Apple retouch tool gone after update to Sequioa 15.1

I just received this after I posted here agreeing with everyone what a mistake Apple made removing the essential feature in Photos: Retouch.

"We’ve removed your post Apple retouch tool gone after update to Sequioa 15.1because it contained either feedback or a feature request that was not constructive."

There was nothing I wrote that was different, offensive or triggering than the other posts here. Perhaps because I used the words d*mb*st and j*ke and an all caps wh*. Apple is watching.

Apple "YOU GUYS MUST BE STUPID". YOU TAKE AWAY RETOUCH THE BEST PART OF MAC PHOTO. "YOU TAKE AWAY SLIDE SHOW SHUFFLE". DO YOU GUYS SIT IN A ROOM AND IDEATE HOW TO UPSET YOUR CUSTOMER BASE. YOU HAVE GREAT PRODUCTS, YET YOU ARE BOUND AND DETERMINED TO SCREW IT UP. WTF!!!

BEEN A MAC GUY EVER SINCE YOU STARTED, BUT YOU ARE SLOWLY BUT SHURELY CHANGING MY MIND.

You can't. I communicated with Apple Support at length. I was told that Retouch was not discontinued, and he told me he could help me restore it. I told him I had read in Support Communities it was eliminated. He told me it was not. I was put on hold multiple times while he checked with other Support representatives. He was certain nothing had been done to Retouch.

When he came back after he put me on hold the last time, he told me he had confirmed that it had been eliminated. I replied that as that was the case, I did not want Sequoia, and I asked him to walk me through how to downgrade. He told me unfortunately, once you've upgraded to Sequoia, there is no way at all to downgrade because Apple made/makes it impossible to downgrade any device that updated software to Sequoia.

He was super nice and very sincere and really wanted to help. As I've posted before, it was telling (and shocking) that multiple Apple support personnel had NO IDEA that Retouch had been eliminated. Usually they are very up to speed. He was certain (as were others he consulted) that Retouch was fine, and he (and others with Support) just needed to figure out what happened to cause it not to show up on my MacBook Pro so they could easily restore it for me.

The lack of communication across the board - including the deleting of messages here - is not good. Lack of communication with Apple Support employees, lock of communication with consumers, blocking any downgrades so you are forced to use Clean Up - or not use it on anything like you did with Retouch after you've wasted so much time having to undo its bizarrely obvious repixelation. The easy solution is restore Retouch (no cost to do that) in the next software update and keep Clean Up. Retouch was eliminated with no notice to consumers or Apple Support to force us to use Clean Up. I guess we are supposed to teach it to do what Retouch already does. (That will probably get this message taken down).

But yes, due to Apple's intentional design it is impossible to downgrade once you've updated to Sequoia. Apple Support IMMEDIATELY knew that when I asked to downgrade after they finally learned and confirmed Retouch was indeed gone. Again, they were most helpful even if they couldn't help me with Retouch. They truly wanted to be able to help me restore 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.

Why do companies remove their best features in updates? Do you like that tool that actually works? Well, we will take it away and replace with it something that doesn't and make you believe you are now better off.

Just bring back the Retouch Tool.

I can't understand what's in it for Apple to remove Retouch. Don't think it cost them money. Do they want us to go to PC and away from Apple. That doesn't make sense. Are they wanting us to buy an app that has Retouch? It's just like when they took away shuffle on Photo Slideshow. There is awork around buts painful at best. This just makes no sense. I DON'T EVEN THINK APPLE READS THESE POSTS OR IF THEY DO THEY JUST DON'T CARE WHAT LOYAL CUSTOMERS THINK!

Force us to adapt to clean up is like forcing a woman to retouch her face makeup by using a vacuum cleaner.. It's eventually useful to quickly remove big objects in the background like cars, houses, people or animals, but awful when all you need in most cases - as the name says - is a series of little retouches. After this ridiculous downgrade in the Photos application from a bold silly engineer learning AI, we better start looking for alternative plugins - if not moving our entire photography workflow to another platform. Hey competition! Save us!

I made some corrections to above, including "I communicated with Apple Support" (not commented), etc. Also, Retouch was the ONLY Photos tool eliminated with the Sequoia software update. And Clean Up was the only addition. The bottom line for me is the most logical conclusion is that Retouch was eliminated (with no way to downgrade) to force us to use Clean Up even if doesn't actually work to "Clean Up" pictures - and it definitely doesn't work to naturally retouch them. CU's repixelation can be great if you want to eliminate an object on a simple background. That's not something I often do, whereas I retouched at least half of my photos quickly and beautifully. And even when using it on simple backgrounds with brighter colors, I've still experienced very obvious repixelation with CU.

Eliminating Retouch and only Retouch makes us use Clean Up (until we won't anymore) or makes us pay for apps to do what Retouch did or to switch to a whole other application. However, based on the very anomalous lack of communication and promotion (before, during, and after) with both Apple consumers and employees about this significant change to a firmly established and very effective Apple-designed Photos tool, I personally believe the intention is to make consumers use Clean Up. Otherwise, why intentionally eliminate the very much used, effective, intuitively designed (not AI), and elegant Retouch? Why not just add Clean Up to the various Photos tools and PROMOTE IT as another Photos tool for Apple's loyal customer base? Why the silence about it, the deletion of posts in this Community about it, etc.?

I wish they had left both, the new tool only works if you have Internet, the old tool worked any time. And in some uses worked better. Why can't they add the new tool, but leave the ReTouch which worked fantastic? No need to remove it. Both have their uses.

I used the retouch tool not just to remove blemishes or dirt marks. In some of my work, my style as an artist was dependent on it! I am devastated that Sequoia eliminated it. I want tools I can control with my eye and hand and I used this one for about 10 different purposes because I am creative enough to invent. Nothing in I Photo does what I need to create my style of work now -- and I am close to risking downgrading my OS to Monterey just to get the retouch tool back. That is how iportant it is to me. That elimination was -- IS -- a major blow.

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!

Just updated Sequoia to 15.1.1 and the issue still remains. No retouch on Photos. Seems like Apple will keep acting like Apple again: knowing what users need more than them and insist on their own visionary fantasy.

It’s hard for me to understand why Apple would replace the retouch brush with that hideous clean-up option! That, to me, was the most important tool in Photos! I will now have to downgrade from Sequoia back to Sonoma because I edit ALL MY PHOTOS and will not settle for just a “clean-up!” Thanks for making life much harder Apple! I’ll keep that in mind when I need to upgrade my software.

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)

Illini74 wrote: Apple, PLEASE

We are not Apple. If you would like to make suggestions to Apple, go here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

I have.