Video is a must-have marketing tool for most businesses, and with the ever-improving video capabilities of today’s smart devices, a significant portion of that content is shot on phones. But where to edit it? In a move likely to delight many social media managers, Instagram has officially released its standalone video creation app, Edits. The app is live globally in the App Store and Google Play Store.
While the existing Instagram app allows users to compile Reels from multiple clips, a stand-alone app (that integrates with your Instagram account) gives marketers a new option for speedily generating quality video content.
What is Edits?
Edits is Instagram’s latest offering in the competitive short-form video market, positioned as a comprehensive creation suite for marketers and content creators. The app introduces professional-grade video editing capabilities designed specifically for mobile users, challenging TikTok’s dominant position through ByteDance’s CapCut.
Key features:
- Simplified process: Capture up to 10 minutes of high-quality video, and share directly to Instagram & Facebook from within the app, or export and post your content wherever you like, watermark-free.
- Advanced editing capabilities: Multi-track timeline with clip-level precision editing.
- AI-image animation: Transform static images into video.
- Real-time insights: Access performance insights that inform content optimization and strategy refinement.
- Creative toolkit: Utilize green screen, background replacement, automatic captioning, and music integration.
Strategic timing in the social media ecosystem
The launch comes at a pivotal moment when TikTok faces regulatory uncertainty, creating potential market disruption.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri acknowledges this timing in an announcement video, “There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and no matter what happens we think it’s our job to create the most compelling creative tools for those of you who make videos for not just Instagram but for all platforms out there.”
As social media marketing continues to prioritize video engagement, tools that reduce friction in the content creation process while maintaining quality standards will become increasingly valuable.
Looking forward
While it’s too early to predict whether Edits will succeed in capturing market share from established platforms like TikTok’s CapCut, the app represents Meta’s continued commitment to video-first content strategies. While the Edits app is, for now, less fully-featured than CapCut, it offers a significant upgrade for Instagram users, and the ability to work in a multi-track timeline is perhaps the most important feature for people making content. For Meta, keeping people inside their ecosystem from filming to posting is big, and we expect to see Edits continue to evolve as a tool for creators and marketers.