One of the reasons I’ve not got too bent out of shape about no localized editing on Photos for Mac is because for years now I’ve been doing all of my heavy-duty photo editing in Pixelmator for Mac. Last year Pixelmator arrived on the iPad and it’s great. In some ways it’s better than the Mac version. I especially like using the iPad version on my couch while fiddling with pictures. Also, iOS Photos does an even better job of integrating third party photo apps than its Mac counterpart does. 

Today Pixelmator released an iPhone version of Pixelmator. The new iOS version of Pixelmator takes advantage of Apple’s Metal technology to add new Distort tools. I’ve been using the beta and it was killing me not to include this in my Photos Video Field Guide. In addition to bringing a very robust set of photo editing tools, there are also filters accessible straight from Pixelmator in the Photos application.

Best of all, it’s universal. If you’ve already bought Pixelmator for your iPad, you’ll get it for free on your phone.

Have you noticed how many iOS iPad-only apps are going universal and finding their way to the iPhone? I think there are several reasons for this trend including the bigger iPhone screens, better processors, and better development tools. Pixelmator is great in my pocket. The below video provides an overview.