How to Edit a Video on iPhone (Photos Tools and iMovie)

You can do a surprising amount of video editing on an iPhone without touching a computer. Brighten a dull clip, warm up the colours, slow down a moment, clean up the sound, then stitch several clips into one finished piece. For creators and small business owners filming on the go, that's often all the editing a social video needs.

Apple splits the job across two apps. Photos handles quick fixes on a single clip. iMovie handles projects made of several clips. This page walks through both, following Apple's own help, so you know which tool to open for which job.

Opening the Photos editor and what each tab does

Open the Photos app, tap your video and tap Edit. Apple's help shows a row of tools along the bottom of the Edit screen:

Tool	What it's for
Video	Changing the start and end, and playback speed
Audio Mix	Reshaping the sound on Spatial Audio recordings
Adjust	Light and colour settings such as Exposure and Brilliance
Filters	Changing the overall tint or mood
Crop	Reframing, rotating, flipping or straightening

I'll cover the colour, mood, speed and sound tools here, because they're what make a clip look finished. Shortening and reframing are big enough jobs to have their own guides.

Fixing light and colour with Adjust on iPhone

Phone footage indoors often looks a little flat or dark. Apple's help says the fix is in Adjust:

1. Tap Adjust on the Edit screen.
2. Swipe left under the video to see settings such as Exposure, Brilliance and Highlights.
3. Tap a setting and drag the slider to change it.
4. Tap the setting's button again to compare with the original.
5. Tap Done to keep the changes, or Cancel, then Discard Changes, to drop them.

Short on time? Apple says the Enhance button sets light and colour automatically. It's a good starting point, and you can fine-tune from there.

Giving footage a mood with iPhone filters

A filter changes the tint of the whole clip at once. Apple's help says you tap the Filters button, pick an effect such as Vivid or Dramatic, then drag the slider to set its strength. Tap the video to compare it with the original.

For brand content, I'd pick one filter and stick to it across your videos. A consistent look makes your feed feel deliberate. Apple also notes that on newer iPhone models, Photographic Styles can take the place of filters for photos, so the options you see may vary by model.

Changing playback speed for a slow-motion moment

You can slow down part of the action for effect. Apple's support article says this works when a video was captured at a frame rate higher than 30FPS. Tap Edit, then the speed control, and choose a playback speed. Apple's user guide adds that the options available depend on the format you filmed in.

For clips filmed in Slo-mo mode, Apple's help says you can also drag the vertical bars beneath the frame viewer to choose which section plays slowly, so the rest stays at normal speed.

Cleaning up sound with Audio Mix

If you filmed with Spatial Audio on a supported iPhone, Audio Mix lets you change how the sound comes across after the fact. Apple lists four options:

• Standard: the original audio you recorded.
• In-Frame: reduces sounds and voices from sources you can't see in the shot.
• Studio: reduces background noise and echo, so it sounds closer to a studio recording.
• Cinematic: puts voices on a front-facing track and leaves background sound in surround.

Drag the slider below the options to strengthen or soften the effect, then tap Done. Studio is the one I'd try first for talking-to-camera clips filmed in a busy café.

Copying one set of edits to other clips

Filmed several clips in the same light? Apple's help says you can copy edits from one photo or video and paste them onto others. Open the edited clip, tap the More button, tap Copy Edits, turn off anything you don't want copied, then tap Copy. Select the other items in your library and paste. It saves a lot of repetitive slider-dragging.

Building a multi-clip edit in iMovie

When you want to join several clips, change their order, split them or add titles, Apple's tool is iMovie. Its guide says movie projects give you finer control with advanced timeline editing tools.

1. Open iMovie, tap Start New Project, then tap Movie.
2. Tap the clips and photos you want, then tap Create Movie.
3. Touch and hold a clip until it pops off the timeline, then drag it to a new place to reorder.
4. Tap a clip to reveal controls to duplicate, split or delete it.
5. Twist two fingers over the video in the viewer to rotate a clip.

When it's done, Apple's guide says to tap the project, tap the Share button, tap Share Video and choose Save Video to put it in your photo library, or Save to Files for a copy elsewhere.

Editing iPhone video for your business channels

• Fix light first, then colour, then pick a filter. Doing it in that order keeps things natural.
• Keep one look across a series so your posts feel connected.
• Use Studio in Audio Mix for voice clips recorded somewhere noisy.
• Do quick edits in Photos and save iMovie for anything with more than one clip.

If you're planning short promotional pieces, my guide on putting together promo social videos on an iPhone fits alongside this. And for tutorials recorded on a laptop rather than a phone, see my comparison of the best screen recording software.

Frequently asked questions

How do I edit a video on my iPhone?

Open the video in Photos and tap Edit. Use Adjust for light and colour, Filters for mood, the speed control for slow motion and Audio Mix for sound, then tap Done.

Can I undo edits to a video on iPhone?

Before saving, tap Cancel, then Discard Changes. After saving, open the video, tap Edit, then tap Revert.

How do I put several videos together on iPhone?

Use iMovie. Tap Start New Project, then Movie, choose your clips and tap Create Movie. You can reorder, split and add titles in the timeline.

Why can't I slow down my iPhone video?

Apple says you can slow a video down when it was captured at a frame rate higher than 30FPS, and the options depend on the format you filmed in.

What does Audio Mix do on iPhone?

On videos recorded with Spatial Audio, Audio Mix lets you choose Standard, In-Frame, Studio or Cinematic sound and adjust the strength with a slider.