How to Edit a Video on iPhone: Easy Steps to Follow

Key takeaways:

• Using the iPhone's built-in editor and iMovie app, you can apply basic editing features like trim, crop, filters, and captions.
• iMovie app offers advanced customization options to enhance your video’s storytelling and visual appeal.
• You can also try other video editing apps for iPhone videos, such as Riverside, InShot, CapCut, and more. 

iPhone offers one of the best cameras to capture moments and create content. But if you want to take your videos a step further, you can also edit them.

Wondering how to edit videos on iPhone? 

We’ll share step-by-step instructions of all the ways you can edit videos on your iPhone. You’ll also find our recommendations for the best video editing apps.

How to edit videos on iPhone: 5 basic techniques

iPhone’s built-in video editing tools are great for fine-tuning your content by trimming video clips, adding text overlays, applying filters, and more. 

Let’s cover five simple tips to edit videos on iPhone.

How to trim videos on iPhone

Want to edit the length of a video on iPhone? Follow these steps to remove all the unnecessary bits from the beginning or end of your videos with the trim feature. 

Step 1: Go to the Photos app, and open the video you want to edit. Tap the “Edit” button on the top-right corner of the screen. 

Step 2: Under the video, you’ll see the editing timeline with sliders on both ends of your video. Move these sliders to the exact points where you want to trim the video. 

You can drag the arrow buttons to the right or left to remove any part of the footage. 

Press “Done” to save your trimmed video. You can save these changes in the original video as a new clip. 

How to cut clips in a video on iPhone 

iPhone’s built-in editor doesn’t let you cut any part of a video from the middle. You can only trim the start or end of a video. 

You can use the iMovie app to create different clips within a video and delete the unnecessary clips you want to remove. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the iMovie app, tap “Start New Project,” and choose “Movie” to select the video you want to edit.

Step 2: Go to the bottom editing bar and click on the “scissors” icon. This will show you the options to trim and cut a video. 

Step 3: Place your cursor to the point from where you want to remove a video. Then, tap “Split.” This will divide your video into two parts.

Now, take your cursor to the end point of the clip you want to remove and tap “Split” again. 

Step 4: Your video will be divided into multiple shorter clips. Select the clip you want to remove and press “Delete” from the timeline editor at the bottom.

Step 5: Press “Done” to save these changes to your video.

You can also use Riverside’s video editor. Our app creates a transcript of every video. Just delete the text to easily remove any section of the text you don’t want. 

How to add filters on iPhone

iPhone’s video editor also lets you apply visual filters to modify the colors and tone in your videos. Follow these steps to apply a filter to a video:

Step 1: Go to the Photos app and open the video you want to edit. Tap “Edit” on the top-right corner of your screen.

Step 2: Find the editing bar below the video. Press the “filters” icon (shaped like three rings) to explore all available filters in the editor.

Step 3: You can slide through all the filters and preview different effects in real-time. 

Some of the iPhone’s built-in filters include Vivid, Mono, Dramatic, and Silvertone. Each one modifies visual settings like brightness, contrast, saturation, and other effects to change your video’s look and feel. 

Step 4: Choose one of these filters and press “Done” to apply it to your video. 

Pro tip: In addition to applying filters, you can use the adjust feature (shaped like a dial) to customize your video’s brightness, contrast, tint, sharpness, vibrancy, and similar features. 

How to crop videos on iPhone

You can resize videos on your iPhone or remove any unnecessary details using the crop feature. You can also use this tool to change the aspect ratio when repurposing a video for different social platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and more. 

Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Open the video you want to edit and tap the “Edit” button. 

Step 2: Click on the “crop” icon on the editing bar placed at the bottom of your screen. You’ll see the freeform crop editing frame. You can use this from any side of the screen to resize your video. 

Step 3: Besides the cropping frame, iPhone allows you to directly resize your video with default aspect ratios of 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, and 9:16. You can do this by tapping the “Aspect Ratio” icon (a rectangle with two overlapping squares) in the top right.

You can also rotate or flip the frame in different directions using the “rotate icon” (square with the curved arrow on the top left.)

Step 4: Press “Done” to save and apply all these changes to your video.

How to add text and captions on iPhone

You can add subtitles and text overlays to your videos using the iMovie app. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the iMovie app, tap “Start New Project,” and choose “Movie” to select the video you want to edit. 

Step 2: Click on the text icon (shaped like a T) on the editing bar at the bottom. 

Step 3: Choose different text styles and fonts from all available options. iMovie offers a selection of styles, such as chromatic, 3D, funny, primitive, outline, and more. 

The app will also add a placeholder text box to preview each style. 

Step 4: Add your text and customize the style by changing the font size, colors, and other effects. You can also resize the text and change its placement within the frame. 

Step 5: The editor will create a separate track for a text box. You can adjust its length and place it anywhere in your video.

Step 6: Hit “Done” once you’re happy with the text and save these changes.

How to add music to a video on iPhone

The iMovie app offers multiple options to add music to your videos. Follow these steps to add music to a video on your iPhone:

Step 1: Open the iMovie app. Tap Start New Project > Movie and select the video to which you want to add music.

Step 2: Click on the “+” icon on the left part of your screen, right below the video frame.

Step 3: Tap “Audio” to find different options for adding an audio track. You can choose music from:

• Soundtracks: iMovie’s default music
• My Music: Tracks in your local storage
• Sound effects: iMovie’s default sound effects 

Step 4: You can click on any song to listen to the music. Then, click the “+” icon to add your chosen soundtrack.

Step 5: iMovie will create a separate track for the audio. You can split the audio track into multiple parts and apply transition effects like dissolve, slide, wipe, and more. 

Then, place your audio clip anywhere in your video.

Step 6: Repeat these steps to add more sound tracks and effects. Hit “Done” to save these changes. 

Exporting your iPhone video

Once you’ve edited your video, it’s time to export it. Here’s how to do it:

Exporting from the Photos app

If you use the Photos app to edit videos, you can save an edited video in two ways:

• Save video: To apply all the changes to the original video.
• Save as a new clip: To create a new video with all these changes. 

All these videos are available in your gallery with other content.

Exporting from iMovie

If you use the iMovie app to edit videos, tap the “Share” button to export your content. You’ll get these options to export videos:

• AirDrop: Share videos with other Apple devices via AirDrop.
• Save to device: Download videos to your Photos library and save them on iCloud. 

You can also export videos to any folder on your device by choosing a specific location for the download. iMovie also lets you share videos via Mail or Messenger apps. 

5 best video editing apps for iPhone

Now that we’ve covered the basics of video editing, let’s cover some of the best video editing apps for iPhone to level up your editing experience. 

Consider these tools if you want to go beyond the basics and refine your videos with advanced features like transitions, animations, color correction, audio fine-tuning, and more. 

Riverside: Best for recording on iPhone and editing on desktop

With Riverside, you can record and edit in one seamless workflow. Our mobile app offers you up to 4K video resolution recording. You can invite up to 9 other remote guests to record with you, and you’ll get separate tracks for each.

While you can do simple edits like trimming and changing your layout on the mobile app, it’s best to switch to our desktop editor for editing. You don’t even need to upload anything. Everything you record automatically saves to the cloud so you can access it straight from your computer. 

Use Riverside’s AI-powered editing studio to:

• Trim your videos
• Clean up the audio
• Adjust the aspect ratio
• Change the background 
• Add captions, overlays, and custom branding

Riverside automatically transcribes your content, which makes it quick and easy to add captions and subtitles. With text-based editing, you can edit the transcript like a Word doc, which makes editing precise and easy. You can even use it to turn your iPhone into a high-quality webcam.

Once you’re happy with your edits, you can export your content in exactly the right formats for sharing on Youtube, TikTok, Instagram, and more.

InShot: Best for adding AI effects and filters

InShot is one of the best beginner-friendly editing apps for iPhone. While it offers all the basic editing features like trim, crop, speed, and more, I recommend using InShot primarily for styling your videos with various effects.

You can use AI-generated presets to add unique effects to your content, such as Glitch, Beat, Fade, Retro DV, Noise, and more. You can also remove the background and combine clips to design multi-layered videos. 

InShot also offers an object motion tracking feature to move different objects - like overlay text or stickers - in sync with your video. 

CapCut: Best for adding stylized text and animations

CapCut is a great video editor for adding text overlays or animated subtitles to your videos. The app offers dozens of free fonts and style templates to create stylized text for your content. You can easily add subtitles using the auto-generated captions.

You can also use text-to-speech in different languages and voices to create audio for your content.

What’s more, CapCut’s advanced video editor lets you stabilize video footage and adjust the colors. You can also create a cinematic slow-motion effect.

Splice: Best for adding and refining audio

Splice offers 6,000+ royalty-free soundtracks from third-party libraries like Shutterstock. I like this app specifically for adding unique music for any theme or vibe. 

Besides adding royalty-free tracks, you can add your own songs from iTunes. Splice’s built-in voice recorder works well for creating a custom sound effect or recording narration for your videos. You can fine-tune the audio with an advanced multitrack editor.

The app also lets you adjust the playback speed, add transition styles, and apply the pan-and-zoom effect. 

Lumafusion: Best for advanced editing features

Lumafusion is a professional-grade video editor for iPhone. You can use its Multicam Studio to sync up to six cameras and add six audio tracks together. 

The app works with a magnetic timeline editor, which automatically shifts and snaps clips into place when you add, move, or delete them. You can also choose from various transition effects to create a cinematic flair. 

I recommend Lumafusion for advanced users with expertise in color correction, keyframing, audio control, and other higher level video editing tasks. 

Edit videos on an iPhone like a pro

Whether you want to create social media content or fine-tune personal videos, iPhone gives you all the basic editing features to make your videos pop. 

If these tools don’t have enough options to execute your creative instincts, check out a video editing app like Riverside.

FAQs on how to edit videos on iPhone

Is iPhone good for editing videos?

Yes, the iPhone’s built-in video editor and iMovie app let you trim and crop a video. You can also apply filters and adjust visual settings like brightness, contrast, vibrancy, and more. 

If you want access to AI-powered editing tools, audio enhancements, and more, consider trying Riverside. Riverside also makes it easy to edit for specific platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram because it allows you to tailor your exports to these platforms’ specifications.

What is the best way to edit videos together on iPhone?

You can combine multiple clips to create a single video montage using iPhone’s default video editing app, iMovie. You can also use tools like Riverside and CapCut to upload and clip multiple videos together.

What is the best setting for video editing on iPhone?

Record videos in 4K resolution for a good editing experience. It will maintain a sharper image quality even when you apply multiple effects in the editing process.

What is the easiest video editor for iPhone?

Riverside is one of the easiest video editing apps for iPhone. It’s an all-in-one recorder and editor with AI capabilities to offer an effortless editing experience, especially for beginners.