Another support release for the very successful v1.7.x series.
What’s new
- Polish translation added. Japanese and German translations/layout were also updated.
- Theme selection now replaces icon selection in Preferences.
- Rulers are now off by default.
- G’MIC updated to v4.0.5.
- ARM support added for Linux .deb packages.
- Deb build helper updated to handle Ubuntu 26.04 dependencies.
Fixes
- Fixed a startup setting issue and added a handler for a missing XDG_DATA_DIRS (#511).
- macOS: fixed crashes when using certain filters, including with a transparent colour on modern macOS. An error popup now appears when a filter fails.
- macOS: dependencies are now bundled correctly in the installer, which also fixes a recursive bundling problem.
Build & Packaging
- New CI workflows for Ubuntu, macOS, Snap and Flatpak builds.
- macOS runner moved to macos-15. The Intel runner was removed.
- Added a timeout for the G’MIC step on Linux and macOS.
What’s Next – PhotoFlare Studio
Adding layers, non-destructive editing, and a professional brush engine to the v1 codebase isn’t feasible – the architecture doesn’t support it without a full rewrite. Rather than quietly abandon these features, I’m building them properly.
PhotoFlare Studio is a new commercial image editor built on the same Qt 6 / C++ foundation, designed to sit between GIMP and Affinity Photo: designed for users who find GIMP’s workflow overwhelming but don’t need everything Affinity Photo offers.
- Layers and blend modes.
- libmypaint brush engine.
- Non-destructive editing.
- One-time purchase, including one year of updates and owned application versions keeps working forever.
Release candidate build available here
PhotoFlare Lens is a companion RAW image viewer – fast, non-destructive, and built for photographers who want a lightweight way to browse, develop, and export RAW files without a full editor.
Release candidate build available here
PhotoFlare (free, GPL) is not going away. Studio is built alongside it, not instead of it.
Thanks to everyone who contributed translations, bug reports, and pull requests!