During this time of the year, custom calendars, cards, and photo books make great presents. After all, it’s always fun to set yourself apart with some unique gift ideas. However, Apple just made an announcement this past fall that it will soon be discontinuing its photo printing services. That only means Apple users have to find a substitute soon.
But even if Apple is discontinuing its printing services, users need not worry so much because they don’t have to use a completely different app to have awesome prints. Apple has committed to support third-party photo extensions that offer reliable printing options.
Although none of the available third-party extensions have stellar ratings, there are a few that have achieved quite acceptable ratings so far. We listed seven of the best alternatives to Apple’s discontinued print services below:
Motif
Motif is a software created by Apple’s partner in providing photo printing services, RR Donnelley. The company is known for their 100% satisfaction guarantee, or customers get a refund or reprint if they are not satisfied with the result.
Pro Tip: Scan your Mac for performance issues, junk files, harmful apps, and security threats
that can cause system issues or slow performance.
Special offer. About Outbyte, uninstall instructions, EULA, Privacy Policy.
The extension works within Apple’s Photos app offering a variety of themes for printing photo books, cards, and calendars. To use, download and install the app first. Click Open and follow the on-screen instructions. Eventually, you will be redirected to the Photos app.
After that, navigate to Projects located in the bottom left part of the sidebar. Click the + button. From there, you can start creating calendars, cards, and photo book projects.
Though Motif can be downloaded for free from the Mac App Store, projects come with corresponding fees. Calendars start at $20, cards are priced at $0.99, and books start from $10.
Mimeo
Mimeo offers almost the same services as Motif’sand just about the same rates. It’s an equally powerful extension for creating calendars, cards, and photo books within the Photos apps.
To get started, download the free Mimeo extension from the Mac App Store. Once downloaded, select photos or an entire album from your Photos app. Next, choose Mimeo from the drop-down menu. Now you can start creating unique photo projects.
Mpix
If you want to capture the best in every day and turn them into lasting memories, Mpix is definitely the best choice for you.
Like Mimeo and Motif, Mpix offers quality printing services for Apple products. However, unlike the two that only offer Apple print services, Mpix allows printing on other unique materials, such as wood and metal.
Here are other features that make Mpix a great alternative to Apple’s print services:
- Upload photos directly to the Mpix app
- Create personalized photo products like keychains, playing cards, photo books, metal prints, and a lot more
- Crop, convert, and rotate photos
- Change photo colors to black and white
- Save projects for later purchases
Google Photos
Google Photos cannot be integrated with your iOS Photos app, but it does have an app for itself. It also does offer web-based printing services for iOS devices.
To use, you need to get the Google Photos app first. Don’t worry because it is free to download. Once you have it, follow these steps:
- Launch the Google Photos app.
- Tap on Albums -> Create Photo Book.
- From there, you can start creating a photo book project.
If you prefer to use the web-based photo printing service, just follow the instructions below:
- Log in to your Google account.
- Navigate to Google Apps -> Photos.
- You can now start creating photo books by accessing your Google Photos albums or manually importing images from your drive.
The only downside of this service is that you can only create photo book projects at the moment.
Walgreens
With the Walgreens app, you can easily create print projects and have them prepared for same-day pick up at the nearest Walgreens location. You can print directly from your Photos app or from your Facebook or Instagram account.
At the time of this writing, Walgreens is running a special offer of more than 40% discount on selected products. The promo will last through December 29, 2018, but if you check earlier, you can probably grab even better deals.
The Walgreens app is free to download from the Apple Store. Apple Pay is accepted as payment for your photo printing orders.
Shutterfly
When it comes to alternatives to Apple’s discontinued print services, Shutterfly is also another popular option with an impressive 4.7-star rating. The quality of their service explains why.
Shutterfly constantly runs special promotions for their cards, photo books, and calendars. It also gives away solid, hard-to-miss deals every now and then.
At the moment, the Shutterfly Photos extension is not yet available on the App Store, but you can go to its website to enjoy the best prices.
WhiteWall
WhiteWall is a service that focuses entirely on prints, but they also offer high-end choices for unique and special papers for mounting and framing.
The service usually supports any project as long as it falls within the size range 8” x 6” to 48” x 36”. Then again, unlike other services and apps above, WhiteWall’s prices seem to be a bit higher. And once you have chosen a particular frame or paper, you need to start another project to see how a photo looks like on the same layout.
Summary
The news that Apple is getting out of the printing project business is not that bad, considering that there are many apps and extensions that support printing projects for Apple devices. So if you feel like making a calendar this year as giveaways for your loyal fan base and customers, you can still do fine with Motif or Mimeo. But if you feel like being more creative by giving away customized keychains, you can opt for Mpix or other apps and extensions from this list.
Although not related to printing, you might consider installing Outbyte macAries on your Mac to potentially free up space and improve system performance. Ensure that this tool meets your specific needs.
Do you know other reliable alternatives to Apple’s discontinued print services? We’d like to know! Share them with us below.