Yesterday’s launch of Apple Creator Studio (ACS) caused some confusion for Mac users who didn’t plan on subscribing.
Some users of Apple’s productivity apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Freeform) were wondering whether they should accept the update invitation.
Apple prompts you to update
When you open one of Apple’s productivity apps on your Mac, you’ll be prompted to update to the freemium ACS version. This wording seems to make a pretty strong case for doing so.
This version will no longer be updated. Download to get the latest features
Download 15 or later from the App Store.
For example, for Keynote:
But some users are concerned
Some users have expressed concern that this could put them at risk of being forced into a subscription to continue using the app later. Apple says core features will remain free forever, but not everyone believes this declaration.
“If they think the market penetration of MacOS is high enough, they can say anything and change their attitude.”
“IKR? These threads are full of people saying ‘Apple said this’ and ‘Apple said that’ as if they really believed it. Companies say all sorts of things to get their way, but when they unilaterally decide to do something different (with evidence based on historical precedent and common corporate business practices), who is responsible?”
These concerns are exacerbated when you are asked to remove the original version when installing a new version.
Additionally, the original version appears to have disappeared from the App Store. So if you deleted the original version, there seems to be no way to change your mind and reinstall it.
However, it appears to be completely safe
However, when I tried it, I found that the older version is do not have Installing a new one removes it from your Mac, so you can choose which one to use. This results in a strange situation where there are two different versions of each app with the same name in the application folder.
As Sound Mac Guy points out, Apple accomplishes this trick of having two versions at once by keeping the display name the same but providing a new path.
If for any reason you are not satisfied with the ACS version, you can delete it and continue using the original version.
Would you like to change it back?
Personally, I think it’s unlikely that Apple will break its word on such fundamental issues. However, I keep the older version installed as a safety measure.
There are several reasons to choose to stick with the original rather than the ACS version. The first is a somewhat intrusive invitation to subscribe. For example, when you create a new Pages document, this will appear as the most prominent option, ahead of the built-in templates.
Second, the user interface is different. For example, this is the Pages 14.5 toolbar.
This is on page 15.
I’m not going to rush to judgment on this. For now, I’ll stick with the new version, but don’t worry if you don’t like the UI, you can always switch back.
So my advice is to accept the invitation to update, but keep the old version.
(Tag to translate) Number
