Can I upgrade pixelmator to pixelmator PRO in a MAC?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2018-01-29 20:37:04

by Ivan Reese 2017-12-14 22:45:12 Welcome to the App Store!

There's nothing the Pixelmator team can do to offer an discount, other than lower the price of the app for — so that's what they did. I'm sure they'd to give a pricing advantage to their existing customers, but they simply can't do that given the limitations imposed by Apple.

If you bought Pixelmator and don't want to pay to to Pixelmator Pro, just keep using Pixelmator. It's a great flippin' app. If you want to get in on Pixelmator Pro for less than full price, buy it now (but — if you're the complaining type — maybe give it a few months for the 1.0 jitters to be sorted out before you start using it).

This team has proven that they can deliver the goods by making the original Pixelmator such a great product over the years. We have no reason to assume that's changed now. Keep that in mind when evaluating what they're choosing to do.
That is simply not true. It is possible to offer discounts to existing customers with apps on the App Store. Just take a look at what the Omni Group has done with their apps. The methodology that the Pixelmator developers have used is very common but it is not the only approach and it is very frustrating for existing while users. Here’s a post that explains how the omni group solve this problem:

https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/providin ... experience
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2018-01-29 20:52:02

I just want to upgrade my existing version that won't paste anything to layer or even add a new layer, so I have to purchase the app again????
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2018-01-29 20:55:28

by Andrius 2017-12-01 11:26:31 Guys, I totally understand your frustration, however, here are a few very important points about this situation:1. The Mac App Store doesn't really have a way of providing discounts to specific users. There's a bit of a workaround by providing an via in-app purchases, but that's not exactly a great Mac app experience (which we care about very much)
What you say is just not true – there are methodologies for providing upgrades to existing customers while still selling a product at full price to new customers. And I disagree with you about the “customer experience”. I have upgraded several apps from the Omni Group and it is a wonderful customer experience to receive a discount for upgrading to a new product. I don’t mind the approach that you’re taking with $1 apps, but with quality software that costs more money, users become very frustrated with the approach you’re taking – it is definitely not a good customer experience. Here’s a post from the Omni group about how they have solved this problem for their customers:

https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/providin ... experience
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2018-02-26 16:07:09

This 'new release' without even a possibility to upgrade is a bloody shame.
The price of this 'new release' is also a bloody shame.
I will abandon Pixelmator now.
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2018-02-27 20:39:54

You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. As a casual user i just feel ripped off. I maybe used it 10 times in the last year but love the product! having to pay another €60 for another 10 uses for the next year makes me - yes - uninstall it and move on to another product with a bad taste in my mouth left about ever learning about and going to bed with you guys. Should not have invested anything in it in hindsight with this being the result. My life would have been better better off (+€60) if i never dated with your product. It´s not that i don't like it - i do. Its not that i can´t afford it - i can. I just feel cheated upon, ripped off and i can´t and won´t accept that.

P.S. I created this account just to say my opinion. Will abandon Pixelmator now too. Uninstalling now... Please get me back aboard by sending a mail to fh@frankhofstede.eu with excuses and a solution. Being a software dev myself.. We all make mistakes..
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2018-03-15 00:39:58

I purchased Pixelmator in hopes of having an image editor that could replace Photoshop (which I'd used for decades). And I hoped Pixelmator would grow.
You sold it as such.

But Pixelmator proved to be aimed more at a consumer/occasional user type user than pro users and lacked too many features for me to use as my image editor. So I moved on to the exceptional Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer programs and Pixelmator sits unused.

That there is now a "Pro" version is a tacit acknowledgment that Pixelmator isn't a professional level image editor.

When I realized there was a Pixelmator Pro version, I figured there would be an upgrade path for Pixelmator users. Count me among those who are disappointed to learn that instead of Pixelmator becoming a professional product, that a more fully featured version is being sold as a separate program under the name Pixelmator Pro with no upgrade path.

Sorry to say guys, but it feels like bait and switch.

I'm quite happy with Affinity, but I'd have paid a reasonable upgrade fee to try out Pixelmator "Pro."

But at $59 it is more expensive than Affinity Photo, which is $50 and regularly goes on sale for $40. And AP rocks! It is a serious professional level product.

I got Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer for $90. Less than the proposed non-sale price of Pixelmator Pro alone.

I think you've made a whopping mistake in alienating people who purchased Pixelmator who were expecting the sort of Photoshop competitor that you promoted it being, by not having an upgrade path for Pro.

Makes me wonder if Pixelmator Pro Plus (an entirely new program) would be next? Had an upgrade path been $20 or $25 I'd likely have purchased it just to compare it with Affinity Photo. Now I'll just consider my original purchase of Pixelmator a mistake and move on.

Before I do, I must say that I think you guys have blundered here and that this decision will create ill will with many, like myself, who never felt Pixelmator delivered the product we expected. You could have won back some who defected to other products.

Bill
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2018-03-25 14:59:10

Pixelmator, Pro or not, has no future chance against real photo apps like Affinity or Luminar. I think it will not have a future. It's too expensive for what it offers compared to the competition.
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2018-03-29 07:15:59

I used Affinity and I think is an bargain for the price but I have to say I love Pix Pro! Its much easier to use especially for my wife the ability of the filters and effects are just amazing! A lot of this you could do with Affinity but its not that apparent and easy to use. My wife hates using Affinity coming from Picmonkey (which she loved) but she is blowing away with Pix Pro! Also considering that Photoshop costs a fucking a lot makes the price totally worth it! You guys can be happy to have the power of affinity and pix pro (especially with future updates) combined together! Think of it if Pix pro and Affinity wouldnt be hear you guys would depend on Adobe :see_no_evil:
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2018-03-29 07:25:10

@ResLes I think, it depends. If you want to make more natural pictures, take Affinity, DxO FotoLab or Capture One. If you like filters, effects, gradients and so take Pixelmator Pro, Luminar 2018, ON1 2018 or just an iPhone App. :blush:
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2018-03-29 09:13:37

@imatti what do you mean with natural pics? In haven't worked with the other ones you mentioned. But it's always available learning curve to it too... Sometimes wirth it sometimes not... I hate working on my phone... I like that pix pro had an real Mac approach to their work... For us it is important to do things quickly and for the web...
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2018-03-29 09:49:16

@ResLes „natural pics‟ are pics without special effects like color filters, sun star effects, gradients, recolor, and great retouching. "Natral" means only change of levels, sharpness, white balace, brightness, contrast, luminosity, vibrance, shadows, highlights and curves. Affinity Photo is great for this, even for the web.
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2018-03-29 10:28:31

@imatti yes it's great worked with it, I agree haven't worked on this stuff on pix pro but the options are there too... Whats the difference?
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2018-04-03 10:20:00

Sorry, but I own the old version only. In my mind, Luminar 2018 is the choice for absolute beginners in software image processing.
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2018-04-03 13:31:40

Luminar looks great, too. I will give it a spin but I have already purchased Pix Pro and I like it a lot! Not to mention I really like the snappiness...
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2018-04-03 14:05:02

I had a quick look about luminar. Its a great app. There are things I like more about Pix Pro thats the UI and the general feel of it. The Effects in Pix Pro are amazing. In Luminar there are filters which Pix Pro has too! Some I liked more on Luminar (the fog one and the golden hour) some I love on Pix Pro. There are all presets so its easy to make your own. (Phone app hard to do) I like the history and the comparison button on Luminar. Pix Pro opens images faster... I think its personal taste which is easier but I think Pix pro is easier to use... Great that there is so much competition
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2018-04-17 21:26:49

Please stay to the original topic. I fully re-agree with Bill and are kind-of-flabbergasted the PixPro team did not take us serious so far by not replying. Now i have the feeling we are treated like ´a sucker is born every minute, so who cares..´ folks. We are early-adopters sponsors of your product - we are not happy - do something about it. You owe us that much by being to live from it because of us.
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2018-06-21 20:04:57

Well I come to this conversation a bit late as I just recently purchased the Pro version. I'm very much happier with the Pro version than the Classic as it has the window all in one unit rather than spread out all over the screen(s). Drove me crazy with that interface, so I'm really happy with this one. I personally never even gave the upgrade price a thought to be honest. It's allowing me to discontinue Photoshop's monthly fees which cost me over $100 a year.

How many of you have been doing that? So far, unless you need something much more versatile than this which I can't see how really, how many of you have been forking out that amount every year to not even "own" an app, but just rent it? I've done that for both Photoshop and Dreamweaver which I'll be discontinuing as well which will save me almost 400 a year between the 2 apps.

Since I don't know the answer to this question I'm hoping someone can help me with it. Do we pay every year to upgrade like some apps do? Does it have a yearly fee to keep getting updates and support like some apps do? I don't see anything on the website nor in the Apple app store page that says anything about any continued update fees.

If not then none of us having subscriptions to Photoshop that we can now cancel should be complaining about anything at all! This app is awesome from what I can see and so much easier to use than Photoshop too.

I look at it this way. I paid $30 to purchase the Classic version in November, and now in June (approx. 7 months later) I purchased the Pro version for $60. I paid over $400 to purchase Photoshop and then had to pay over $200 a year to keep it up to date and continue getting support. Same with Dreamweaver.

You guys are complaining about a lousy $60, and I'm betting quite a few of you have owned or subscribed to Photoshop as well and will now be able to discontinue that subscription for a fraction of the cost, even if there "is" a yearly maintenance fee.

I do understand that most companies do give discounts to users that upgrade, and yes there are ways to do it that other software companies have done for me many times, but maybe they want to use the time instead to develop on the software instead of researching all the possible ways to discount it only to those with previous purchased versions. Since they "DID" discount it to us that's really all that matters. What do you care if they charge newcomers the same discount or not? It doesn't affect you at all, only affects the company selling it and accepting a lower fee. You get the same features, same discount, same everything as you would if they had discounted it in the typical way. What you're angry at isn't that you didn't get a discount, because you did! You're angry because others got it too and that's just stupid thinking because that doesn't have any bearing on you at all. Think about that and count the ways you got a deal here instead of thinking you got ripped off because you didn't.
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2018-06-22 06:24:03

by Jo Rice Since I don't know the answer to this question I'm hoping someone can help me with it. Do we pay every year to upgrade like some apps do? Does it have a yearly fee to keep getting updates and support like some apps do?
The original Pixelmator was released on the Mac App Store in early 2011. It's been getting free updates since then — that's 7 years of free updates. Now, I obviously can't say whether Pixelmator Pro will be updated for free for the same length of time because 7 years is a long time and a lot can happen. But that should give you an idea about the timeframes we're talking about. Definitely not even close to yearly upgrades, not once every two years either.
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2018-06-22 12:27:24

Thanks Andrius. And there you have it people, the major reason why it shouldn't matter to you if everyone else gets the same discount you do. This app looks packed with every feature you can imagine as far as I'm seeing at this point, and I'm not going to have to pay hundreds of dollars to keep it up to date ... makes me a happy camper!
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2018-07-16 08:00:13

by Sebastiaan 2017-11-30 15:42:43 @webix :Do people upgrade their macs by buying a new one, demand an upgrade price from Apple because they are already a mac owner?
Actually, Apple provide for trade-ins of old macs
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2018-07-16 08:03:24

by Andrius 2017-12-01 09:26:31 if there was a way to provide loyal users a discount — you can absolutely bet we would do it.
OK, so how about a bit of transparency? What's preventing you?
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2018-07-21 13:29:18

Wow guys, give it a rest already! They DID provide you with a discount! You all act as if you've had to pay full price for the Pro app and that's just not the case at all! They've already told you that the price is a discounted price, keeps it simple for them to deal with by giving the discount to all for a period of time. It's not rocket science guys, price is cheaper for a while, then will go up to the normal price and now is the time to take advantage of that price to upgrade. Pretty simple science, so pleaseeeee stop making it sound like you're a victim of price gouging or something similar. You got a discount, use it and be glad about it and stop griping because others got it too. That's just .... selfish!
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2019-06-16 02:12:09

I think that you guys have not handled user expectations very well concerning an upgrade path and price. If the upgrade price was $39 and new users had to pay $59 I think we would all be ok with that but you sold this all wrong and yes it makes the long time user feel like we are just a new customer and no benefit to us for supporting you and helping you grow. I would reconsider your roll out of future upgrades and or new products and we are all trained monkeys to pay a upgrade or crossgrade to get the better stuff. It does leave a bad taste and your reps like Sebastian just really don't know how to talk to customers. He alone makes me sour to your group. Anyways I was just a user looking for the upgrade price and now I am disappointed like many of the others. Great products, nice work, poor release plan.
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2019-06-17 11:51:34

by Holmes Ives I think that you guys have not handled user expectations very well concerning an upgrade path and price. If the upgrade price was $39 and new users had to pay $59 I think we would all be ok with that but you sold this all wrong and yes it makes the long time user feel like we are just a new customer and no benefit to us for supporting you and helping you grow. I would reconsider your roll out of future upgrades and or new products and we are all trained monkeys to pay a upgrade or crossgrade to get the better stuff. It does leave a bad taste and your reps like Sebastian just really don't know how to talk to customers. He alone makes me sour to your group. Anyways I was just a user looking for the upgrade price and now I am disappointed like many of the others. Great products, nice work, poor release plan.
In our defense, the reason this whole situation came about is because, on the App Store, there isn't a way to provide upgrade discounts. Well, at least there weren't any ways to do so back when Pixelmator Pro launched. Yes, there was a somewhat inelegant option using in-app purchases but we weren't especially big fans of it. Later on, bundles were introduced and we recently launched a Pixelmator Pro upgrade bundle. So that will let you receive an upgrade discount if you own Pixelmator.

However, even that isn't a perfect solution, as some people (lots, actually) bought the original Pixelmator with a discount and therefore aren't eligible for the bundle discount. Needless to say, we love all our users and the last thing we want is for anyone to feel like they're getting a bad deal. That's one of the reasons why we're still shipping free updates to the original Pixelmator over 8 years since it was originally released. Keep in mind that many people bought the app for $14.99 and have had years and years of free updates (minor and major), which is pretty crazy value for money when you think about it. And with Pixelmator Pro, we've already shipped three major updates, a ton of smaller updates, and we're about to release our fourth (free!) major update in just over a year and a half since the app came out. Again, great value for money!

Anyway, the new upgrade bundle will get you a discount if you paid full price for the original Pixelmator. And even if it doesn't, I'd say you're still getting incredible value from our apps, no matter what. But I do understand wanting to feel appreciated as a long-time user, it's just that our hands are a little bit tied when it comes to these things.
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2019-06-17 12:06:53

Well said Andrius, I would have to agree 100% that if people paid less than $20 for a piece of software that they've gotten free updates for 8 years and then free updates for the new one for the next 1 1/2 years, that's a very good deal.