Apple Extends Creative Apps’ Free Trials to Three Months

• Apple offers the Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X software tools for 90 days of free trial now.
• Adobe and Affinity have also announced similar offers, fueled by the Coronavirus outbreak.
• The open-source world is also a choice, offering free tools to get creative without restrictions.

Apple has decided to extend the free trial period of Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X from 30 days to 90 days. Those who had already subscribed for a trial period will get an automatic extension to the whooping three months. All you need to do to get the special “COVID-19” outbreak offer is to enter your details on Apple’s website and download the software that would otherwise cost $300 (Final Cut) and $200 (Logic). The only requirement is that you’re running macOS 10.14.6 or later, and that your system has at least 4GB of RAM and 3.8GB of ROM.

A trial of three months is a genuinely ample period, which should be more than enough to test out a pro-level software and decide if it fits your needs. Apple is extending the trial to help those who are stuck inside, and oftentimes have limited financial resources to start working on a project. Final Cut Pro X is a state-of-the-art non-linear video editing suite that has been used in the production of numerous films and TV shows. Logic Pro, on the other side, is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) that is second in popularity only after Ableton Live. Both suites sport a user-friendly interface, rich sets of media editing capabilities, and a good level of compatibility with other widely-used tools in their respective fields.

Apple isn’t the only tech company to make special offers on otherwise expensive creative applications, though. Adobe has recently announced that it is launching a two-month discount option for existing Creative Cloud subscribers, so artists and designers can continue to work on their projects during their self-isolation. At the same time, teachers and students will be able to access the CC app ecosystem completely free of charge, until May 2020.

Affinity, the creator of pro-grade software for photographers, designers, and publishers is also offering a 90-day trial period on all its products - also throwing a 50% discount for all platforms (including the iPad) in the mix. With Affinity’s products already offered at a very competitive price, this makes them a genuine bargain right now.

If you don’t want to pay anything and don’t like trial periods, you may still pick some capable open-source software tools and get working right away. For music creators, check out the Ardour DAW, and the Audacity audio editor. For desktop publishing, there’s Scribus and LibreOffice, while for video and image editing, there’s Blender, GIMP, Darktable, and Lightworks.