Skapa: A quiet photo editor

Coming soon to the Mac App Store

Free, for macOS 26 or later

The idea

Most photo editors are built like a Chesterfield: deep, buttoned, and stuffed with every tool anyone ever asked for.

Skapa is built like a chair bent from a single sheet of wood. It does the handful of things people actually do with a photo, and nothing else.

Skapa is Old Norwegian: to shape a thing until it becomes what you want it to be.

Skapa’s editor with the Adjust tool chosen. The eight tools run down the left, a photo of bent walnut, leather and steel fills the middle, and on the right are the six looks, an Auto button and sliders for exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, warmth and saturation.
The tools on the left, your photo in the middle, and on the right only what the tool in hand needs.

The tools

Eight tools. One key each.

  1. Adjust

    Command 1

    Start with Auto, or with a look at whatever strength you like. Then exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, warmth, saturation, sharpness and vignette, if you want them.

  2. Crop

    Command 2

    Free, or square, 4:5, 3:2 and 16:9 in either orientation, placed around the subject. Straighten by hand or level the horizon in one click. Rotate and flip.

  3. Select

    Command 3

    Rectangle, ellipse, lasso or colour, or the subject in one click. Hold Shift to add. Lift the selection onto its own layer, crop to it, copy it or clear it.

  4. Draw

    Command 4

    A brush with size, opacity and a calm palette, and an eraser that only ever touches the drawing, never the photo.

  5. Fill

    Command 5

    A bucket that fills similar colour, and linear and radial gradients that fade to a colour or to clear. Fills stay inside the selection.

  6. Text

    Command 6

    Click to place, drag to move. Four typefaces, with weight, size and colour.

  7. Cut out

    Command 7

    Remove the background in one click, or click a subject to keep only it. Leave it clear, or set it on a solid colour.

  8. Layers

    Command 8

    The photo, placed photos, drawings and text in a simple stack. Show and hide, fade, reorder and duplicate. Drag to move, drag a corner to resize.

Looks

Six looks, named in Old Norwegian.

Begin with a look, then make it yours: each has a strength slider, and every slider stays adjustable.

The same photograph six times, each rendered by Skapa’s own looks. Ljós is light, sumar summer, glóð the glow of embers, norðr north and kol charcoal.

Colour

Eight colours, chosen once.

Draw, fill and set type in a calm palette. Or pick any colour you like, or sample one from anywhere on the screen with the eyedropper.

Principles

Quiet, all the way through.

Nothing is ever lost

Every edit is non-destructive. The original pixels are never changed, every slider stays adjustable, and undo covers all of it. Hold the half-circle button to see the original.

Clever where it counts

One click for Auto, a level horizon, a crop around the subject or a clean cut-out. Built on Apple’s Core Image and Vision, so it all works offline, and Apple Intelligence doesn’t need to be on.

Free, with nothing to sign

No account, no subscription, no in-app purchases and no ads. Open Skapa and begin.

At home on the Mac

Photos open as tabs in one window, or drag a tab out for its own. Drop, paste, pinch to zoom, scroll to pan, Command 0 to fit. Start from an empty canvas with Command N.

Details

In short.

Price
Free. No in-app purchases.
Requires
macOS 26 or later
Opens
The image formats your Mac reads, such as JPEG, PNG, HEIC and TIFF. Open, drop or paste.
Exports
JPEG, PNG or HEIC, at full or reduced size, or straight to the clipboard.
Smart tools
Built on Core Image and Vision. They work offline.
Data collected
None. Read the privacy policy.
Language
English
Made by
Glenn Abrahamsen

Skapa: A quiet photo editor

Coming soon to the Mac App Store

Free, for macOS 26 or later