Miss Mac's photo book printing? There's an app for that

Photos on iPhone (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple killed the Photos feature that printed gorgeous photo books.
RR Donnelley confirmed it was the company that made them.
Now it's released the Motif app for iPhone and iPad.

Apple caused quite the stir last year when it killed off the ability to easily print photo books right from within the Mac Photos app. If you used that feature you're likely missing it pretty hard, but don't worry. The company that made those photo books now has an iPhone and iPad app.

The company in question is RR Donnelley, and it announced its intention to go out on its own when Apple pulled the plug. It also said that it would be making a Motif Photos app extension for Mac that would do the same job as the Photos integration, and that was fine. But what's even better is the new iPhone and iPad app.

Motif actualy launched on the App Store last month with no fanfare whatsoever. Now RR Donnelley is ready to tell the world, sharing a press release that was picked up by the folks at 9to5Mac

Motif, the Apple-approved personalized photo book app, today announced the launch of its free iOS app – bringing its top-rated photo app extension for the MacOS desktop to the estimated 1 billion+ iPhones and iPads currently in use. This app is available globally in 32 countries, including the United States and Canada, and is available in 6 languages. The Motif app syncs directly with the iOS Photos app library, making it quick, easy, and convenient for iOS users to create beautiful, personalized photo books with a professional feel, straight from the photos already stored on their device.

There's a lot going on with the free app including the ability to automaticaly sync with your Photo Library as well as to automatically find the best layout for your chosen book.

Anyone who used the old Mac Photos feature knows that these are some gorgeous photo books. Starting at $10 they're a bit of a bargain, too. You can download Motif from the App Store (opens in new tab) now and we'd suggest you absolutely do that.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.