Where can I find compatible versions of iMovie and Photos app for macOS Catalina?

I have an older MAC and recently had to upgrade to OS Catalina. I lost the ability to use Imovie and Iphoto. All my searches tell me to go to the App store and download the newer versions. The only version I can find in the App store says that it won't run on Catalina OS.

Where can I go to get versions of these Apps to download. I direct link would be helpful.



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 28, 2025 9:48 AM

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Posted on Apr 28, 2025 10:47 AM

Hi,


Catalina has the Photos app built into it, so your computer already has the Photos v.5 app. Catalina does not have iPhoto (the older app), as that app is no longer supported on Mac OS Catalina and later due to iPhoto's reliance on old 32 bit iLife system components that are no longer available on the newer operating systems. iPhoto itself is 64 bit, as is Catalina, but the components that it relies upon are not.


If you ever had iMovie 10 on your computer before, you can obtain the highest version of iMovie 10 that Catalina will run, that I believe is iMovie 10.2.5, by using the following procedure:


To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the trash. (You can skip that step if you had iMovie 10 on your computer before, but deleted it.) Sign in to the app store and open your Account folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar. You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash (if you moved it there) and return it to the Applications folder.


iMovie 9 and older would not be available for Catalina, and cannot be updated.


-- Rich



2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 28, 2025 10:47 AM in response to RevnKevin

Hi,


Catalina has the Photos app built into it, so your computer already has the Photos v.5 app. Catalina does not have iPhoto (the older app), as that app is no longer supported on Mac OS Catalina and later due to iPhoto's reliance on old 32 bit iLife system components that are no longer available on the newer operating systems. iPhoto itself is 64 bit, as is Catalina, but the components that it relies upon are not.


If you ever had iMovie 10 on your computer before, you can obtain the highest version of iMovie 10 that Catalina will run, that I believe is iMovie 10.2.5, by using the following procedure:


To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the trash. (You can skip that step if you had iMovie 10 on your computer before, but deleted it.) Sign in to the app store and open your Account folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar. You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash (if you moved it there) and return it to the Applications folder.


iMovie 9 and older would not be available for Catalina, and cannot be updated.


-- Rich



Apr 29, 2025 8:17 AM in response to Rich839

Adding to my previous post, if you have iMovie 9 and iMovie 10 on your Mac, you may be able to open iMovie 10 and click on Edit/Update Projects and Events. That would update your iMovie 9 projects to iMovie10 projects. Updating would not affect your iMovie 9 projects and they would still remain intact in iMovie 9 unless you decide to delete them. The update procedure should also work to update iMovie 7 and 8 projects, but would not work for iMovie 6 and earlier.


-- Rich







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Where can I find compatible versions of iMovie and Photos app for macOS Catalina?

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