Technical Specifications

Creative Tools

Paint & Erase

Over 100 artist-designed brushes and erasers ranging from stunningly realistic to totally digital

Retouch

A full set of powerful and advanced retouching tools to touch up and enhance images

Distort

The Distort tools in Pixelmator for iOS let you quickly and easily reshape areas of your image

Add Effects

Over 14 breathtaking effects to subtly improve or completely change the look and feel of an image

Adjust Colors

Use color adjustments to adjust colors, lighting, and contrast to perfect your images

Select

Powerful and pixel-accurate selection tools to quickly and easily select any part of an image

Crop & Straighten

Easily straighten, crop images using handy crop presets, or save custom crop presets

Automatically select subjects in images using the machine learning-powered Select Subject feature

Text

Choose from 24 pre-designed text styles, use custom fonts, fine-tune the look of text using a full set of advanced typography features

Shapes

Add 15 pre-designed shapes and Smart Shapes in 8 different fill styles, or use the Style tool to change the look of shapes

Layer Styles

Customize shape, text, and image layers by changing their opacity, blending, fill, or adding outlines, strokes, and reflections

Interface

Interface designed to work with images specifically on iPad and iPhone

Layers sidebar to add , arrange, and edit layers

Rulers and alignment guides

Extensive online user guide with in-app live search

Files browser to browse and open images stored in iCloud or on your iPhone or iPad

Sort images by date or name, organize into folders, rename, duplicate, or delete them right in the Files browser

Photos browser to browse and open images from Photos — find your custom photo albums and default Photos albums including Panoramas, Hidden, Selfies, Portrait, and Long Exposure

Preset chooser to create images from over a 100 popular image size presets, the Clipboard, or directly from your iPhone or iPad camera

Open images of up to 256 megapixels

Template chooser with over 30 inspiring templates:

Collage — Mosaic, Grid, Lopsided, Rounded, Parallel, and Oblong

Frame — Sharp, Rounded, Artistic, Grunge, Elastic, Pastel, and Blurry

Card — Best Wishes, Thank You, Happy Holidays, Love Is…, Happy Birthday, Summer Greetings, and Congratulations

Poster — Colorful Life, Summer, Keep On Dreaming…, Pool Party, Spring Break, and Adventure

Photography — Rain Drops, Light Bokeh, Sunbeams, Splash, Light Leak, and Color Rays

Vintage — Burned Out, Torn Photo, Illuminated Film, Aged Photo, Faded Film, and Washed Out

Painting

A Metal-powered painting engine offers an incredibly smooth and responsive painting experience

Adjust the size and softness of brushes

Color Picker with a color well, hue and saturation sliders, opacity controls, quick access to previously used colors, ability to create color swatches, and an innovative grid of color shades

Eyedropper tool for choosing colors from an image

Six pre-designed color swatch palettes

Advanced double texture technology that defines brush shape and its texture separately for maximum detail and precision

Two types of brush strokes: overlaying and not overlaying for greater variety of effects when brushstrokes overlap

Wetness effect makes Paint and Crayon brushes near-natural

Brush stroke sensitivity to drawing speed and acceleration

Full support for Apple Pencil, together with palm-rejection, pressure, tilt and acceleration sensitivity

Pencil

Pencil paints strokes of different hardness: 9H Pencil, 8H Pencil, 7H Pencil, 6H Pencil, 5H Pencil, 4H Pencil, 3H Pencil, 2H Pencil, H Pencil, F Pencil, HB Pencil, B Pencil, 2B Pencil, 3B Pencil, 4B Pencil, 5B Pencil, 6B Pencil, 7B Pencil, 8B Pencil, 9B Pencil

Crayon

Crayon paints soft textured strokes that can overlay each over: Coal, Carbon, Chalk, Crayon, Square Pastel, Wax Stick, Charcoal, Oil Pastel, Graphite, Pastel

Marker

Marker paints soft strokes for natural, hand-drawn painting: Permanent Ultra, Permanent Marker Fine, Marker Bold/Bullet, Old Jimbo, Jimbo Chisel, Chisel, Highlighter

Ink

Ink pen gives a variety of nibs for different drawing styles: Calligraphy Brush, Graffiti Brush, Inking Brush, Old Brush, Manga Brush, Chinese Brush, Japanese Brush, Broken Brush, Lettering Brush, Square Brush, Font Brush

Paint

Paint with realistic, true-to-live textures: Fur Brush, Parallel Brush, Filbert Brush, Triangular Brush, Stranded Brush, Edge Brush, Sponge Brush, Varnish Brush, Scattered Brush, Vose Brush, Mixed Brush, Sparkle Wash, Decorative Wash, Rotary Wash, Fan Wash, Goliath Wash, Scatter Wash, Onion Tip, Watercolor Pencil, Neptune Brush, Waterbrush, Aqua Flow, Oval Wash

Spray

Paint colors as if using aerosol sprays: Soft Spray, Metallic Spray, Spray Splatter, Dynamic Spray, Mixed Spray, Crazy Spray, Old Spray Can, Wall Spray, Blast Spray, Spray Can, Thick Spray, Broken Spray, Smashed Spray

Pen

Use brushes simulating different tip diameters to create realistic pen drawings: Gel Pen .3 mm, Gel Pen .4 mm, Gel Pen .6 mm, Rollerball .3 mm, Rollerball .4 mm, Ballpoint .3mm, Ballpoint .4 mm

Basic Brush

Paint with simple round brushes or create pixel art images: Soft Basic, Medium Basic, Hard Basic, Pixel

Eraser

Dozens of erasers from regular to stylized: Kneaded Eraser, Vinyl Eraser, Rubber Eraser, Light Eraser, Soft Eraser, Hard Eraser, Block Eraser, Pastel Eraser, Cloud Eraser, Electric Eraser, Soap Eraser, and Pixel Eraser

Distort tools

6 powerful Distort tools to easily reshape areas of an image

Intuitive two-finger gestures to control all Distort tools at the same time

All Distort tools have adjustable stroke size and strength to reshape areas more precisely

Zoom-aware editing — the size of the stroke is adjusted to the current zoom level

All Distort tools are powered by Metal — an incredibly fast graphics processing technology that gives all Distort tools amazing editing speed and stunning quality

Warp

Drag your finger to pull an area of an image in any direction you want

Bump

ouch and hold down your finger to bloat an area of an image

Pinch

Touch and hold down your finger to squeeze an area of an image

Twirl Left

Touch and hold down your finger to twist or twirl an area of an image

Twirl Right

Touch and hold down your finger to twist or twirl an area of an image

Restore

Swipe over an area to quickly and easily reduce or undo the changes you’ve made

Selection Tools

6 pixel-precise tools

Live selection preview for both the Quick Selection and Color Selection tools

Easily invert selections

3 different selection modes – Create New, Add To, and Subtract From.

Soften borders of selections to blend in better with the rest of the image

Resize selections

Rotate selection to change its angle

Cut, copy, and paste selection content as a new layer

Paint, retouch, apply effects, and adjust colors to selected areas

Free Selection

Draw selections of any size or shape to select irregularly shaped objects

Elliptical Selection

Draw rounded selections around oval or round objects

Rectangular Selection

Draw square or rectangular selections around square-shaped objects

Color Selection

Select similarly colored areas as you drag on an image canvas

Quick Selection

Simply swipe over areas to make incredibly precise selections

Magnetic Selection

Make detailed selections by tracing the edges of objects in your image

Layers

Layer-based image editing

Create new, duplicate, delete, rename, or hide layers

Create editable text and shape layers

Insert black, white, empty layers, or layers copied to the clipboard

Add layers from FaceTime

Create layers using images from your Photos library

Insert layers from the Files browser

Adjust layer opacity

Lock layers and groups

Group layers

Merge grouped layers

Arrange layers

Move layers to back or front

Rotate layers left or right

Flip layers vertically or horizontally

Resize layers

Use precise layout tools

Smart alignment guides, including center guides, edge guides, and spacing guides

Snapping to layers and image edges

Non-destructive layer styles: Fill — fill layers with gradient or solid color; Stroke — apply gradient or solid color stroke, and choose stroke width; Shadow — add shadow by setting shadow offset, color, blur and opacity; Reflection — add a reflection effect and adjust its opacity

Layer blending modes: Normal, Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Darken Color, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Burn, Darker Color, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge, Lighter Dodge, Overly, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix, Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Divide, Hue, Saturate, Color, and Luminosity

The number of layers you can create depends on the image size and the memory available on your device

You can open images of up to 256 megapixels

Color Adjustments

Unique color adjustment technology that combines all adjustments non-destructively

Live histogram to view color values in real-time

Intelligent saturation increase algorithm leaves no artifacts so you can play with it as much as you want

Intelligent saturation decrease algorithm happens in linear color space to preserve natural color as much as possible

Incredibly fast adjustments because Pixelmator utilizes CPU and GPU at the same time

Presets

Instantly enhance colors with 8 presets designed for single-tap color adjustments

Levels

Control image shadows, highlights, and overall image tonality with the help of live histograms

Brightness & Contrast

Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation allow quick brightness and contrast color corrections

Color Balance

Color Balance allows the overall color mixing in an image while maintaining its tonal balance

White Balance

Remove color cast with the neutral color reference, temperature, and tint controls

Curves

Live histogram gives full control over the adjustments to an image’s tonal range

Effects

14 breathtaking effects with multiple style variations

Blur, Sharpen, Vignette, and Noise effects have a wheel to control the effect strength

Light Leak, Bokeh, Miniaturize, Focus, Bump, Pinch, and Kaleidoscope effects have a rope to control the center and size of the effect

The effect rope to control the placement and size of the effects

The rope reacts to built-in accelerometer to change its real-life look as you move your iPad or iPhone

Blur

Softens an entire image or selected area to create a more focused area or soften the details

Sharpen

Increases the clarity in a photo by strengthening hard edges and increasing contrast

Vignette

Darkens the edges of an image to create a dark soft-edged frame around it. The Vintage effect is available in 7 different styles: Bauhaus, Art Deco, Romantic, Retro, Hippie, Punk, and Urban

Noise

Creates a strong or light grainy look to give an image a more vibrant look

Hue & Saturation

Changes overall image colors and tonality or selected color channels. The brightness and saturation levels are maintained to keep the image colors beautifully balanced

Vintage

Applies a coordinated set of colors with some grain to create an aged image look

Black & White

Changes images into professional-looking black and white pictures with a tint of grain. The Black & White effect is available in 7 different styles: Washed, Bright, Mellow, Faded, Inky, Dark, and Grainy

Light Leak

Applies bright color strokes of light to an image in various color sets and arrangements. The Light Leak effect is available in 7 different styles: Nebula, Arcturus, Rigel, Taurus, Orion, Lyra, Vega, and Pavo

Bokeh

Applies brightly colored circles to create a blurred and out-of-focus effect in an image. The Bokeh effect in available in 7 different styles: Magnolia, Amber, Emerald, Apricot, Ruby, Celeste, and Ivory

Miniaturize

Blurs an image’s content below and above the selected area to simulate a toy-model world

Focus

Blurs image contents around the edges to focus on the center of the image

Bump

Creates a selected size bump in the image area that has been selected and pushes it upwards

Pinch

Pinches the image content inward to distort the edges of an image the most

Kaleidoscope

Creates a kaleidoscopic image from an opened image by applying 12-way symmetry

Text and Shapes

Choose from over 70 fonts, change size, apply gradient or solid color, choose character style, and set the alignment and line spacing

Text

Choose from 24 predesigned text styles or apply custom fonts

Fine-tune the look of text using a full set of advanced typography features for adjusting the font size, alignment, line spacing, color, or change the typographical emphasis to bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough

Fill text with a solid color, gradient, or apply layer styles such as Shadow, Stroke, Reflection, and others

Copy and paste text between documents

Shapes

Choose from 15 predesigned shapes: Square, Ellipse, Right Triangle, Rhombus, Heart, Line, and 9 Smart Shapes — Rounded Rectangle, Triangle, Arrow, Double-Headed Arrow, Elliptical and Rectangular Speech Bubbles, Polygon, Star, and Flower

Adjust shapes with smart controls: Rounded Rectangle — sharpen or make more round corners; Triangle and Polygon — change the number of sides; Arrow and Double-Sided Arrow — adjust the arrow width and size of the arrowhead; Rectangular Speech Bubble —change the corner radius of the speech bubble and width and length of its tail; Elliptical Speech Bubble — change the tail width and length, Star — change the number of points and their shape, Flower — change the length and number of petals

9 different gradient fill styles: blue, cyan, lime green, yellow, orange, red, magenta, purple, or no fill

Customize shapes using easy-to-use, non-destructive Style controls: Opacity, Blending, Fill, Stroke, Shadow, and Reflection

Retouching

9 top-quality, brush-based retouching tools: Lighten, Darken, Smudge, Sharpen, Soften, Saturate, Desaturate, Clone, and Repair

Brush tip size and softness adjustments

Zoom aware editing — the size of the stroke is adjusted to the current zoom level

Lighten

Easily brush over the area to lighten image shadows or any other areas that are too dark

Darken

Brush to fix an overexposed image area or emphasize darker shadows in your photos

Sharpen

Subtly sharpen to increase image details by increasing the contrast on brushed areas

Soften

Paint over areas of an image you’d like to make less sharp and detailed

Smudge

Easily blend colors in areas of an image, soften hard edges and sharp details, or create special effects

Saturate

Gives an extra burst and vibrancy of color on the image to the areas being brushed

Desaturate

Tones down the colors on the image in the areas being brushed until they are in black and white

Clone

Use a brush to copy one part of an image onto another part of the same image

Repair

Quickly and seamlessly remove anything from an image

The Repair Selection feature instantly repairs a selected area

Advanced Repair tool technologies:

Patches — remove selected areas by replacing them with small pieces (patches) of images surrounding them

Smart technology — sophisticated repairing algorithms for stunning repairing quality

Color correction — each patch is color-corrected so that it matches the background of the area being repaired

Transition area — adjusts the imprecise selection of an object so that entire object can be removed

Structure matching — matches the color and the structure of the background area

Patch flipping — flips the patches to make the repairing smoother

Larger patching area — larger patches have more information, which makes it easier to repair an image more seamlessly

iOS and iPadOS Integration

Native support for all iPhone and iPad devices powered by Apple silicon

Image processing powered by Metal

Built for the Retina display

State-of-the-art, Metal-powered painting engine

Use beautiful Pixelmator effects in the Photos extension

Sidecar and Apple Pencil support

Support for iOS Continuity features like Handoff, Universal Control, and AirDrop

Full support for the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, including gestures

Over 50 keyboard shortcuts

Autosave

Split View

Use your FaceTime camera to insert pictures to your compositions

Quick Look support

Drag and drop support

Grand Central Dispatch to take advantage of multicore hardware

Core Image brings near-real-time performance for processing tasks on GPU

vImage improves high-performance image processing tasks on CPU

Accelerate Framework improves CPU usage on demanding tasks

Share and Export

Create and share images in Pixelmator file format — PXM — to work on them during multiple editing sessions

Open Pixelmator Pro documents and export to PXD file format

Export images to other popular file formats, including HEIF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, and Adobe Photoshop

Adjust the quality of HEIF and JPEG images

Export PNG and TIFF images using 8-bit or 16-bit color depth

Export images using 50%, 25% scaling, or custom dimensions

Save edited images images to Files or iCloud Drive

Save copies of edited images to Photos

Save edited images back to Photos, overwriting originals

Copy images to paste in other apps

Languages

English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese

System Requirements

Pixelmator for iOS requires iOS 14 or later