Flying Meat

Acorn 8.6 introduces a major update with a rewritten brushing engine utilizing Metal shaders that enables smoother, velocity-sensitive brush strokes, and improved blending. It also adds a new command-line shell tool for sending JavaScript commands and starting an MCP server to integrate with large language models, while large machine learning models used for AI features are now downloaded on demand, reducing app size. Additional improvements and bug fixes are detailed in the release notes.

http://flyingmeat.com/blog/archives/2026/6/acorn_8.6_brushes.html

Acorn 8.5 has been released, introducing new features like a bendable arrow shape with adjustable curves and arrowheads on either end, improved SVG importing supporting drop shadows, text on path, and CSS colors, as well as multi-stop gradient filters now using the Oklab color space for better color blending. Additional updates include a new shortcut (option-tab) to hide palettes and toolbars for distraction-free viewing, UI refinements, and ongoing work on enhancing vector shape gradients. The full release notes are available on Flying Meat's website, and user feedback is encouraged for future improvements.

http://flyingmeat.com/blog/archives/2026/4/acorn_8.5_is_out.html

Macworld's Cliff Joseph rates Acorn 8 five stars, highlighting it as a powerful, affordable photo-editing tool.

http://flyingmeat.com/blog/archives/2026/1/macworld_acorn_8_review.html

Acorn is a 2025 App Store Awards Finalist. Thanks to Apple and congrats to other finalists.

http://flyingmeat.com/blog/archives/2025/11/acorn_app_store_awards_finalist.html

Acorn 8.3 released; now supports Liquid Glass on macOS Tahoe. Update recommended. More info on Gus's website.

http://flyingmeat.com/blog/archives/2025/11/acorn_8.3_released.html

Acorn 8.2 is released; update via menu or App Store. Key features include improved image diffing with overlays, non-destructive multi-stop gradient filters, and numerous minor enhancements inspired by the developer's injury. New icons for blend modes, smart layer export options, and a preference tab named “Mueller” for personal tweaks were added. It now supports saving flattened composites of layers in .acorn files. Also, Acorn 8.2 is compatible with macOS 14 and is working towards full support for macOS 26 Tahoe.

http://flyingmeat.com/blog/archives/2025/9/acorn_8.2_and_tahoe_plans.html