iLife
iLife is a discontinued software suite for macOS and iOS developed by Apple Inc. It consists of various programs for media creation, organization, editing and publishing. At various times, it included: iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, iWeb, and GarageBand. Only iMovie and GarageBand remain and are now freely available on Apple's Mac App Store.[2] iDVD and iWeb have been discontinued while iTunes and iPhoto have been succeeded by Music and Photos respectively.
Developer(s)
iLife was preinstalled on new Mac computers and was previously also sold as a bundle on DVD. With the introduction of the Mac App Store, Apple discontinued the DVD bundle and turned to selling the apps separately. Photos, the app that superseded iPhoto, is now an essential part of macOS, while iMovie and GarageBand, although they ship pre-installed on any new Mac computer or iOS device, can be uninstalled if not needed. Updates for iLife apps purchased on the Mac App Store are available for free, while the pre-App Store model required buying the entire suite when a new version had been released.
Origins[edit]
iMovie has the longest legacy of the applications included with iLife. It was marketed by Apple as an easy-to-use video editing application that allowed novice users to quickly create professional-quality movies. The first version of the software was released in October 1999 and bundled with the iMac DV. On April 28, 2000, Apple began allowing users to download iMovie free of charge from its website.[3] iMovie remained free until 2003, when it became part of the first iLife release, which was sold for $49. Apple continued to update and develop the existing iMovie software until the release of iLife '08 in 2007, when a new version, iMovie '08, was released. iMovie '08 was completely rewritten as a new application and introduced significant changes to the user interface.[4]
iPhoto was the second application in iLife that began as a free application available for download from Apple's website. The first version of iPhoto was announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo January 3, 2002, and released January 7, 2002. It was billed as being the "missing link" in photography. In addition to allowing users to import, organize, and perform basic edits on their photos, iPhoto also let users print photos in a variety of ways, including as a bound book.[5] Subsequent versions of iPhoto have added a number of features, including automatic organization by events,[4] faces (using facial recognition technology), and places.[6] iPhoto also includes a full-screen editing mode and a feature called "Photocasting" (a way to share photos with others directly from within iPhoto).[7]
iDVD was first announced on January 9, 2001. It was bundled with the Power Mac G4, the first Mac model with a SuperDrive that could read and write both CDs and DVDs. The first version of iDVD introduced a simple way to design customized DVDs with menus, backdrops, slideshows and home movies that could be played back on most DVD players.[8] iDVD was never released as a download. Instead, it was bundled with the first version of iLife, released in 2003.
The remaining two applications in the iLife suite were first introduced as part of iLife '04 and iLife '06, respectively. Released in 2004, the first version of GarageBand was designed as an easy way for both beginner and advanced musicians to create and edit music on their computers. iWeb was introduced at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 10, 2006 and was promoted as a way for Mac users to create their own professionally designed websites without having to know or write HTML or any other code. The last version of iWeb was released with iLife '11.[7]
On January 6, 2011, iLife '11 was made available to purchase on the Mac App Store. From October 22, 2013, iLife '13 was made available for free download on the Mac App Store.
After iPhoto was discontinued in 2015, newest versions of GarageBand and iMovie, the only remaining components of iLife suite, became distributed separately on the Mac App Store, making iLife suite itself discontinued.
Notes about specific releases: