System requirements and other restrictions

Apple outlines detailed system requirements for each app on its support page here. For most of the Mac apps, all you need is a Mac running macOS 15.6 Sequoia or later; the only Mac app that requires macOS 26 Tahoe is Pixelmator Pro. Most of the apps will also run on either Intel or Apple Silicon Macs, though MainStage is Apple Silicon-exclusive, and “some features” in Compressor may also require Apple Silicon.

The requirements for the iPad apps are a little more restrictive; you generally need to be running either iPadOS 18.6 or iPadOS 26, and both Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro either want an Apple M1, an Apple A16, or an Apple A17 Pro (in other words, it will work on every iPad Apple currently sells, but older iPad hardware is more hit or miss).

Apple also outlines a number of usage restrictions for the generative AI features that rely on external services. Apple says that, “at a minimum,” users will be able to generate 50 images, 50 presentations of between 8 to 10 slides each, and to generate presenter notes in Keynote for 700 slides. More usage may be possible, but this depends on “the complexity of the queries, server availability, and network availability.”

These AI features are all based on OpenAI technology, but don’t require users to have their own OpenAI or ChatGPT account (the flip side is that if you already pay for ChatGPT, that won’t benefit you here). Apple also says that the content you use to generate images, presentations, or notes “will never be used to train intelligence models.”

What apps aren’t getting new versions?

There are three major creative apps that Apple offers that haven’t been bundled into Creator Studio, and also haven’t gotten a major new update: iMovie, GarageBand, and Photomator.

There are extenuating circumstances that explain why these three apps haven’t been given a Creator Studio-style overhaul. The iMovie and GarageBand apps have always sort of been positioned as “lite” free-to-use versions of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, respectively, while Photomator is a recently acquired app that overlaps somewhat with the built-in Photos app.

Apple has nothing to share about the future of any of the three apps. Both iMovie and Photomator received minor updates today, presumably related to maintaining compatibility with the Creator Studio apps, and GarageBand was last updated a month ago. Expect them to stick around in their current forms for at least a while.