Apple's new Photos app bridges yet another gap between the company's operating systems and further cements its goal of a unified user experience across devices. Released to developers today, and later to the public as part of, Photos mimics the iOS image-viewing experience, but adds powerful editing tools that you can get only on the desktop.

It's an improved experience over the aging iPhoto and Aperture image editing products -- both of which it effectively replaces -- but more in how it simplifies the organizational tools rather than the new features it adds. It won't compete with dedicated photo-editing software like Photoshop, but it is a great way to organize and tweak your images. As a developer-release, Photos still has some work ahead. At this early stage, though, the interface and tools are easy to use and will be useful for both beginning and expert photographers alike. The Photos app is not a direct upgrade from iPhoto nor is it a complete copy of the Photos app on iOS. Instead it has it's own unique set of tools that are only available on Yosemite. Once the update is released, it will be the default photo management app on OS X, but that's not going to stop you from using any of a number of third-party apps.

At this time, Apple hasn't announced a specific release date for the public, but we do know that it's coming later this spring. Just like on iOS the Photos app in will work closely with iCloud and with Apple's new iCloud Photo Library. The service will store high res images in iCloud, but keeps the full files from taking up too much space on your desktop or iOS devices until you're actually viewing them. This means that even if all your images are the highest quality setting, they won't be taking up as much valuable storage space on your hard drive or on your iOS devices. Navigating the interface When you first launch the Photos app, you'll see the familiar layout of photo thumbnails organized by date and location that you find in the Photos app on iOS. Log viewing tool for mac. But in the upper left you have arrows you can click to quickly switch from Moments (individual pictures), to Collections (pictures taken in the same location), and to the wall of photos in the Years view.

You can also use pinch gestures to switch between these on a track pad and a two-finger swipe lets you browse through thumbnails. The Search window in the upper right lets you add just a couple of letters before it autocompletes to show you dates, locations, faces it recognizes and keywords so you can drill down to the photos you want. You can select photos from the view of your choice, then hit the familiar Share button (found throughout Mac OS X and iOS) in the upper right to send photos via email, messages, Facebook, Flickr, and other common locations.

There's also the capability for third-party services like Tumblr to add their names to the list via extensions. With the release going to developers only for now, Apple wants to smooth out the rough edges and give developers a chance to work other services into the mix. The layout of your images will look familiar to those who use Photos on iOS. Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET The four main buttons In the top center, the Photos app has buttons for Photos (described above) along with Shared, Albums, and Projects buttons.

The Photos app is a necessary addition to Mac OS X Yosemite, replacing the somewhat long outdated iPhoto and Aperture apps. And I welcome that Apple is including it with the Mac OS X 10.10.3 update. However, if you have a photo management app for your Mac, things could get a lot easier. To know about some of them, read on! Cyberlink PhotoDirector Ultra 9 is a photo Management tool which not only helps you to organize your photos in a neat manner but also provides advanced editing tools.