Annoying disparities between iOS Photos and Mac Photos apps

[MajorFubar]

I know this is basically a moan and literally no one at Apple is listening…

But…

PULEEEEEZ Apple can we have parity of features between the iOS version and Mac version? It’s bloody annoying.

So I might sometimes on my iphone or iPad want to tweak the white balance by clicking on a part of an image which is white or at least neutral grey. Can I do that? No, I need Mac Photos app for that. Why??? Just why???

Having brought up an image in Mac Photos, I might sometimes need to tweak the horizontal or vertical tilt. Can I do that? No. Utterly bizarrely, I need to go BACK to iOS to do that. What??? Who makes this stuff up?!

Come ON, Apple!!! Where’s the ‘unified experience’?

Said this before and I’ll say it again: I’m convinced the iOS and MacOS developers at Apple point and scowl at each other across the dinner tables in the Apple canteen.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

I know that in el Capitan there is a way to adjust the horizon line in Photos. I am guessing it remains in later versions. As I recall it was not in the least intuitive, I had to do a search to figure out the how, and have long since forgotten said how.

 

[MacNut]

I just pull iPhone photos into Photoshop express to do any touch ups.

 

[Ray2]

I might suggest you’re the problem, not Apple. Photos was launched as the usual “box” to capture all photos with the attendant hope that the masses would back up their devices and stop flooding the genius bars with woes of precious lost photos. To appeal to the vocal minority, they put hooks in the app to allow for developers to offer plugins. That basically never happened to any appreciable extent. So you’re left with more than Apple wants and nowhere to go but out of the eco system. Waiting for Apple will probably result in less functionality, not more.

 

[chown33]

Here's the macOS Photos User Guide:

Photos User Guide

Learn how to use Photos on your Mac to view photos and videos, edit and share your favorites, access your photo library from other devices, and more.

support.apple.com

There are similar User Guides for most apps included with the OS. The keywords to search for are usually:
macOS APP-NAME User Guide

In this case, macOS Photos User Guide easily showed this guide in the top few search results.


Here's the page on cropping and rotating:

Crop and straighten photos in Photos on Mac

In Photos on your Mac, crop a photo to improve its composition or remove unwanted areas. Straighten photos that were taken at an angle.

support.apple.com

Notice that both cropping and rotating are enabled by the single button named "Crop".

Also notice that on every page of the Guide, there's a popup menu near the top where you select which OS version you're using. I just stepped through every choice from High Sierra onward, and they all show the same basic UI design: both crop and rotate are under the "Crop" button.

 

[Slartibart]

there is a White Balance adjustment in Apple’s Photos on iOS/iPadOS - it is available when you edit a photo. Operates different to selecting the white value using an eye dropper-tool though.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Here's the macOS Photos User Guide:

Photos User Guide

Learn how to use Photos on your Mac to view photos and videos, edit and share your favorites, access your photo library from other devices, and more.

support.apple.com

There are similar User Guides for most apps included with the OS. The keywords to search for are usually:
macOS APP-NAME User Guide

In this case, macOS Photos User Guide easily showed this guide in the top few search results.


Here's the page on cropping and rotating:

Crop and straighten photos in Photos on Mac

In Photos on your Mac, crop a photo to improve its composition or remove unwanted areas. Straighten photos that were taken at an angle.

support.apple.com

Notice that both cropping and rotating are enabled by the single button named "Crop".

Also notice that on every page of the Guide, there's a popup menu near the top where you select which OS version you're using. I just stepped through every choice from High Sierra onward, and they all show the same basic UI design: both crop and rotate are under the "Crop" button.

This sounds like the one I found for elCap.

 

[MajorFubar]

Here's the macOS Photos User Guide:

Photos User Guide

Learn how to use Photos on your Mac to view photos and videos, edit and share your favorites, access your photo library from other devices, and more.

support.apple.com

Notice that both cropping and rotating are enabled by the single button named "Crop".

Yes but that's crop and rotation, not skew (tilt) correction. iOS has crop and rotation, and tilt correction, as per my opening post, yet MacOS Photos has no skew correction options.

Yet while MacOS Photos has the excellent and useful eyedropper function for instant white balance adjustment, all iOS has are tint and warmth sliders, which is just way more vague.

Time and time again I find myself bouncing a photo between iOS and Mac to gain access to certain functions unique to either. That should not need to be the case.

 

[chown33]

I misunderstood what you meant by "tilt". I'd call that "keystone" correction.

It's mentioned here, along with a couple apps that can do it on the Mac:

Does Photos have a way to remove keystone? - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

I would think adding an app to the Mac would simplify the production pathway substantially, because it would eliminate bouncing between devices. Of course, you will have to decide whether an expenditure is enough of a benefit to you.

I agree that both platforms should offer equivalent filters and corrections, so to me, it becomes a question of the optimal way to get the capabilities you want (e.g. keystone correction, while maintaining Photos compatibility) on your preferred editing platform.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

In reality there are great disparities between iOS and Mac apps. For example, the "import/export features found in all Mac apps don't work in iOS. iOS "syncs" but does not import and export. Also, the work menus of all iOS apps are completely different than the work menus of the Mac apps.

I assume that the apps and iOS menus plus other features aren't very large and designed to be fast, while the Mac apps are too large for iOS (? ). The iOS apps aren't interesting in my iPad compared to the ones in my MBP for the reasons mentioned above.

 

[PhilBoogie]

It would also be nice if the apps could sync everything: I can't get my Smart Albums on my phone...

 

[lkalliance]

I'd like to be able to apply keywords within the iOS Photos app. Right now, I need to wait for the photo to hit macOS Photos, and then apply keywords there.

 

[PhilBoogie]

I'd like to be able to apply keywords within the iOS Photos app. Right now, I need to wait for the photo to hit macOS Photos, and then apply keywords there.

Uhm, no: you can apply keywords after swiping the photo up on iOS. Since version...dunno, 13 I think.

 

[lkalliance]

Uhm, no: you can apply keywords after swiping the photo up on iOS. Since version...dunno, 13 I think.

I don't see that. When I swipe up (or tap the Information icon) I see date and time (adjustable), filename, metadata, and location (adjustable). I do see "Add a caption"...is that where I would put keywords? In macOS Photos, captions and keywords are independent fields.

 

[PhilBoogie]

I don't see that. When I swipe up (or tap the Information icon) I see date and time (adjustable), filename, metadata, and location (adjustable). I do see "Add a caption"...is that where I would put keywords? In macOS Photos, captions and keywords are independent fields.

Pardon me, you are correct: on iOS one can only add a caption, not a keyword. This sucks. This should be available in iOS Photos.

Metapho says it can edit meta, for 5 bucks