GoPro offers new 'Premium+' subscription tier and releases Quik Desktop app

Action cam brand GoPro has today announced the launch of a new desktop version of its mobile app Quik for Mac users.

The app will sync with the Quik mobile app, offering the opportunity to take a project started on a phone and complete it on a more generous screen. It includes a beat sync feature to automatically match edit points to the soundtrack, and claims the AI auto-highlight editing feature will make pro-outcomes easy for everyone.

Although there is 'no additional charge' for GoPro subscribers, GoPro is quick to highlight that subscribers "benefit from auto camera-to-cloud upload of their latest GoPro footage, unlimited cloud storage of their GoPro footage at original quality, auto highlight videos sent to their phones, intuitive cloud editing and media management tools." (I don't know about you, but the word 'additional' is also still ringing in my ears!)

The initial launch of Quik desktop will be for Mac OS only, though a Windows version will follow later in the year. Given Apple's easy cross-device integration, as well as the Mac's popularity amongst creatives, it's easy to see why GoPro might have opted to develop this way around.

Of course, we've seen GoPro abandon projects before, but CEO Nick Woodman seems optimistic this time: “Quik’s auto-editing experience represents a convenient starting point for new creators, and our more advanced editing tools and ongoing developments in AI and computer vision ensure pro-minded users will enjoy enhanced capability as we continue to update our apps.”

New Premium+ subscription tier

For a long time GoPro has been hammering home the message that "Subscribers get the most out of their GoPro." When you pick up a new GoPro you're invited to spend $24.99/£24.99/AU$34.99 (a special half-price rate) to subscribe for a year's 'Premium' membership to a cloud account which offers storage for video shot with the GoPro, plus 25GB storage of non-GoPro footage, synchronised editing (which will now make more sense), guaranteed camera replacement, live streaming, and a $100 discount on your next GoPro (yes, they want to keep you in the ecosystem!)

None of that is news, however. The addition is the 'Premium+' tier which is $99.99/£99.99/AU$169.99 a year and upgrades the storage to a much roomier 500GB for your non-GoPro footage and HyperSmooth Pro, what GoPro is describing as 'a video stabilization tool for advanced users'. (We've asked GoPro for clarification on this).

Finally, for $9.99/£9.99 a year non-GoPro users can just access Quik to edit their videos (we're waiting to confirm Australian pricing).

It's easy to see how a pro or serious creative – assuming they enjoy working with Quik – might find Premium+ helpful; there is now room for the other essential footage and audio (say, perhaps from their drones, which definitely won't be from GoPro), and if the cloud works as well as promised the experience could be extremely convenient, without preventing the use of your main computer's file system – the usual irritation with phones & tablets.

If you're not sure about paying for a subscription with your action camera, then check my guide to the best action cameras – you might be surprised which is the winner.