Here Are Some of the Top Free Video Editing Apps for Smartphones
These apps have great user interface and don’t require any pre-requisite knowledge of editing.
Editing videos on your smartphone may seem like a daunting task.
Traditional video editors on desktops have been known to have more functionality and can be more user-friendly because of the keyboard and mouse support.
This does not mean that mobile video editors are complicated. Here are some of the best and easy-to-use mobile video editing apps for your smartphone that offers a great user interface (UI) and can edit videos for your social networks with ease.
Oh, and did we mention that they’re all available for free?
Adobe Premiere Rush
“Go shoot. Go edit. Go share.” This is how Adobe promotes Rush.
Rush is basically a video editor made to publish videos to your social media networks. In comparison to Adobe’s other video editing software like Premiere Pro, and After Effects, Rush is very easy to use and does not require you to have previous knowledge of video editors.
Rush is cross-platform, i.e. it is available for iOS, Android as well as desktop. It is geared towards people who want to process and edit video clips quickly and upload them to their social media stories. There is also support for multi-track editing which gives Rush just that extra edge over other video editors.
The UI on offer is intuitive and uncluttered. It isn’t as powerful as Premiere Pro, so don’t expect it to be able to handle heavy video clips. You can, however, use it to create small snippets of vlogs.
GoPro App
If you own a GoPro camera, then this app is perfect for you. It is essentially having a GoPro on your phone.
The app connects to your GoPro and allows you to transfer your shots wirelessly onto your phone. You can also use the app to frame your shots, start recording, and adjust settings.
On the editing front, you can sync songs to your footage and add time lapses. You can also watch your clips frame-by-frame to make changes.
The GoPro app is also cross-platform. You can save your work on the cloud and access it on other devices but that would require you to buy a GoPro Plus subscription.
iMovie
Apple has always excelled in the video department with its iPhone cameras and the video processing capabilities on the Mac. The iMovie app contributes to that legacy as it is one of the best video editing apps for mobile.
It does have a few downsides though, with the biggest one being that it is available only on iOS. However, if you’re completely immersed in Apple’s ecosystem and only use Apple devices, then this can be the biggest advantage for you.
You can edit your videos and save them directly to iCloud and access them on all your devices for free. The edit bay offers a clean, intuitive interface and also supports 4K resolution, so you can even view your content on a big screen like a TV.
It has a lot of useful features like video stabilization, animated titles, and you can even crop and rotate your videos. You can use the iMovie app to even create some fancy looking videos as it gives you the ability to use green-screen effects on your clips.
FilmoraGo
If you’re someone who’s accustomed to powerful video editors on desktop and are looking for a powerful video editor for mobile, you should definitely give FilmoraGo a try.
It has a variety of features like support for picture-in-picture (PiP), colour tuning, flipping videos, fast forward or slo-mo videos, and a lot more. You can also add music to your videos from the FilmoraGo library or upload your own music. You can also use Filmora’s themes and templates to give your video a facelift.
There are a few downsides, however. There is no support for 4K videos or multi-track editing. Moreover, the app is available only for Android users.
KineMaster
KineMaster is one of the best and most feature-rich video editors on the market. It is also easy to use. It lets you add up to ten video tracks and eight or more audio tracks to your edits.
KineMaster lets you add unlimited text, image, and other overlay layers. It also has blending tools for colour correction. The app offers instant video previews and full green screen support.
If you want to have slow-mo or time-lapse effects in your video, there is support for that too. KineMaster lets you adjust the speed of your video from 0.25x up to 16x without pitch distortion. It also supports 4K video.
The app is available on Android as well as iOS.
While the free version offers a lot of functionality, the only caveat is that it watermarks all your edited videos if you save them. You can remove the watermark if you buy the Pro subscription.
PowerDirector
Cyberlink’s PowerDirector is also a great video editor which is available across all platforms.
It has multi-track edit support and has a very easy-to-use interface. You can add effects to your videos with simple drag and drop controls. It also offers slow-mo editing and lets you use the 1:1 square aspect ratio for Instagram videos.
You can only save your videos in 720p, and just like KineMaster, the final cut is watermarked. A single in-app purchase removes the watermark and also gives you the ability to export videos in 1080p as well as adds 4K support.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)