If you’re looking for the best video editing apps, look no further. Although video editing has traditionally been done on a desktop computer, thanks to improvements in mobile app quality, mobile and tablet devices are now perfectly capable of video editing platforms.
The availability of apps, in addition to quality improvements, has increased the number of people who can edit videos. The shift to mobile devices significantly leveled the playing field, removing the need for expensive, cutting-edge hardware to complete tasks. As you can see from this list of the top video editing apps, the software itself is also very reasonably priced these days, and in some cases even free.
The best video editing apps can be extremely useful tools because they allow you to edit videos while on the go using your phone or tablet. Whether you’re a YouTuber, a professional video editor, or simply want to edit your own videos to post on social media, this can be a very practical and reasonably priced option.
And, after countless hours of testing all of the top video editing apps, we can confirm that many of them have simpler user interfaces and fewer features than desktop software. As a result, they have some limitations, but they are still the best option for quick adjustments or for newcomers and casual users who don’t have the time to devote to learning more complex software.
In the list below, you’ll find video editing apps for iOS, video editing apps for Android, and apps that work on both platforms. The majority of them are compatible with both smartphones and tablets (see our guide to best tablets for video editing if you need one of those). Furthermore, some of the most recent iPhones (such as the 13 Pro or Pro Max) support the brand-new ProRes format.
What are the advantages of utilizing mobile video editing apps?
Edit Anywhere
Mobile phones are undeniably portable. This means you can quickly pull it out, open your editing software, and edit wherever you want. You will be able to edit wherever you want, whether you need to finish a presentation quickly, keep up with your social media schedule, or have a great idea that you don’t want to forget.
Excellent for Newcomers
When you first start out in video editing, learning computer software can be overwhelming. Because they are typically less complicated, mobile video editing apps may be the best way to learn how to edit. Because most of us use our phones more than our computers, you’ll probably feel more at ease doing it on your smartphone at first.
Cheaper
It’s safe to say that computer editing software is pricey; it can cost hundreds of dollars per year. The majority of feature-rich mobile editing apps aren’t free, but they’re also not particularly expensive. Again, this is ideal for newcomers who aren’t sure if editing is what they want to do.
Reduced Storage
When you first start using video editing, the first thing you’ll notice is how quickly you gather files. The result will be a jumbled collection of video clips, video overlays, and even images. All of these necessitate lodging.
Internal memory on smartphones is rarely larger than a few hundred gigabytes, with the vast majority of this being consumed by files and apps unrelated to video editing.
Video editing software list: Higher-performance, and user friendly
- KineMaster
When you first launch KineMaster and it attempts to upsell you on a subscription, you become uneasy. However, it quickly becomes clear that this is useful software, whether you want to pay for it or not.
The app makes good use of the available screen space and imports clips quickly. A large preview is surrounded by a toolbar for important commands (undo, settings, etc.) and a record button that looks like a camera and has icons all around it for quickly accessing media, audio, and overlays. It appears cluttered even on a phone, but it feels organized when working.
The majority of the toolset, if not all of the assets, are free to use, and exports are watermarked. This implies that you can at least try something before purchasing it.
- iMovie
iMovie has a history of successfully balancing usability and power on the desktop. Even though it isn’t Final Cut Pro, it does the job. The same could be said of its mobile counterpart.
iMovie organizes the clips you load on a magnetic single-track timeline. If you don’t want to look at thumbnails, you can zoom the timeline and easily rearrange the clips by pinching.
Despite its theme-based design, the title editor (standard or lower third) allows you to customize the fonts, colors, and backgrounds. You can also try out green-screen, split-screen, and picture-in-picture effects, as well as add audio overlays, change clip speeds, and apply filters and transitions.
- FilmoraGo
which can be downloaded for Android and the iPad is an excellent choice. You get all of the basic tools you’d expect from a basic video editing program, such as the ability to cut and join videos, change video speed, manage volume, and reorder clips. Even though FilmoraGo lacks some of the more advanced features of Lumafusion or Kinemaster, such as multi-track editing and 4K support, it is still very easy to use. Furthermore, thanks to its themed filters and effects, it can assist beginners in producing videos that look impressively professional.
Although FilmoraGo is technically free, your videos will have watermarks unless you upgrade to the paid version. If you tried it before and didn’t like it, it might be worth trying again. This is due to a significant update in June 2021 that included a new user interface, an AR camera, light and dark modes, and other features. Furthermore, you can now combine videos into a single image, and masks can be used on both the main track and the PIP track.
- VideoGrade
If you’re not just posting random cat videos on social media on the spur of the moment, color grading will almost certainly be a part of your video-editing workflow, whether for corrective or stylistic reasons. For anything more carefully considered, however, you should correct color-casting issues and use color for its emotional and contextual impact.
With an easy-to-use interface, VideoGrade provides a surprising amount of creative control for an app that costs the same as a quick lunch. After loading a video, you can use the many sliders to fine-tune the temperature, sharpness, saturation, and color channels. You can also experiment with bloom, posterization, pixelation, and rotation if you want to get more creative.
- GoPro Quik
You may not always want to become the next Michael Kahn and get into the finer points of editing. You want an app to handle the time-consuming tasks. The original Quik was excellent in this regard. As a result, you may be concerned when the new version proudly announces on the first launch that “we renamed the GoPro app Quik.”
Quik, for the most part, is unharmed. You still select the videos from your device, and with a tap, the app quickly edits them into a highlights reel. At this point, you can change the theme, highlight and trim points, music, and formatting.
Conclusion
We’ve compiled a list of the best video editing apps for both novice and experienced users above. Beginners can quickly and easily make basic edits with any video editing app.