Popular photo editing software Affinity Photo has had a rather big update to make it faster, offer better user experience and to introduce new features. 

Today’s v1.7 upgrades mean Mac users will see that all raster layer and brush operations are up to 10x faster and the app now supports multiple GPUs, increasing performance as a result. 

Serif is working on hardware acceleration for its Windows version, too, but this will arrive at a later date. However, today's update does introduce a memory management system rewrite which results in 3x or 4x speed improvements across many tasks on Windows machines. Dial and Pen support for Microsoft Surface devices has also been significantly upgraded, giving users new ways to interact with the apps.

One image can change us.

A picture, a moment can change the way we feel. Change how we see ourselves. Change our understanding and change the rules. Provoke and change history.

MPB puts photo and video kit into more hands, more sustainably. Every month, visual storytellers sell more than 20,000 cameras and lenses to MPB. Choose used and get affordable access to kit that doesn’t cost the earth. Sell the kit you’re not using to MPB. Trade in for the kit you need to create. Buy used, spend less and get more. Buy. Sell. Trade. Create.

Those who use HDR/EDR monitors will be happy to hear that Affinity Photo now offers full support for these screens and Affinity iPad users aren't left out either as they will see performance optimisations and a refreshed, compact UI has been introduced. 

Other updates, which appear across the Mac, Windows and iPad versions of Affinity Photo 1.7 include:

• Improved RAW processing engine offering significantly faster loading of files, a new demosaicing algorithm, more effective noise reduction, hot pixel removal and wide colour space development.
• A rewritten brush engine adding all-new multi-brushes, a symmetry mode (up to 32-way) and on-the-fly nozzle rotation with shortcut keys.
• Batch processing is improved, as a new assets panel is available for quick drag and drop of commonly used elements, and the layers panel has had a complete overhaul. 

Thousands of little tweaks and improvements, some based on customer feedback, have all been made to further enhance the user experience when using Affinity Photo. 

Availability & Pricing 

Affinity Photo version 1.7 is available now, with no subscription fee, with a 20% launch discount making the desktop version $39.99 and the iPad version $15.99. Existing users can download the updated versions for free.