Apple retouch tool gone after update to Sequioa 15.1

On the upgrade notice for Sequoia 15.1, I don't recall it mentioning anything about a change to the Photos tool. If it had, I would've waited to see what the consensus over here was on it first. :/

It's not just that taking away 'retouch' and replacing it with 'clean up' does a horrible job.. But with the old retouch tool, you could do actually clean up and straighten out edges on a photo.. You could copy a section of a photo (like leaves on a tree) and move them to another part of the photo. It was somewhat crude when you compare it to something like a Photoshop program, etc.. but still.. you could still do it.

They replaced all of that with a lame lit up circular blob. Like several others have already said on here... BAD move. Reallllllllly bad move. I hate it.

I have spent several hours experimenting with CleanUp to see if I can get it to replicate some of the features of Retouch. While it is true that in some instances you can produce a reasonably acceptable result, it is hit or miss and only seems to work where the background is uniform (like a cloudless blue sky). In any situation where the background is varied or detailed, it simply does not work and produces weird pixelated blotches. The problem is that it has no cloning feature and is not designed to do what Retouch did, which was to smooth and blur imperfections, particularly on skin. CleanUp is a blunt instrument that is designed to replicate the masking feature found in photo editors like Photoshop using nascent AI technology. While it might have some utility for basic edits to low resolution social media images, it is incapable of making nuanced edits to high resolution RAW images. Perhaps, as Apple refines its AI engine, the CleanUp tool will improve. However, in its current form, CleanUp is simply not a useable substitute for Retouch.

I am very frustrated by this change. I make slideshows for memorial celebrations and I scan a lot of photos. When scanning in have very small blemishes that need to be touched up. While I can see the Clean Up feature being important for larger things. By removing the touch up option I cannot fix the (sometimes many) small blemishes in the scanned photos. I am very disappointed because I do slideshows that range from 100-400 photos at least once a month, sometimes as often as weekly. I don't charge for this because I see it as something nice I can do for families that are grieving. I don't have a lot of money for a new program and I don't have time to learn something new before a funeral on Tuesday. I am hoping my spare old computer at home has not updated yet so that I can use the old feature. If it's updated then I don't know what I am going to do. I am very disappointed right now and would greatly appreciate Apple bringing this feature back.

Okay after looking at comments I can make Clean up work. But it is not nearly as easy to use. It also doesn't make as clean of a fix as it did previously. Still not very happy but I think I can make it work while I look for a better program to use.

Everyone here, and all new posters, be sure to send a message to Feedback - Photos - Apple. This site is just a discussion and sharing website. Or phone Apple Support, and tell the person on the other end that you would like them to pass on a request to their superiors that we want Retouch back. If we all did those things regularly for the next while, perhaps they would take note!

To Shawheel, NaturesPagan, etc. whose posts are being censored, I actually skimmed the terms and conditions, and found a couple of things: posters "must not post content that is libelous, defamatory, indecent, harmful, harassing intimidating, threatening, hateful, objectionable, discriminatory, politically divisive or inflammatory, abusive, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, or offensive in a sexual, racial, cultural, or ethnic context or otherwise illegal.

Unless otherwise noted, your Submission should either be a technical support question or a technical

support answer. Constructive feedback about product features is also welcome."

It's possible the algorithm is finding your posts objectionable according to these rules. 🙄

Clean-up really is pretty useless. I used the cloning aspect of Retouch constantly.

YES! I have also submitted feedback to apple. I have thanked them for innovating and adding new tools - and for experimenting with AI - that is fine and dandy, and expected, but no need to remove a tool that works great, is different, and in many instances, works better. When they removed CD Drives, and A Drives, it was because it was outdated tech, but this is NOT something outdated, it is something that works fantastic, and the AI is not an improvement, it is a new and different tool, for a different purpose, there is nothing wrong with having BOTH. Especially since the new tool requires Internet to work, and the ReTouch does not require you to be online to work, to me that is MAJOR.

Everyone should submit feedback, I don't think they read this thread. (tho I linked it hoping they will)

Oh, Apple. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???? As with most devout Mac users, I defend the higher prices of your tech and the relentless updates and releases on the regular with my iPhone firmly in my pocket. I've been a lifelong user of your products across the board.

My father started one of the first post-secondary Mac "desktop publishing" programs with a Mac lab in Canada back in the mid-1980s so we had one of the first Macs at home with a 8 MHz 68000 processor, 128k of RAM, a 400k disk drive and a 9" screen, long before computers were found in pretty much every household as they are now. And I've had almost every iteration of Mac computer since then, leading me to my current MacBook Pro.

There have been a few gaffs along the way but for the most part I'm confident in my loyalty to your brand, one of the only brands I'm loyal to. But this is ridiculous. It's such a small thing but has such a huge impact on the end users of the native Photos software. Photos is one of the best pieces of native software that you offer, in my opinion. And the basic yet just-detailed-enough editing freedom it allows is a huge part of that. The three functionalities of the editing that I use on almost every photo I share, whether it be with family or for work purposes, is resizing, recolouring, and use of Healing Brush Tool. Remove an errant hair or a blemish on a face. Disappear a bird flying out of an ear or a plane drawing the viewer's eye away from the subject. Removing an unintentional photobomber or an unfortunately placed light fixture from a company group shot at the staff Christmas party. Discreet edits that require a fine tuned hand, that make a large impact and are quick and easy to do in Photos with the right tool.

But then comes along Sequoia 15.3.1 and the Clean Up Tool. What is this ungodly bull in a china shop?!? Aside from sizing the "brush", it comes with no ability to finesse anything and the AI behind it is clearly drunk off its rocker. There is no control, no ability to remove a small pice of dust from a scan or a pimple from a forehead that doesn't look blotchy and pixelated and wrong. This is not a replacement tool by any stretch of the imagination, even if it were working well. This is perhaps its own separate tool for broader stroke editing like removing full backgrounds or doing rough removals/replacements before going in with something like the Healing Brush Tool to finish the job properly. But this is absolutely not a replacement. I'm not sure how this got past QA checkers at Apple but someone was asleep at the wheel, or someone badly underestimated how important the Healing Brush Tool is to Apple's users.

Please bring back the Healing Brush Tool as soon as possible. It is sorely missed!

I went to Apple's product feedback page and left a comment. I encourage users to do this so that hopefully they get the message.

Product Feedback - Apple

actually, the clean up brush does work. you can zoom in and draw a circle with your finger and it's fills in the background very nicely. I stand corrected:-)

Picchaz - Please post on the Apple feedback page: Feedback - Photos - Apple

Ebeths please post on Apple feedback page Feedback - Photos - Apple

I'm so upset too!! Thankfully I have TouchRetouch app - on my phone, ipads and Mac.

SnapSeed is free and works great - healing is the name of the tool.

You have to be online to use the Clean up tool? I turned my router off and it worked for me.

I can confirm that the retouch tool has been deleted with the 15.1 update. I stupidly updated my Studio without waiting for news of problems like this. The Clean Up feature (a completely useless gimmick that no serious photographer would ever use) is no substitute for the retouch feature. I am in the middle of scanning old slides and the retouch feature is needed to eliminate dust artifacts. As a work-around, I have fired up an old Mac running Catalina but it doesn't have the processing power to really do the job. I find this move by Apple completely inexplicable. If this is not fixed in the next few weeks, I will have to switch to Lightroom. The Mac community needs to spread the word about this colossal blunder by Apple.

You missed the conversation. Clean up is not a replacement for retouch. It doesn't do the same thing. It's for erasing parts of a picture that you don't want. It won't clean up blemishes and skin tones.