The 5 best apps for advanced video editing on an iPhone
The computer in our pocket has become incredibly powerful and with a number of new video apps in recent years, the possibilities for editing professional video on our smartphones have become really great.
Here are my suggestions on the current top six video apps.
Adobe’s Premiere Pro, along with Apple’s FinalCut, have been the two best video editing apps for desktop for several years. But while Apple has had iMovie and later Apple Clips for their iPhone, Adobe has only given the mobile journalist a video-app called Adobe Premiere Clip, where only the very, very basic video editing could be done.
But now Adobe has finally taken a big step into the mobile market with Adobe Premiere Rush, which clearly surpasses iMovie in functionality. However, iMovie is far from the only competitor in a market that has been populated with several very powerful video editing apps since the beginning of 2017.
Below I list (with the oldest first) what I see as the five best apps for professional video editing on an iPhone. (only one of them has a version for Android).
This article has been updated in April 2019 as Pinch no longer is an option for advanced editing.
iMovie
iMovie has become a quite good app on Macs with features like multiple video- and audio tracks, a wide range of text options and also green screen. Unfortunately, Apple has not chosen to transfer those features to iMovie on their otherwise best selling device: the iPhone.
iMovie to iOS has not received a proper update for over five years, and appear in many ways like an old app. Instead, Apple has chosen to focus on Apple Clips, which is good for social media, but can not be used for much else.
However, iMovie is not a bad app. You can easily edit a full feature in it, but as soon as you want to place text across multiple clips, make a video in square or vertical format or just want to place a photo or graphics in the top of the two video tracks, iMovie is not an option. But it is free and will therefore continue to be used by many people.
Price: Free with iOS
Lumafusion
I was very excited when Lumafusion was launched in early 2017 — and I was not disappointed. Finally, there was a proper rival to iMovie, after Android for some time had Kinemaster.
With three audio tracks and three video tracks to play with both audio, video, images and graphics, editing on an iPhone could now compete with editing on desktop. Lumafusion has since been updated a number of times and has green screen effect, advanced use of keyframes on images, sound and animations as well as use of the so-called LUTs for color adjustment.
In addition, there is of course full control of texts, options for editing in a variety of other formats, and even the ability to edit 360 degree video.
Lumafusion, however, has two disadvantages, which are also important to mention. Firstly, the user interface is a bit confusing because there are so many features in the app. Lumafusion could learn a lot from Videoleap that is far more intuitive to use. In addition everything it’s a bit too small on an iPhone. Frequently, I therefore use Airdrop to send the videofiles to my iPad and edit in Lumafusion there instead. Which works really well.
However, none of the other apps here on the list can surpass Lumafusion in functionality, which also improves in May/June 2019 with up to 12 video / audio tracks and many other features in Lumafusion 2.0.
Price: $19,99 (will rise with 2.0)
Enlight Videoleap
The software company Lighttricks, which has created Videoleap, has spat out a large number of apps in recent years. Common to all of them is that they deal with photo or video and that they have a really good and inviting interface. When you come from Lumafusion, it’s kind of a relief to open Videoleap where everything seems more simple and playful. However, if you dive into menus, you quickly find out that Videoleap can be used by amateurs, but certainly also has plenty of features for the professionals.
Even in the free version you have access to three video and audio tracks, a variety of text options, keyframing, green screen, color adjustment and much more.
In the full version you will also get an infinite number of tracks and a lot of other tricks. However, there is an important reason why I usually only use Videoleap for the fast videos on the go.
In Lumafusion sound, text and graphics are locked to a clip. That is not the case in Videoleap and this very easily causes, for example, the sound to not be in sync with the image.
But the app is often updated and Lightricks has recently includes voice over and the possibility to move clips between the bottom and top layers.
Price: Free for a range of features — $35,99 annually for all functions.
Kinemaster
Kinemaster and Powerdirector are the two most popular video editing apps for Android, and for many mobile journalists, the iOS version of Kinemaster was therefore awaited with great longing. Not least for those mobile video instructors who often have a classroom with both iPhones and Android phones among the students.
The first few versions of iOS crashed again and again, and along with the price, which is a subscription model, opposite Lumafusion’s one-time amount, I quickly chose not to use Kinemaster on a daily basis.
However, I have taught it for Android and it is definitely a good app. Kinemaster has had numerous video and audio tracks for a long time, but after a recent update, up to ten video tracks are now available on the best smartphones and up to eight audio tracks. There is no competitor to follow!
In addition, Kinemaster has advanced sound editing, lots of text options and a store where you can buy all kinds of effects.
Kinemaster recently received vertical and square format editing. However, one cannot change the format during editing, which is possible in both Lumafusion and Videoleap. And it is really a pity that you cannot move video from top tracks to tracks below and vice versa.
My biggest appeal at Kinemaster, however, is that — besides that the layers are placed below the main track — that Kinemaster has too many features that I have no use for as a journalist.
My biggest appeal to Kinemaster is — besides that the layers are placed below the main track — is that Kinemaster has too many features that I have no use for as a journalist. There are stickers with wigs and bowling balls, graphics with planes and trains that fly and drive across the screen and the ability to draw in hand on the clips.
As a professional, you will hardly ever need those features, and they just disturb the experience of an app that otherwise works very well.
Price: Free with watermark — $39,99 anually
Adobe Premiere Rush
As mentioned, Adobe Premiere Rush has just been launched. Just the name Adobe will make many people choose it over the others, while the price may cause some to hesitate.
It is a bit expensive, but Adobe has the trump card that the app also works on desktop. You can thus start editing on your mobile and continue on desktop with 100 gigabytes of cloud space included. However, the desktop part also means that Adobe will probably not waste too many features in Rush, as they still wants to sell Premiere Pro, which costs $20,99 a month.
So far, I especially miss the possibility to change the speed of clips and export of 4K video.
At the same time, it is especially Youtubers, whom Adobe has had in mind with their app and not, for example, mobile journalists, as their promotional videos clearly show.
With four video tracks and three audio tracks, lots of great texts, advanced color adjustment of the image and collaboration with the other Adobe programs, Adobe Premiere Rush is self-written on this list. But as this video from iPhoneographers shows, Rush still needs several features to reach Lumafusion, which is also cheaper.
Price: $9,99 a month
Which one should I choose?
Five great apps, but which one should you choose? Personally, I mostly use Lumafusion and Videoleap, but it of course depends on your needs — and wallet. I have stopped using iMovie as the joy of multiple video and audio tracks, more text options and use of keyframes, for me outweighs that iMovie is free.
But even when we look beyond iMovie there are still five to choose from. Lumafusion is for those who wants to able to do as much as possible. Videoleap is good for the fast videos and for social media. Kinemaster is for those who want to use the same app on iPhone and Android. And Adobe Premiere Rush is especially good for Youtubers, and for those who also want to edit on desktop.
So there is no clear answer. But the positive thing is that the competition is so tough that all five apps have to constantly evolve and get better in order to compete.
Honestly, Apple obviously has no ambitions for iMovie. So reach for your wallet!
Foto collage: Adrienn and Silas Bang