The Photos app that comes pre-loaded on the iPhone offers the tools to edit video. These features are pretty basic — they just let you trim your video to your favorite sections — but they’re good for creating a clip to share with your friends via email or text message, or with the world on YouTube. The Photos app isn’t a professional-level video-editing tool. You can’t add sophisticated features like onscreen text, or visual or sound effects. If you want those kinds of features, the other apps discussed at the end of the article are worth checking out. Want to change the video speed? Learn how to speed up (and slow down) video on an iPhone.
Requirements to Edit Videos on iPhone
Any modern iPhone model can edit videos. In fact, every iPhone since 2009 has been able to edit video (assuming you’re running iOS 6 or higher and that’s virtually everyone these days). All you need is your iPhone and some video!
How to Edit Video on an iPhone
To edit a video on the iPhone, you’ll need to have some a video. Record some video using the Camera app that comes with the iPhone (or third-party video apps). Read this article for instructions on how to use the Camera app to record video. Once you’ve got some video, follow these steps:
How to Share Edited Videos From Your iPhone
If you tap the action box (the box-and-arrow icon) at the bottom of the screen while looking at your video, you should have the following options to share your video: If you want to edit a video taken earlier, tap the Photos app to launch it. If you can’t find it in iOS 12, tap the Albums button at the bottom of your screen, scroll to the Media Types section, and choose Videos. In earlier iOS versions, you simply tap Albums and then tap the Videos album.
AirDrop: Wirelessly share the video directly to another nearby user with an Apple device via AirDrop. Just tap the name and photo of the person you want to send it to. Message: Choosing Message will import the video into the Messages app and let you send the video as a text message. Mail: Choose Mail to import the video in the built-in Mail app. Address the email as you would any other email and send it. YouTube: Share your new video on YouTube by tapping that button. When you do that, your iPhone automatically formats the video for that site and posts it to your account (this requires you have a YouTube account, of course).
Other iPhone Video Editing Apps
The Photos app isn’t your only option for editing video on the iPhone. Some other apps that can help you edit videos on your iPhone include:
iMovie: Apple’s iOS version of its versatile and powerful desktop iMovie program. Choose visual effects, add on-screen text, and include music. Free Magisto: This app applies intelligence to automatically create an edited video for you. It also adds visual themes and music. Free, with in-app purchases Splice: This editor, now owned by GoPro, gives you separate tracks for video and audio to make more complex videos. Add on-screen text, voice narration, and animations. Free, with in-app purchases Videoshop: Add audio, voiceovers, onscreen text (including animated text), and special effects like slow motion, fast motion, and reverse video in this app. Free, with in-app purchases.
How to Edit Videos With Third-Party iPhone Apps
Starting in iOS 8, Apple allows apps to borrow features from each other. In this case, that means that if you have a video-editing app on your iPhone that supports this option, you can use features from that app in the video editing interface in Photos. Here’s how:
