The Pixelmator team has updated Photomator, its powerful iPhone, iPad and Mac image editor, with a native file browser providing a smooth experience.
Photomator, formerly Pixelmator Photo, was bumped to version 3.3 this morning. The update brings a built-in browser for working with your Photos library and images stored elsewhere, including in folders. With it, you can import images via drag and drop and edit them directly in the browser—including files stored on external drives.
The team claims the browser is so fast you can import tens of thousands of photos in moments. Photomator is a non-destructive editor, with changes syncing with the original image (which remans intact) via Apple’s Sidecar files.
Many other apps catalog or duplicate photos. Sidecar lets a separate file with just the edits be stored alongside the original photo, saving storage space.
Photomator 3.3 for Mac gains a file browser
According to the Pixelmator blog, the team has optimized Sidecar files extensively to further decrease file size. You’ll appreciate this if you edit RAW files in Photomator that take up way more storage than their JPG/HEIFF counterparts.
To view edits on all devices:
When you open edits from Mac on your iPhone and iPad, you’ll need to grant folder access to Photomator. To grant the access, open a photo, select Give Access at the bottom, then open the folder containing the photo. Once you’ve granted access, you’ll be able to view the edits within the folder in the future.
You can connect various cloud services like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and more to work with your cloud images directly in the browser. You can also edit images stored on external devices like SSDs, NAS or SD cards.
To switch between the Photos and Files browsers, use the pop-up menu in the toolbar or press the X key. Both browsers include color adjustments, one-click AI features like Smart Deband, batch editing, full HDR editing support, and more.
Photomator’s browser is optimized for Apple silicon and built using native macOS technologies, including Apple File System, which lets you duplicate images (say, for comparing edits) in the file browser without consuming extra storage.
Pricing and availability
Photmator 3.3 is now live on the App Store. Update your copy of the app to use the new browser and edit photos from external drives, import folders into Photomator via drag and drop, sync your edits with the originals, perform batch edits and more.
Download Photomator from the App Store
Photomator for iPhone, iPad and Mac is a free download with an optional subscription to unlock the full-featured version of the app.
You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of Photomator to try out all the features before subscribing to a monthly ($5), yearly ($30) or lifetime ($120) service.