Adobe Illustrator Now Available for Apple Silicon in Beta

Less than a month after releasing Adobe Photoshop for Apple silicon, and more than three months after releasing Adobe Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush, and Audition for Apple silicon in beta, Adobe has begun testing Illustrator on Apple's latest chip architecture.

Illustrator apple silicon beta
Adobe released the first beta for Illustrator for Apple silicon late last week, saying that many "core features" of Illustrator are supported in the native version of the program for Apple silicon. Until now, users have needed to run Illustrator on Apple silicon using Apple's Rosetta 2 emulation.

With native support, Illustrator and other apps such as Photoshop not only offer faster performance but improved reliability on newer Mac machines. Adobe customers interested in testing Illustrator with Apple silicon can download beta version 25.3.1 from the Beta Apps section in the Creative Cloud Desktop app.

Update: Adobe has also released a new version of its Premiere Pro public beta for Apple silicon.

Top Rated Comments

nutmac Avatar
40 months ago
Photoshop for M1 is so wickedly responsive that it makes my 16-inch MBP feel slow in comparison. Illustrator is my third most used Creative Cloud app (behind Lightroom and Photoshop), so I look forward to the release version.

My only major wish (beyond M1 migration) is for Adobe to embrace Mac App Store and offer App Store versions, just like Lightroom. Creative Cloud app has many background processes that sucks up resources even when the app is not running.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xbjllb Avatar
40 months ago
Great. Now if they can just ditch the ripoff subscription model and get millions of users back.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
40 months ago

Great. Now if they can just ditch the ripoff subscription model and get millions of users back.
They’ve had unprecedented growth since switching to that model, so I’m pretty sure they’re not missing anyone. Expenses like this are nothing for companies, and many can negotiate lower bulk rates. And for freelance workers, this is nothing compared to the revenue it helps generate. They’ve also added a lot of value with things like TypeKit which simplifies and streamlines licensing fonts. And they’re investing a lot in AI now to compete better with the latest apps. https://www.statista.com/statistics/266399/revenue-of-adobe-systems-worldwide-since-2004/

That being said, I really like the Affinity suite of software, which is great for most users who are creating on Mac or iPad who don’t want a subscription. It’s great for individuals who do this as a hobby and it’s my recommendation over Adobe for people who can’t afford a monthly subscription to an entire professional suite of 30 or so apps. That being said, I think they should offer a build your own subscription for less. They have some bundles for photography, but it would be nice to bundle a few apps and save some money. Like PS, LR, and Illustrator are my bread and butter for my personal work so like $30-35/mo would be good. It needs more flexibility.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ch1ptune Avatar
40 months ago

I loathe Illustrator — it feels like a very old application indeed. It just never feels fast. I'm really glad there are alternatives now! :)
I agree. While not perfect, Affinity Designer is a pleasure to use. It’s just so much smoother than Illustrator.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ch1ptune Avatar
40 months ago

Photoshop for M1 is so wickedly responsive that it makes my 16-inch MBP feel slow in comparison. Illustrator is my third most used Creative Cloud app (behind Lightroom and Photoshop), so I look forward to the release version.

My only major wish (beyond M1 migration) is for Adobe to embrace Mac App Store and offer App Store versions, just like Lightroom. Creative Cloud app has many background processes that sucks up resources even when the app is not running.
Is zooming in and out not weird for you in the M1 version of Photoshop for you? I use the Magic Trackpad and zooming is almost useless in this version. I don’t get why Adobe can’t seem to succeed in making moving and zooming gestures as smooth as in all Affinity apps.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
qoop Avatar
40 months ago

I agree. While not perfect, Affinity Designer is a pleasure to use. It’s just so much smoother than Illustrator.
Right now, I'll accept anything that isn't Illustrator :D
I wish they'd kept Freehand tbh. Yes, Affinity is good news here too.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 17 All New Features Thumb

iOS 17.5 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday April 21, 2024 3:00 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...