Download ON1 Photo RAW for Mac

In the edit

The latest version, 2026.5.2, speeds up filters and adds new lens profiles — small changes that add up when you are pushing through a busy season. Here is what the app does well, laid out like a working edit.

1. Browse and cull without leaving the app

ON1 Photo RAW handles the whole job: viewing, organising, editing and sharing from one place. You move between folders and previews quickly, and the local workflow means you are not waiting on the cloud to load a RAW file.

2. Edit with the effects engine

The built-in effects app gives you layered adjustments without switching tools. Masks, gradients, texture overlays — it is all there, and the filters are noticeably snappier in this release.

3. Share across devices

Because the app works across Mac and mobile, you can start on a laptop and finish on an iPad. It supports Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 13 or later.

Point your catalog at your main photo folder first

Once the installer finishes and you open the app for the first time, point it at your main photo folder. Let it build its catalogue in the background while you make tea — the local indexing means you are not uploading anything to a server. Set the interface language to whatever suits you; the 2026.5.2 release supports English, Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, French and Japanese, so there is a good chance your preferred language is there.

Spend a few minutes checking that the new lens profiles cover your glass. The 2026.5.2 update adds profiles for recent lenses, so if you picked up a new prime or zoom this year, it is probably in the list. Open a few test RAW files from different shoots and toggle the profile correction on and off to see how much distortion or vignetting it cleans up.

If you work with a second screen, drag the preview panel to the external display and keep the browser and tools on your MacBook screen. The app remembers window positions, so you only need to do this once.

Cull a wedding in under an hour with instant thumbnails

Saturday morning, a wedding from last weekend. I plug in the SD card, copy the files to a folder named by date and venue, then open ON1 Photo RAW. The browser shows thumbnails quickly — no waiting for preview generation on a full card of 45-megapixel RAWs.

I cull in Browse mode. The star ratings and colour labels work like you would expect: hit a key, move on. I flag the unusable shots in red, mark the strong candidates with five stars, and leave the rest unrated. The whole card takes maybe twenty minutes to cull, and I have not opened a separate program once.

Next, the edit. I pick a five-star portrait and switch to the Develop module. The RAW processor handles the exposure and white balance cleanly, and the faster filters in 2026.5.2 mean each slider move updates the preview without that half-second hitch that used to break the flow. I apply a subtle tone curve, pull up the shadows a touch, and add a graduated filter to balance the sky.

For the second image, a group shot, I move to the Effects module. I stack a couple of layers — one for a soft matte look, one for a gentle vignette — and mask out the faces so the effect only hits the background. The layered editor handles this without slowing down, and I can see the mask overlay in real time.

Export is the last step. I select all the five-star images, choose JPEG at full resolution, and let the app process the batch while I clear the card for the next job. The export runs in the background, so I can start browsing another folder while it works.

ON1 remembers where you left off between sessions

The app remembers your last browse location between sessions. If you were in the middle of culling a folder yesterday, it opens there today — no need to navigate back through the directory tree.

Double-clicking a thumbnail in Browse mode opens the image in the last module you used. If you were editing in Effects, it goes straight to Effects; if you were in Develop, it goes to Develop. It saves a click every time you switch between culling and editing.

The local workflow across devices does not require you to export and re-import. If you start a project on your Mac and pick it up on an iPad later, the edits stay attached to the files in your local catalogue. No duplicate copies, no wondering which version is the latest.

And the new lens profiles in 2026.5.2 are applied automatically when the app recognises the lens from the EXIF data. You do not have to hunt through a dropdown menu — it just works, and you can tweak the strength if the automatic correction feels too strong or too subtle for your taste.

New this release

• Faster filters for smoother editing.
• New lens profiles added.

Mac it needs

• macOS 13 Ventura or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel 64-bit