9 of the Best iOS and Android Apps for Quick and Easy Video Editing

The rise of affordable smartphones, GoPros (and cheaper alternatives), and other small, high-quality cameras has made it easier than ever to record video when we’re on the move.

Turning all that footage into good (or at least watchable) clips, however? That still takes a bit of work, but it’s a lot less effort than it used to be. As capturing video has become more popular, there’s been a similar rise in the number of quality apps to edit and publish it with.

Whether you’re a professional vlogger, only shoot casual footage of your kids, or are anywhere in between, there’s a free or inexpensive tool out there that lets you create quality videos on your phone quickly and easily.

These are nine of the best video editing apps for iOS and Android right now.

Best for Getting Started: Quik

If you’re just starting out and want to start editing videos right away, Quik (iOS/Android) is a great option. This app, created by GoPro, is designed for beginners or those in a hurry.

You can start editing as soon as you’ve installed the app, with no registration required. Quik provides nearly two dozen themes to quickly enhance your videos with a few taps, most of which are pretty good.

The “Radical” theme adds geometric styling to the transitions in your video, for example, while the “Light” theme plays with different lighting effects.

The editing tool helps you reorder, trim, and rotate video clips, as well as personalize the content with text overlays. You can select music for your masterpiece, and choose when it starts. When you’re ready to publish, videos can be saved as either 720p or HD (1080p).

Best for Automation: Magisto

Magisto‘s biggest claim to fame is bringing artificial intelligence to the video-editing process. So, what does this really mean?

In simple terms, the software analyzes your video content and comes up with various enhancements based on this analysis. These improvements are automatically generated by the A.I, so you can sit back and let the app do the work.

Enhancements include things like video stabilization, a wide range of filters and effects, automatic cropping, and facial recognition that’s tracked by the app over time. There’s also a library of stock content to use in your videos, and you can select from a collection of editing styles to create your final movie.

The app lets you harness some of the power of the Adobe Creative suite, without all of the cost. You’ll need to login with an Adobe ID after installing the app (which means creating one if necessary), but after that, you’re good to go.

You can use any video you’ve shot on your phone, or import from your camera. If you use the app to shoot your footage, however, you’ve got access to a “Pro” shooting mode that gives greater control over things like white balance, frame rate, and ISO.

All of the usual features, including splitting, splicing, and cutting footage are available, and you can easily add transitions, titles, voiceovers and more. Color presets are available for quick adjustments, as well as manual color controls for when you want to tweak things in more depth.

You can add your own or stock music to your creation, with useful features like automatic sound leveling and reduction of the music volume during dialog. Projects are automatically synced to your Adobe Creative Cloud account, with 100GB of cloud storage included.

Best for Social Media: InShot

To create videos optimized for social media, check out InShot. The app is particularly good for creating videos for Instagram, with the canvas tool helping you easily crop to a square format. Other aspect ratios are also available for other platforms.

The trimming tool lets you cut, trim, and split videos, or merge multiple clips into one video. Adding filters, music, memes, and stickers is straightforward, as is zooming in and out of existing footage and speeding up or slowing down the playback.

Best for Advanced Features: KineMaster

While Kinemaster does have a free, stripped-down version, it’s nothing to get excited about. It really comes into its own, however, when you upgrade to Premium. This gives you access to a full-featured mobile video editor, with advanced features that let you add unlimited text, images, and up to ten video layers at once.

Audio capabilities are equally sophisticated, with the ability to play eight or more tracks simultaneously. There are also tools for blending, speed control, and even green screen support.

One particularly cool feature is an “instant preview.” This lets you view your videos as you edit them, rather than switching endlessly back and forward.

As you upgrade through the various paid versions, you’ll incrementally gain access to extra features. One of the most interesting and useful is the “essentials” library, which comes with the professional ($17.99/month) and business ($29.99/month) plans.

Integrated right into the editing process, this library gives access to over a million licensed and license-free images, video clips, and music tracks. Any and all of this stock content can be incorporated directly into videos with no usage limits.

Best for Android (Free): FilmoraGo

The free FilmoraGo app for Android is a solid free video-editing option for a range of users. Intuitive and easy to use, features include playing video in reverse, slowing it down or speeding it up, and adding transitions, text, and titles.

When it comes to sound, you can add voiceover dialog, import music, and quickly adjust volume levels between the two. There are plenty of attractive filters and other visual elements, and like InShot (above), you can export in different aspect ratios depending on which platform you’re uploading to.

The editor makes it easy to include visual and audio effects, along with a range of transitions. Basic tools like trimming, cutting, and color editing are all included, and there are also more advanced features like chroma key support for blue and green screens and video collage creation.

LumaFusion gives you several video and audio layers, tons of effects to play with, slow and fast motion (forward and reverse), color correction, and advanced features like chroma key filters and unlimited keyframes.

As for audio, there’s a live audio track mixer, along with high-end features like automatic audio ducking for interviews, stereo mixing for dual microphone recordings, and more.

You can automatically export to a wide range of platforms in the right aspect ratio, at a variety of frame rates and resolutions including 4K. There are plenty more features to discover inside the app, and a comprehensive set of tutorials to explain them all!