Apple has been offering special software for musicians and video producers for many years: Logic and MainStage for audio, Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor for video. Since the introduction of the Mac App Store, Apple stopped selling physical storage media and only offered these titles via its own software platform – and as is well known, this does not allow time-limited trial versions. That’s why Apple offered a download from the respective product page parallel to the purchase version – you could try out Apple’s Pro apps for up to 90 days. But the company is apparently using the introduction of the “Creator Studio” software subscription to put an end to this double structure: the English-language subpages for Logic and Final Cut Pro no longer refer to the download of a test version. This is particularly annoying for those who want to try out the purchase version in the next two weeks, because Apple still wants to offer a slightly reduced version of Final Cut Pro, Logic and Pixelmator Pro as a purchase version. Creator Studio won’t launch until January 28, 2026. The subscription offers a thirty-day trial period in which iPad and Mac versions of all programs can be used free of charge – anyone who purchases new Apple hardware receives a voucher for three months of free use of Creator Studio.
Special case German subpage
Apparently, Apple hasn’t completely updated its websites for all languages: test versions for Logic and Final Cut Pro are still available on the German-language website. How long this will be the case is unclear – Apple apparently does not see itself as having any obligation to indicate that the test offer is ending. Apple has not yet offered any test versions for the “smaller” pro apps, i.e. MainStage, Motion and Compressor. The image editing software Pixelmator, which was acquired from the takeover of Pixelmator, has not yet had its own product page under the Apple umbrella, and so there is no test version.
Pro apps from Apple: German websites and demo versions
| Pro app | website (German) | Download |
| Final Cut Pro | FCP | FCP Download |
| LogicPro | LogicPro | Logic Download |
| Pixelmator Pro | Pixelmator Pro | n/a |
| MainStage | MainStage | n/a |
| Motion | Motion | n/a |
| Compressor | Compressor | n/a |
