Pixelmator picks up support for iOS 11 drag and drop & importing HEIF images

The popular Photoshop alternative, Pixelmator for iPhone and iPad, was updated on App Store this morning with support for iOS 11’s drag and drop features on iPad and opening images saved in Apple’s new HEIF file format.

With drag and drop support, you can now drag images from apps like Safari, Photos and more and drop them into your opened Pixelmator project. Or, you can drag and drop your Pixelmator compositions into Mail, Messages, Pages, Keynote and other apps.

Dragging HEIF images from Photos to Pixelmator also works but this will automatically transcode your media into JPG items before importing. Dragging .HEIC files (HEIF-encoded images) from the Files app to Pixelmator doesn’t work.

To open HEIF images in Pixelmator without transcoding, copy them to Pixelmator’s folder on iCloud and use the app’s interface to import them directly.

Pixelmator does not yet support saving or exporting images in the new HEIF format.

HEIF images take half the space at the same quality of JPGs.

TUTORIAL: How to choose between HEIF/H.265 and JPG/H.264 media formats in iOS 11

Here’s the list of changes in Pixelmator 2.4 for iOS:

  • Pixelmator for iOS is now fully compatible with iOS 11.
  • Drag and Drop support lets you move images and graphics between Pixelmator for iPad and other apps more easily than ever.
  • Support for importing HEIF images.
  • Fixed an issue where Pixelmator would quit unexpectedly when zooming in after starting a selection.
  • Fixed an issue with the composition sometimes disappearing when adding or removing layers.
  • Fixed an issue where certain buttons in the Color and Format popovers would occasionally not respond to touches.
  • Fixed an issue where Pixelmator would sometimes stop responding after closing an image and immediately opening it again.

Pixelmator’s iOS update follows last week’s refresh of Pixelmator for Mac which also gained support for opening HEIF images, in addition to integration with the Photos app and full compatibility with macOS High Sierra.

Pixlemator for iPhone and iPad is $4.99 in App Store.