Q: where can i download iphoto 9.6.1?

iphoto 9.6.1 is compatible with 10.10.4 so if yours isn't working then either you did not upgrade to 9.6.1 before performing the upgrade -which is what this entire discussion is about- or something is wrong with your system. If you have not performed the upgrade, then, after reading this discussion, why are you complaining? Do the update. If you have, then run disk utility and repair permissions, and run a check on the hardrive as something else could be wrong. In which case a 3rd party app like Diskwarrior could be needed.

As for going back to windows over this, well, that's your own lookout as windows is a nightmare from OS to app.

Bless you for posting your thoughts and methods on these forums! I've spent the past day trailing through the message boards to find a fix, and your post was the first thing that worked for me (create new user, uninstall, switch user, install.)

I was running into issues until I switched to the new user.... my main account was showing iPhoto as "Open" in the App Store; when I switched, I got the "install" button and was able to download 9.6.1.

This won't help most of you, but a Finder copy will work. In other words if you have the needed version (9.6.1) on another computer, you can delete the old version and copy over the 9.6.1 version. YMMV, but it worked for me for both Aperture and iPhotos on my wife's computer. (I used Aperture as the test case since she's an iPhoto user and didn't like Photos.)

Agreed that Apple made a big mistake on this one. I'm not sure how I was able to upgrade to Yosemite without upgrading iPhotos. I am good about updating apps and hard to imagine that it had showed up as a needed upgrade. But none the less as legal user of the software I should be able to upgrade it to work with Yosemite. This would be more tolerable if Photos was a decent upgrade to iPhoto, but it's either a downgrade or side grade for many of us.

I too ended up copying iPhoto 9.6.1 from another Mac with Yosemite when I upgraded my own Mac to OS X 10.10 and replaced it over the old version I had, I think it was 9.6x.

I concur that Apple made a mistake with Photos. If they was going to come out with a replacement to iPhoto, the replacement should be just has good feature wise or if Apple wanted to add features to Photos over time, they could have kept iPhoto around for those not comfortable with Photos yet. Also, when people upgraded to Yosemite there could be a notification that said iPhoto, and Aperture need to be updated to be compatible with 10.10.

I'm in the same situation as HercFamily5... The mid 2011 iMac I purchased came with iPhoto 9.4.3 and don't see the iPhoto in the app store, did go thru the hidden steps too...Don't have another Mac to copy from... So what are the options for those of us in this situation?

I just upgraded one of my machines to El Capitan, and had to do the same thing, mainly to cancel the annoying update notification.

Hi all, after some researching, I found that with El Captain (OS 10.11), iPhoto was substituted by Photo. In some instances like in my case, both apps for some reason remained installed after the upgrade. Keeping iPhoto doesn't seem to make much sense since Photo is the "new version/upgrade" for iPhoto, so instead of disabling the message that indicates upgrade and consistently fails on every try, I just deleted iPhoto from the apps folder. Photo remained installed and the upgrade message disappeared as iPhoto is gone. I believe this is the right approach, imho.

Hope it helps those that like me are facing the same problem.

Thank you very much,

this solution worked for me, too.

But why so complicated? Why do they prevent users get a working software?

(Apple should let customers make the decision whether you keep using iPhoto or switch to Photos.)

As for me, i need iPhoto's feature to open files in an external application like Photoshop.

Sounds like a good plan.

Personally, it looks like a minor UX irritation. It's pretty ironic in my case, since I rarely, if ever use either app.

I just updated to 10.11.1 and that finally allowed me to download the newest iPhoto version from the store and it and Photos both work for me now!!!!

I'm afraid Apple is driving some people to what is technically illegal activities.  Although that's a bit nebulous here, since we already purchased the application and simply want to continue using what we paid for.  It's not even like Apple is losing money, since Photos is free.

Am I crazy to not want to upgrade to 9.6.1? I just don't want to have any problems with my pics.

there is no such option of downloading and installing iphoto in purchases.