How do I import a video clip and set up your project?

Download InShot from the App Store or Google Play and open it. Tap "Video" on the home screen to start a new video project. Select one or more video clips from your camera roll — tap each one in order (the order you tap determines the sequence in your project). Tap the green checkmark to import them. InShot opens the editing workspace with your clips arranged on the timeline at the bottom of the screen. Pinch the timeline to zoom in for precise edits.

How do I trim and cut your footage?

Tap a clip on the timeline to select it. Yellow handles appear at the left and right edges. Drag the left handle to the right to remove footage from the beginning of the clip — the viewer shows you exactly which frame you are cutting to. Drag the right handle to the left to trim the end. To remove a section from the middle of a clip, position the white playhead where you want to make the first cut, tap "Split" in the bottom toolbar, then move the playhead to the second cut point and tap Split again. Select the unwanted section and tap the trash can icon to delete it.

How do I add background music?

Tap the "Music" button in the bottom toolbar. You can choose from InShot's built-in audio library (filtered by mood and genre), or tap "My Music" to use a track from your own music library. Preview tracks by tapping them. When you find one you like, tap "Use" to add it. The music track appears below the video clips on the timeline. Drag it left or right to adjust where the music starts relative to your footage. Use the volume slider to set the music louder or quieter — for videos with speech, keep music low enough that voices are clearly audible above it.

How do I add text overlays?

Tap the "Text" button in the toolbar. Tap the text box that appears in the viewer and type your message. A keyboard and formatting toolbar appear — change the font from the list at the bottom, pick a text color, and adjust the size by pinching the text box with two fingers. Drag the text to position it wherever you want on the screen. On the timeline, you will see the text clip appear — drag its edges to control how long the text appears during the video. Add multiple text clips at different times for captions, titles, or lower-third labels.

How do I export and share your video?

Tap the Save button in the upper-right corner. InShot shows export quality options — choose 1080p for the best balance of quality and file size. Higher resolutions are available but produce larger files that take longer to upload. Tap the Export button and wait for rendering to complete. The video is saved to your camera roll. From there, open your social media app of choice and share it directly. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube all accept video files saved to the camera roll.

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InShot is a free video editing app for iPhone and Android that is designed for fast, uncomplicated edits. It is the most commonly recommended video editing app for people who want to clean up a clip, add music, put some text on screen, and post it to social media — all in ten minutes or less. The app has been downloaded more than 500 million times, which reflects how well it strikes the balance between useful features and simplicity.

InShot handles the most common video editing tasks without making you learn a complex interface. You can trim the start and end of a clip, cut out a section from the middle, split one clip into multiple parts, adjust playback speed, add background music from your phone's music library or InShot's built-in audio tracks, insert text with custom fonts and colors, apply filters, and adjust brightness and contrast.

The app works with both video and photos. You can combine multiple clips and photos into a single video, which is useful for travel recaps, event highlight reels, and tutorial videos. InShot automatically resizes your video to standard social media formats — square (1:1), vertical (9:16), and horizontal (16:9) — and adds borders or background blur to fill unused space.

The free version includes all the core editing tools and adds a small watermark to exported videos. An InShot Pro subscription removes the watermark and adds additional fonts, filter packs, and transitions. Many users find the free version perfectly adequate for personal social media use.

InShot is available on the App Store and Google Play. Information about the app is at inshot.com.

InShot: Trim, Cut, Add Music, Text, and Filters to Video on Your Phone

Import a video clip and set up your project

Trim and cut your footage

Add background music

Add text overlays

Export and share your video

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