Photoshop on a file-sharing site don’t download it. This is because it’s very unlikely to be a legitimate version of the app and will almost definitely cause you problems – this is how viruses spread.

Back in June 2022 Adobe started a trial of a free web-based version of Photoshop in Canada. That version of Photoshop is available globally now, but it is in beta and only works on the Chrome browser or Microsoft’s Edge, with support for Firefox in the works. As yet there’s no news on when it will come to Safari.

It doesn’t include all the features of Photoshop, but there are lots of quick and easy editing tools available. For example, there are Quick Actions for lighting effects or removing the background from an image

The main editing page looks similar to the desktop version of Photoshop, with a set of editing tools running down the left-hand side of the window, including Selection tools, Paint Brush, Adjustments for color and lighting, and a Type tool for adding text. If you are unfamiliar with the tools each has a quick video tutorial.

On the right of the editing window, you’ll find a detailed set of tool palettes for working with layers, masks and effects. There’s also a palette that allows people to collaborate online by adding comments to their projects as well–which is unique to this version of Photoshop.

This free version of Photoshop only requires that you register for a free Adobe ID account. We wonder if it may become part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription plan in the future, but for now, it’s a way to get Photoshop for free.

Another option that will give you access to some of the Photoshop tools for free is Adobe Express (there’s also a Premium subscription version for $9.99/£9.98 per month that includes some additional editing tools.) This online web app also includes a number of useful photo-editing tools that are available for free through any web browser. If you want to do some photo-editing you can easily import photos of your own or use some of the free stock photos that are included with Express.

When you import a photo, Express allows you to quickly resize it or pan around in order to focus on a particular part of the image. You then enter the main Express workspace, which includes a selection of simple filter effects, as well as slider controls that allow you to quickly adjust brightness, contrast and other settings. You can import additional photos and superimpose them in order to create a collage, and you can also add text and graphics, including a number of ready-made logos and artwork for creating posters, fliers and other documents. Express even has simple layer controls, which allow you to edit photos, text and graphics elements individually.

How to get full Photoshop for free

Those free versions of Adobe Photoshop don’t include all the features. If you want to use the full version of Photoshop there are a few options that could get you a copy of Photoshop free for a limited time, or on a short-term subscription.

Trial: The first option is a Photoshop trial. There is a 7-day free trial that gives you access to the full program, with no restrictions.

While Adobe advertises the free 7-day trial, you can actually get 14 days free, because you can cancel within 14 days of your initial order and get fully refunded. In fact, you could, theoretically, get 21 days free if you had the trial and then canceled your subscription after 13 days.

Monthly cancel any-time subscription: The second option is signing up for a monthly subscription on a monthly rather than an annual basis. This won’t give you Photoshop for free, but the option will allow you to subscribe to Adobe Photoshop on a temporary basis and cancel when you no longer need it. We’ll run through the various subscription options in the sections below.

To explain how it works we need to explain the difference between Adobe’s two monthly subscription packages:

There are two monthly subscription packages: one is cheaper ($20.99/£19.97 a month) because it is part of an annual plan; the other is a more expensive option ($31.49/£30.34 a month), but you can cancel without having to pay Adobe anything.

Photoshop with 100GB of cloud storage	U.S.	U.K.
Annual plan paid monthly	$20.99	£19.97
Annual plan paid upfront	$239.88	£238.42
Monthly plan (cancel at any time)	$31.49	£30.34
	Buy it here	Buy it here

Adobe explains the legal terms of the various contracts here. Basically, if you sign up for the cheaper ‘annual contract, paid monthly’ and then choose to end your subscription you will be able to do so, but if you end the contract after the first 14 days “you’ll be charged a lump sum amount of 50% of your remaining contract obligation and your service will continue until the end of that month’s billing period.”

This is a slightly better scenario than if you were paying annually – in that case, your contract will continue to the end of the term. You wouldn’t get any money back.

This is why the best option, in this case, is to sign up for a month-to-month contract. In this case, the contract will automatically renew every month, but should you choose to cancel (we explain how to cancel below) you will be able to use Photoshop until the end of that month, at which point your contract will cease.

If you need Photoshop, but you don’t want to tie yourself into a contract with Adobe, this could be the best option for you. However, you should note that you will lose access to anything you have saved in Adobe’s cloud after 90 days.

If these options aren’t right for you, but you don’t want to pay for Photoshop you will need to look for alternatives to Photoshop. We have a round-up of the Best Mac free image and photo editors, which includes some free options such as Seashore and Gimp.

How to get Photoshop on a Mac without a subscription

If you were hoping to buy a copy of Photoshop to own, as in not paying on a subscription basis, we have some bad news for you: Adobe no longer sells what is known as a ‘perpetual license’ for Photoshop and its other apps.

There is one option though: you can buy Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements is designed for amateur rather than pro photographers, but it does offer a number of photo editing features that might be sufficient for your needs.

You can buy a copy of Photoshop Elements directly from Adobe’s website for $99.99/£86.56. Buy Photoshop Elements from Adobe. See our review of Photoshop Elements for more information.

You can also buy Photoshop Elements on the Mac App Store, where the price is actually less than Adobe’s price at $79.99/£79.99.

The benefit of Photoshop Elements is that you can buy it outright and install it on your Mac. You will have access to features like masks, layers, colorisation, image manipulation and other useful, more consumer-level effects with Elements.

If you’re a creative professional though, or are used to the full-blown version of Photoshop, then you may find too many tools missing from the box. If you want to take a look there’s also a 7-day free trial of Photoshop Elements so you can take the software for a test run.

Understandably there are lots of Mac users who are disappointed that Adobe doesn’t sell a ‘perpetual license’ for the full version of Photoshop anymore. Many years ago professional Mac users might have owned a version of Adobe CS and used it for years, but the slow rate at which companies updated probably lead Adobe to switch to a subscription model.

If you don’t care about how up-to-date your software is you might be interested in buying a secondhand copy of Photoshop, or an old Mac with Photoshop installed. Just be aware that Adobe doesn’t support all older versions in terms of updates, so the ones you find might not be compatible with later iterations of macOS, plus newer Macs won’t run old versions of Photoshop.

You’ll also need to confirm that the software license hasn’t already been used, as usually these are non-transferable. And generally, we would advise against buying a used Mac (unless it’s certified refurbished).

For more information read: What version of macOS can my Mac run?

If a subscription to Photoshop isn’t for you, and Photoshop Elements isn’t enough, we recommend you look at alternatives to Photoshop, many of which have comparable features with the benefit of being available to buy outright. The best options include PixelMator Pro, Affinity Photo and others. See: Best Photoshop alternatives for Mac.

Is there an education discount for Photoshop?

There is one other way you can save money while getting a copy of Photoshop for your Mac.

If you are in education then you may qualify for a discount. However, you can’t sign up for a reduced price on the Photoshop-only tier, you have to get the entire Creative Cloud collection, which includes Photoshop and a large collection of other Adobe apps. The student and teacher deal for Creative Cloud does represent quite a hefty reduction.

At the time of writing, Students and Teachers pay $19.99/£16.24 a month, which is around 70% less than the normal subscription rate.

Photoshop for Mac price

If you have accepted that you need to pay for a subscription to Photoshop you will want to know how much it costs. There’s not actually a straightforward answer: it depends on how you want to buy it.

Whether you love or hate the subscription model, there are a few options to choose from if you want to get a copy of Photoshop:

Photoshop: If you just want the single Photoshop app you can have that for $20.99/£19.97 a month if you sign up for a year, or $31.49/£30.34 a month if you just pay on a monthly basis. Sign up on Adobe’s website.

Photography Plan: However, the Photography Plan is actually the best deal. It includes Photoshop, Lightroom (for web and mobile), and Lightroom Classic (for desktop). That bundle costs $9.99/£9.98 a month, but you will be on a contract for a year. You get 20GB storage included (there’s a 1TB storage option that costs about $10/£10 more a month). Sign up on Adobe’s website.

Plan: Photography Plan with 20GB cloud	U.S.	U.K.
Annual plan paid monthly	$9.99	£9.98
Annual plan paid upfront	$119.88	£119.21
Monthly plan (cancel at any time)	n/a	n/a
	Buy it here	Buy it here

Plan: Photography Plan with 1TB cloud	U.S.	U.K.
Annual plan paid monthly	$19.99	£19.97
Annual plan paid upfront	$239.88	£238.42
Monthly plan (cancel at any time)	n/a	n/a
	Buy it here	Buy it here

Business: If you are a business user you ought to sign up for the Business option where you can get a single Photoshop license for $35.99/£26.49 ex VAT a month per license. It’s worth noting that all the Adobe CC apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and Acrobat, cost $84.99/£61.99 (ex VAT) per license a month. Sign up on Adobe’s website. 

How to cancel a Photoshop subscription

The ease with which you can end your Photoshop contract is one of the benefits of Adobe’s decision to switch from selling copies of Photoshop outright to a subscription model.

It also means that you only need to pay for Photoshop for as long as you need it. So if it’s just for a short-term project you can unsubscribe as soon as the work is done.

Here’s how to cancel your subscription:

1. Sign in to the Adobe web page where plans are managed.
2. Sign in to your Adobe account.
3. Under the My Plans tab find Manage Plan (or View plan) and click on that.
4. Now click on Cancel plan.
5. Give your reason for cancellation.
6. Click on Continue.

Best alternatives to Photoshop on Mac?

There is plenty of great photo and image editing software available on macOS, many of which come with lower price tags than Adobe products. One of our favorites is Affinity Photo from Serif, which boasts a wide range of powerful tools, a friendly interface and costs $69.99/£67.99 as a one-off payment, and also offers a 30-day free trial.

Another popular choice is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), which is completely free and comes with an incredible range of tools and features. The interface can take a little getting used to, which is not uncommon with open-source software, but once you get to know your way around, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve. There’s also a large collection of tutorials for the software on YouTube, so if you’re willing to put in the time then it’s a powerful suite that will cost you nothing at all.

We also recommend you read Best Mac for photo editing.

You may also be interested in: How to get Adobe Illustrator on a Mac and How to get InDesign on a Mac.

Personal Software, Professional Software

Apple’s free Mac apps: Photos and Preview can get the basics of editing an image or photograph, but if you want to do anything more advanced you’ll need a dedicated image editing app. Adobe’s Photoshop is the industry standard, due to its wide range of features and capabilities.

Here’s how to get a copy of Photoshop on your Mac, or, failing that, the next best thing. Plus, because you can’t beat free, we’ll also explain your options for getting Photoshop on Mac for free. We have also rounded up the Best Mac free image and photo editors if you just want a free photo editor and it doesn’t have to be Photoshop.

If you’d like to get the same software on your tablet, read How to get Photoshop on iPad.

How to get Photoshop free on a Mac

A lot of people will be wondering if there is a way to get Photoshop for free on a Mac. First a warning: if you find Photoshop on a file-sharing site don’t download it. This is because it’s very unlikely to be a legitimate version of the app and will almost definitely cause you problems – this is how viruses spread.

Back in June 2022 Adobe started a trial of a free web-based version of Photoshop in Canada. That version of Photoshop is available globally now, but it is in beta and only works on the Chrome browser or Microsoft’s Edge, with support for Firefox in the works. As yet there’s no news on when it will come to Safari.

It doesn’t include all the features of Photoshop, but there are lots of quick and easy editing tools available. For example, there are Quick Actions for lighting effects or removing the background from an image

The main editing page looks similar to the desktop version of Photoshop, with a set of editing tools running down the left-hand side of the window, including Selection tools, Paint Brush, Adjustments for color and lighting, and a Type tool for adding text. If you are unfamiliar with the tools each has a quick video tutorial.

On the right of the editing window, you’ll find a detailed set of tool palettes for working with layers, masks and effects. There’s also a palette that allows people to collaborate online by adding comments to their projects as well–which is unique to this version of Photoshop.

This free version of Photoshop only requires that you register for a free Adobe ID account. We wonder if it may become part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription plan in the future, but for now, it’s a way to get Photoshop for free.

Another option that will give you access to some of the Photoshop tools for free is Adobe Express (there’s also a Premium subscription version for $9.99/£9.98 per month that includes some additional editing tools.) This online web app also includes a number of useful photo-editing tools that are available for free through any web browser. If you want to do some photo-editing you can easily import photos of your own or use some of the free stock photos that are included with Express.

When you import a photo, Express allows you to quickly resize it or pan around in order to focus on a particular part of the image. You then enter the main Express workspace, which includes a selection of simple filter effects, as well as slider controls that allow you to quickly adjust brightness, contrast and other settings. You can import additional photos and superimpose them in order to create a collage, and you can also add text and graphics, including a number of ready-made logos and artwork for creating posters, fliers and other documents. Express even has simple layer controls, which allow you to edit photos, text and graphics elements individually.

How to get full Photoshop for free

Those free versions of Adobe Photoshop don’t include all the features. If you want to use the full version of Photoshop there are a few options that could get you a copy of Photoshop free for a limited time, or on a short-term subscription.

Trial: The first option is a Photoshop trial. There is a 7-day free trial that gives you access to the full program, with no restrictions.

While Adobe advertises the free 7-day trial, you can actually get 14 days free, because you can cancel within 14 days of your initial order and get fully refunded. In fact, you could, theoretically, get 21 days free if you had the trial and then canceled your subscription after 13 days.

Monthly cancel any-time subscription: The second option is signing up for a monthly subscription on a monthly rather than an annual basis. This won’t give you Photoshop for free, but the option will allow you to subscribe to Adobe Photoshop on a temporary basis and cancel when you no longer need it. We’ll run through the various subscription options in the sections below.

To explain how it works we need to explain the difference between Adobe’s two monthly subscription packages:

There are two monthly subscription packages: one is cheaper ($20.99/£19.97 a month) because it is part of an annual plan; the other is a more expensive option ($31.49/£30.34 a month), but you can cancel without having to pay Adobe anything.

Photoshop with 100GB of cloud storage	U.S.	U.K.
Annual plan paid monthly	$20.99	£19.97
Annual plan paid upfront	$239.88	£238.42
Monthly plan (cancel at any time)	$31.49	£30.34
	Buy it here	Buy it here

Adobe explains the legal terms of the various contracts here. Basically, if you sign up for the cheaper ‘annual contract, paid monthly’ and then choose to end your subscription you will be able to do so, but if you end the contract after the first 14 days “you’ll be charged a lump sum amount of 50% of your remaining contract obligation and your service will continue until the end of that month’s billing period.”

This is a slightly better scenario than if you were paying annually – in that case, your contract will continue to the end of the term. You wouldn’t get any money back.

This is why the best option, in this case, is to sign up for a month-to-month contract. In this case, the contract will automatically renew every month, but should you choose to cancel (we explain how to cancel below) you will be able to use Photoshop until the end of that month, at which point your contract will cease.

If you need Photoshop, but you don’t want to tie yourself into a contract with Adobe, this could be the best option for you. However, you should note that you will lose access to anything you have saved in Adobe’s cloud after 90 days.

If these options aren’t right for you, but you don’t want to pay for Photoshop you will need to look for alternatives to Photoshop. We have a round-up of the Best Mac free image and photo editors, which includes some free options such as Seashore and Gimp.

How to get Photoshop on a Mac without a subscription

If you were hoping to buy a copy of Photoshop to own, as in not paying on a subscription basis, we have some bad news for you: Adobe no longer sells what is known as a ‘perpetual license’ for Photoshop and its other apps.

There is one option though: you can buy Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements is designed for amateur rather than pro photographers, but it does offer a number of photo editing features that might be sufficient for your needs.

You can buy a copy of Photoshop Elements directly from Adobe’s website for $99.99/£86.56. Buy Photoshop Elements from Adobe. See our review of Photoshop Elements for more information.

You can also buy Photoshop Elements on the Mac App Store, where the price is actually less than Adobe’s price at $79.99/£79.99.

The benefit of Photoshop Elements is that you can buy it outright and install it on your Mac. You will have access to features like masks, layers, colorisation, image manipulation and other useful, more consumer-level effects with Elements.

If you’re a creative professional though, or are used to the full-blown version of Photoshop, then you may find too many tools missing from the box. If you want to take a look there’s also a 7-day free trial of Photoshop Elements so you can take the software for a test run.

Understandably there are lots of Mac users who are disappointed that Adobe doesn’t sell a ‘perpetual license’ for the full version of Photoshop anymore. Many years ago professional Mac users might have owned a version of Adobe CS and used it for years, but the slow rate at which companies updated probably lead Adobe to switch to a subscription model.

If you don’t care about how up-to-date your software is you might be interested in buying a secondhand copy of Photoshop, or an old Mac with Photoshop installed. Just be aware that Adobe doesn’t support all older versions in terms of updates, so the ones you find might not be compatible with later iterations of macOS, plus newer Macs won’t run old versions of Photoshop.

You’ll also need to confirm that the software license hasn’t already been used, as usually these are non-transferable. And generally, we would advise against buying a used Mac (unless it’s certified refurbished).

For more information read: What version of macOS can my Mac run?

If a subscription to Photoshop isn’t for you, and Photoshop Elements isn’t enough, we recommend you look at alternatives to Photoshop, many of which have comparable features with the benefit of being available to buy outright. The best options include PixelMator Pro, Affinity Photo and others. See: Best Photoshop alternatives for Mac.

Is there an education discount for Photoshop?

There is one other way you can save money while getting a copy of Photoshop for your Mac.

If you are in education then you may qualify for a discount. However, you can’t sign up for a reduced price on the Photoshop-only tier, you have to get the entire Creative Cloud collection, which includes Photoshop and a large collection of other Adobe apps. The student and teacher deal for Creative Cloud does represent quite a hefty reduction.

At the time of writing, Students and Teachers pay $19.99/£16.24 a month, which is around 70% less than the normal subscription rate.

Photoshop for Mac price

If you have accepted that you need to pay for a subscription to Photoshop you will want to know how much it costs. There’s not actually a straightforward answer: it depends on how you want to buy it.

Whether you love or hate the subscription model, there are a few options to choose from if you want to get a copy of Photoshop:

Photoshop: If you just want the single Photoshop app you can have that for $20.99/£19.97 a month if you sign up for a year, or $31.49/£30.34 a month if you just pay on a monthly basis. Sign up on Adobe’s website.

Photography Plan: However, the Photography Plan is actually the best deal. It includes Photoshop, Lightroom (for web and mobile), and Lightroom Classic (for desktop). That bundle costs $9.99/£9.98 a month, but you will be on a contract for a year. You get 20GB storage included (there’s a 1TB storage option that costs about $10/£10 more a month). Sign up on Adobe’s website.

Plan: Photography Plan with 20GB cloud	U.S.	U.K.
Annual plan paid monthly	$9.99	£9.98
Annual plan paid upfront	$119.88	£119.21
Monthly plan (cancel at any time)	n/a	n/a
	Buy it here	Buy it here

Plan: Photography Plan with 1TB cloud	U.S.	U.K.
Annual plan paid monthly	$19.99	£19.97
Annual plan paid upfront	$239.88	£238.42
Monthly plan (cancel at any time)	n/a	n/a
	Buy it here	Buy it here

Business: If you are a business user you ought to sign up for the Business option where you can get a single Photoshop license for $35.99/£26.49 ex VAT a month per license. It’s worth noting that all the Adobe CC apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and Acrobat, cost $84.99/£61.99 (ex VAT) per license a month. Sign up on Adobe’s website. 

How to cancel a Photoshop subscription

The ease with which you can end your Photoshop contract is one of the benefits of Adobe’s decision to switch from selling copies of Photoshop outright to a subscription model.

It also means that you only need to pay for Photoshop for as long as you need it. So if it’s just for a short-term project you can unsubscribe as soon as the work is done.

Here’s how to cancel your subscription:

1. Sign in to the Adobe web page where plans are managed.
2. Sign in to your Adobe account.
3. Under the My Plans tab find Manage Plan (or View plan) and click on that.
4. Now click on Cancel plan.
5. Give your reason for cancellation.
6. Click on Continue.

Best alternatives to Photoshop on Mac?

There is plenty of great photo and image editing software available on macOS, many of which come with lower price tags than Adobe products. One of our favorites is Affinity Photo from Serif, which boasts a wide range of powerful tools, a friendly interface and costs $69.99/£67.99 as a one-off payment, and also offers a 30-day free trial.

Another popular choice is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), which is completely free and comes with an incredible range of tools and features. The interface can take a little getting used to, which is not uncommon with open-source software, but once you get to know your way around, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve. There’s also a large collection of tutorials for the software on YouTube, so if you’re willing to put in the time then it’s a powerful suite that will cost you nothing at all.

We also recommend you read Best Mac for photo editing.

You may also be interested in: How to get Adobe Illustrator on a Mac and How to get InDesign on a Mac.

Personal Software, Professional Software