4 Video Editing Features Users Wish the iPhone Photos App Had

While convenient, the iPhone Photos app isn’t a full-fledged video editor. Advanced video editing software exists, but it’s hard for the average user to access. Here are four features I’d like to see in future iOS updates, and where to access them right now (for free).

1. Timeline

With video becoming more prevalent on social media, the ability to stitch multiple videos together is in high demand and has been simplified by many platforms. While the Photos app allows for trimming a recorded video, it cannot join multiple clips together. A basic timeline editor is needed where multiple videos can be selected to create simple composite clips.

Meanwhile, Capcut is a free app that lets you edit your videos using a simple timeline. It appeals to both experienced and novice video editors. If this is your first time editing, CapCut offers templates to get you started. If you’re feeling a little more comfortable, you can easily create a quick compilation:

• On the Edit tab , click New Project .
• Select the video you want to use. The first time you use CapCut, it will ask you to grant it access to your video. You can give it full or limited permissions.
• Click Add and you'll be taken to the timeline, where you can trim your video, add and edit audio, adjust speed, add transitions, and more.

Tip : CapCut integrates seamlessly with TikTok, so this is a good app to download if TikTok is your go-to destination for your creations!

While there are some differences between the free and paid versions of CapCut , the basic timeline editing features are provided for free.

2. Sound design

Even if you don't want to design a blockbuster soundtrack for your iPhone videos, it would be nice to have some basic audio functionality in the Photos app. Users would love to be able to add music to clips or at least adjust the volume of the video.

In addition to the aforementioned CapCut, Instagram is another option for adding music to videos on iPhone. You can download this social media app for free.

Here's how to use Instagram to add music to videos:

• In the Instagram app, go to the + icon located in the bottom bar.
• Select Reel from the options along the bottom, select the video(s) you want to edit, and tap Next .
• Tap the music note icon on the left and select a song.
• Tap Next and you’ll see a timeline of your synced video and audio. You can select the lower track labeled Tap to add audio if you want to add another song. You can do this if you want to cut from one song to another throughout the video.
• At this stage, you can make any other necessary adjustments to your video and then share it.

Note : While Instagram offers an extremely easy way to add music to videos, the music must be published to Instagram to share. Instagram allows downloading edited videos without publishing, but only without audio.

3. Visual effects

While Apple advertises the ability to remove backgrounds from photos on the iPhone, that feature doesn’t exist for video. Moving images present a whole host of challenges. But could Apple take the existing technology it uses for photos and at least apply it to videos with solid backgrounds?

The good news is that CapCut has a background removal feature that's accessible to anyone, even non-visual effects experts.

If you’re looking for more advanced visual effects, you may want to pay for CapCut Pro or explore another app called Video Star. When comparing CapCut to Video Star, Video Star stands out with its keyframe editor, which allows you to create unique masks for each frame of a video clip. You can essentially remove the background of a clip with the same precision as you would with expensive software like After Effects.

While you can download Video Star for free, you will need a paid plan or subscription to access its advanced framing features.

4. Text effects

Captions can be a great asset for videos, and they’re pretty common on social media these days. Again, there’s technology here for Apple to integrate into its Photos app, but at the time of writing, it’s not there yet.

Instead, users often use TikTok to add automatic text captions to videos. While CapCut and Instagram both have this capability, TikTok is the one that requires the least effort. Here’s how to add automatic captions on TikTok :

If I had to pick one app to use while I wait for the Photos app to grow its features, it would be CapCut. However, the best app for your mobile editing needs depends on you and the user interface you're most comfortable with.