How to edit videos on your iPhone like a pro

Unless you’re a Hollywood-level filmmaker, you’ll probably need to learn how to edit videos on an iPhone.

Even the short videos that people usually shoot on their iPhones will benefit from quick trimming, cool filters or maybe even a background music. While these may sound like skills best left to teenage techies, anyone can use the tools found on the iPhone or in dedicated video editing apps to tweak their videos.

This guide will help you do everything from basic edits to sophisticated effects to give your iPhone videos that extra sparkle before sharing them with friends, family or on social media.

And if you’re more interested in photo editing, check out our tutorial on how to work in Photoshop with iPhone.

Editing videos on iPhone

Even if you use nothing but the tools found in the supplied Photos app, editing videos on the iPhone is a worthwhile exercise.

Cutting out a few seconds of dead air at the beginning of a video or cutting out that part at the end where you’re swinging the camera wildly before hitting the stop button will improve the quality of your clips. These types of edits are easy to perform and will only take seconds once you get the hang of the tools.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you may want to move on to more advanced editing. You can apply filters to give your videos a dramatic feel or a cool black and white look. You can add special effects, such as slow motion. Or you can add flashing background music to your videos.

All kinds of editing and effects are possible using free tools provided by Apple and third-party applications. Let’s dive into how to perform a number of edits on your iPhone.

How can you crop and trim videos on iPhone?

There are various ways to trim and trim the videos you record on your iPhone to get rid of unwanted footage. I will go through them in order, starting with the simplest methods.

How can you crop videos on iPhone?

You often want to edit the beginning and/or end of a video. This is known as cropping and is very easy to do with the built-in tools found on the iPhone. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the video you want to crop in the Photos app (or click the thumbnail of the video you just captured if you’re still in the Camera app).
2. Press the “Edit” button.
3. Below the video, you should see a timeline showing thumbnails from parts of the video, with an arrow at either end. If you want to remove a part from the beginning of the video, tap the arrow pointing to the left and drag it inward until you reach the point where you want to start the edited video. If you want to remove the recording at the end, tap the right-pointing arrow and drag it inward.
4. Click “Done” and select the option to save the video to make your changes.

How can you cut parts from a video on iPhone?

What if the part you want to edit is in the middle of a video clip? Let’s say a break between songs at a concert or a person walking in front of the camera, what ruined your beach vacation video you’re enjoying?

This type of editing is more complicated on the iPhone, but there is a way to do it without paying for expensive video editing apps. Before you do that, you need to download the free iMovie app from the App Store.

1. To pull this off, we’re basically going to make two snippets. One that goes to the point of the unwanted part and one that starts after the unwanted part.
2. To create the first of these, use the trimming technique above, trimming the video so that it ends just before the start of the unwanted part. This time, however, choose the option to save the video as a new clip.
3. Now go back to the original video in the Photos app and cut the video again, this time trimming it so that it starts right after the unwanted section ends. Again, save the video as a new clip.
4. You should now have two separate clips, but we need iMovie to merge them back into one.
5. Open iMovie, tap “Start New Project” and select “Movie”. Now select the two clips you just created in turn (they should have blue ticks when selected) and select “Create Movie”. Make sure you have the clips in the correct order, then press “Done”, then save the new merged video.

How can you crop videos on iPhone?

Sometimes there are items in the background of the video that you don’t want there to be. An awkward bystander lurking behind someone recording a video message, for example. Or maybe even your finger creeping over the lens into the edge of the frame.

Consequently, you may want to crop the video and only show some of the glory you captured. But how?

1. Open the video from the Photos app.
2. Click “Edit” and then select “Trim” at the bottom of the screen.
3. Drag the sliders on the sides and corners of the video frame until you get just what you need in the frame. You can also use the icons and slider below the video frame to tilt the angle of the video or skew the “camera” angle for a more unusual feel.
4. Click “Done” to save your changes when you’re happy with them.

How can you add music to videos on iPhone?

If the video you recorded is missing critical audio, you may want to add background music to give it a professional look.

To do this, we’ll once again rely on the free iMovie app we mentioned above. To add music to a video:

1. Open iMovie, tap “Start New Project” and select “Movie”.
2. Select your video on the next screen, then press “Create Movie” at the bottom of the screen.
3. Press the “+” button, then “Audio” and select “Soundtracks”. You should now have a library of songs in different genres to choose from. Alternatively, instead of selecting “Soundtracks”, select “My Music” and find something from your music collection.
4. Once you’ve selected a soundtrack or song you’re happy with, press the “+” button next to the playlist to add it to the video.
5. If you want to edit or change the position of the music track, you can do so by clicking on the green bar that appears below the video timeline.
6. When you are satisfied with the audio and video, click “Done” to save.

Please note that if you upload a video with copyrighted music to some social media or video sharing sites, the video may be removed for copyright infringement.

Cool video effects and filters for iPhone

As we mentioned before, there are a number of video effects and filters that you can apply to videos recorded on the iPhone.

When you select a video in Photos and hit “Edit,” you should see “Adjust” and “Filters” icons. Adjust gives you control over a range of image settings, including brightness, contrast and hue, which when used in combination can produce cool effects. Filters are a series of presets that give a video a defined look, such as “Dramatic”, “Vivid” or “Silvertone”.

This limited range of filters and customizations could be all you need. But if you want a wider selection of filters and special effects, it’s worth checking out some of the third-party video editing apps below.

What iPhone video editing apps are available

The iPhone App Store definitely has no shortage of video editing apps. There are hundreds of them in there! Here are just a few that you might consider:

CapCut

If you like those highly stylized video montages that you often see on sites like TikTok and Instagram, CapCut is for you. You can choose from a wide range of templates, select the videos you want to include and let the app do the rest. Some tools require a Pro subscription, but you can do a lot for free.

Adobe Premiere Rush

Adobe is a big name in the professional video industry, but this friendlier version of its editing tools is perfect for quick edits. You can add text to videos, slow down or speed up audio and video, adjust colors, add music and more.

Video jump

Videoleap has a whole library of impressive video editing tricks. Its AI editor allows you to simply describe the mood and effects you want to create, and it will do the rest, often with superb results. Being able to isolate people from the background without using a green screen is also great. However, many of the most impressive effects are locked behind an ongoing subscription, which you’ll need to keep upgrading to.

How do you save and export video?

Videos are automatically saved to your iPhone as soon as you press the stop recording button, so there’s no need to worry about the footage disappearing. You should be able to find all recorded videos in the Photos app, unless you’ve already deleted them.

There are a number of options for exporting or sharing videos recorded on your phone. Open the video and hit the “Share” button below it (the square icon with the up arrow) and you’ll find these. Options include AirDropping the video to a Mac on the same Wi-Fi network, uploading to Facebook, X, or Instagram, or emailing it (be careful when emailing large files, though).

The point

The amount of video editing power available to iPhone owners is incredible. Ten years ago, some of these effects would have been beyond the reach of a high-end Mac, now they’re everyday tools on smartphones. Make the most of them and give your videos that extra shine.