Hands-on with Apple's Creator Studio as a non-subscriber

Above: The subscription versions of Apple’s apps won’t allow you to to do anything if you don’t sign up for a plan.

Here’s the reality of how Apple’s Creator Studio changes established workflows and what it might mean for mid-tier creators.
For anyone already using Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro, the shift to a subscription model is really just a matter of choice and financial strategy.
For anyone who used their productivity software and recently acquired image creation software, Pixelmator Pro, it hits a bit different.

If you launch Pages, Numbers or Keynote after January 28, you get a notification that the version you were using will no longer be updated. Those versions are listed at revision 14. The version of Pages that will be available to you after the introduction of the Creator Studio is version 15 and it’s a bit of a mixed bag at launch.

You get a refreshed toolbar that’s also implemented in Numbers and Keynote and that new icon regime that unifies the new subscription apps.
The new features in these subscription versions of Apple’s production software are outlined in purple and are only available if you sign up for a plan. Templates created for the subscription version have a little premium crown.

Click on any of these with the intent to use them (you can browse thumbnails freely) and you get an invitation to sign up for a subscription. Place an image from the stock photo archive and you get a watermarked version, but to license it, you need to be a subscriber, not just pay for the file you want to use.

*You can place some premium content in the productivity apps, but to remove watermarks, you need to become a subscriber.*

There are warnings and advisories along the way, but it’s not hard to imagine someone in a hurry clicking madly along only to find themselves a subscriber through haste.

The new version 4 of Pixelmator Pro offers a different experience. There’s a version still available on the App Store that I bought, but the new version that’s part of the Creator Studio, does nothing if you are not a subscriber. This isn’t a case of limited features. The new version 4 does not work at all if you aren’t a subscriber. Version 3.7 does work, but it’s unclear if being a subscriber wins you any special features beyond access to the content hub.

*Apple’s new subscriber only content hub.*

If nothing else, this opens up an opportunity for Acorn, a steady close second in the prosumer image editor options for Mac users that’s also been consistently improved over the years as well.
How Apple handles upgrades going for the users who bought the non-subscription version is likely to set the tone for how it manages its perpetual license, subscription access dual-track system going forward.