How to Trim, Rotate, and Edit Videos in iPhone Photos

Your iPhone has a built-in video editor hiding inside the Photos app. You don't need iMovie or any other app to trim the beginning or end of a video, rotate a clip you recorded sideways, or adjust the brightness and color. The Photos app handles all of this — and the edits are non-destructive, meaning the original is always preserved.

Non-destructive editing means that when you edit a video in Photos, the original file stays intact. If you don't like your changes, you can tap "Revert" at any time to go back to the original, no matter how much time has passed.

Trimming is the most common edit. If you recorded a video but the first 15 seconds are you fumbling with the phone, or the end runs on too long, you can trim those parts away in about 10 seconds. You drag the yellow trim handles on the video strip at the bottom of the screen.

Rotating is useful when you accidentally recorded a video holding your phone the wrong way. One tap in the edit menu rotates the video 90 degrees. Tap it multiple times to get to the orientation you want.

You can also make the video brighter or more colorful using the same adjustment tools that work on photos — exposure, brilliance, contrast, and more. These adjustments apply to every frame of the video at once.

The Photos editor can't do everything. It can't add music, combine multiple clips, or add text overlays. For those features, use iMovie (covered in a separate guide). But for quick fixes to individual clips, Photos is faster and already on your phone.

Everything covered in this guide works on iPhones running iOS 17 or later (any iPhone from the last several years).