Everything you need to know about Edits from Instagram
Instagram just released their mobile video editing app ‘Edits’. Here are all of the features and how to upload your music their for free!
Announced earlier this year, Instagram has just launched Edits on iOS and Android, their free mobile video editing app. While there have long been video editing tools in Instagram, Edits hopes to take things to the next level, without complicating the core Instagram app itself.
Edits is an all-in-one video app that helps creators across the creative process, from ideas, through inspiration, capturing, editing, exporting, posting and providing insights. There are all of the features you have come to love from Instagram such as text and effects, as well as new tools. Edits also bring the full music catalog over from Facebook and Instagram, featuring your releases!
- How to upload your music to Instagram’s Edits app
- Who is Edits for?
- Why Edits exists
- All of the features on Edits
- How Edits differs from CapCut
- Where and when is Edits available?
- What’s next for Edits?
How to upload your music to Instagram’s Edits app
Edits has the same music catalog as Instagram and Facebook. Get your music on one and it’ll automatically be available across the board.
Luckily for you, RouteNote can upload your music to Facebook, Instagram and Edits free of charge. Simply signup to RouteNote and get distributing your music around the world.
Facebook and Instagram are content recognition stores. This means you cannot upload music with non-exclusive samples. Click here for more.
Who is Edits for?
Edits is perfect for Instagram creators who want to experiment with mobile video editing. With features like the inspiration and insights tabs, Edits really shines for Instagram-first users. Instagram say themselves they are not targeting professional desktop editors, nor those simply posting videos of their life. However if you sit in the balance, looking to add some flair to your videos shot on mobile, before uploading to social media, Edits may be the perfect app for you.
Why Edits exists
Edits was announced earlier this year, just after the TikTok ban took place in the US. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance also owns Edits’ closest competitor, CapCut. With continuing uncertainty around TikTok in the US, if a ban does ever take place, it would make all ByteDance apps unavailable on app stores.
Instagram has a distinct advantage with Edits, that being millions of registered Instagram users and the sleek integration between the two apps. Edits is rightly positioned as an all-in-one app, with features that range beyond simply video editing, helping with the whole process, from inception to insights.
All of the features on Edits
We’re gonna run through tab-by-tab to see everything Edits offers.
Ideas
The left most tab is labels ‘Ideas’. Here you can see any saved posts from Instagram or the Inspiration tab, and add notes, helpful for jotting down quick ideas when inspiration strikes.
Inspiration
The second tab is essentially the Reels tab from Instagram, but with a focus on trending content. You can switch between ‘Inspiration’, and ‘Following’ to start viewing content from those you follow. There are buttons to quickly start creating content using the same audio, bookmark the video for later or add a accompanying note.
Projects
In the Projects tab, you can quickly see an overview of all of your video projects. Once you’ve created a few videos, you’ll see a grid of thumbnails, titles, when the video was created and the file size. Here you can also create a new project or sort existing projects by ‘last edited’, ‘date created’ or ‘alphabetical’. This lets you easily organize and manage your projects, as well as pick up where you left off to continue editing.
Capture
In the capture tab, you can creating a new video. If you’ve ever created a Reel on Instagram, this page will be familiar, with buttons to play music, replace the background in real-time, add a timer or countdown, add effects and change the video resolution, frame rate and color. You can record up to 10 minutes or add existing content from your photo library.
Timeline
Once you’ve recorded or imported your clips, the next screen you’ll see is the timeline. Those with experience of other mobile or desktop editors will find a familiar interface, with video clips, audio and effects all stacked on top of each other. Here’s where you’ll do the bulk of the editing. You can add additional elements and effects, crop clips, switch the order, and preview the project.
Along the bottom of the screen you’ll find buttons to add ‘Audio’ from the music catalog, input and animate ‘Text’, record a ‘Voice’ over, automatically generate ‘Captions’ from one of the audio elements, ‘Overlay’ additional videos or images, browse and add ‘Sound FX’, choose a video and apply a ‘Cutout’ effect, and browse and add ‘Stickers’ and GIFs. Tap clips to see additional editing tools, such as auto-enhance, touch up, AI image animation, filters, voice effects.
Hit the cross in the top left at any point to save the video to your drafts and return to the ‘Projects’ page.
Publishing
Once you’ve got the video in a finished state, hit ‘Export’ in the top right corner. This will save your video to your photos library, and provide buttons to quickly share the video to Instagram or Facebook. The saved video will not include a watermark, making the ability to share it across platforms easy.
Insights
The final page on Edits is ‘Insights’. This displays your Instagram statistics so you can analyze what’s working and what to try next. There’s an overview of your channel’s ‘Reels views’, ‘Reach’, ‘Net followers’, ‘Likes’, ‘Comments’, ‘Shares’ and ‘Saves’ with the option to view this data for the last 7, 14, 30 or 60 days. Tap one of these stats to view a graph, so you can see where the spikes in your activity are. Next up, you’ll get a list of your videos sorted by date uploaded or the number of views. This can be based on all time, or the last 7, 14, 30 or 365 days. Tap one of the videos to view in-depth analytics on that post, including ‘Skip rate’, ‘Average watch time’, ‘Like rate’, ‘Share rate’, ‘Comment rate’, ‘Save rate’, as well as the portion of views by followers and non-followers, the sources of views, and a retention graph.
How Edits differs from CapCut
While the video editing features are very similar between CapCut and Edits, where Edits really stands out are the integrations with Instagram, with built-in inpiration, ideas and insights tools. For these reasons, Edits is clearly more targeted towards general creators, rather than strictly mobile video editors. As a result, Edits may successfully carve out its own audience. Time will tell.
CapCut has a ‘Pro’ paid version which unlocks additional effects. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri has previously stated the company may look to monetize the platform in the future, but for now, they just want to focus on getting it out to as many users as possible.
Where and when is Edits available?
Edits is available globally today! You can download the app today for iPhone on the App Store and Android on the Google Play Store. Once you’ve got the app, simply login with your Instagram account, and all of your data will automatically be linked, for easy insights, posting and more.
What’s next for Edits?
Instagram has built Edits with the help of creators, providing early access to select users, building off their suggestions and feedback.
Considering the app has just launched, it’s impressively feature-rich and stable. That being said, Instagram has said they are still actively building out features, with features like key frames, AI effects, collaborations, and additional text, effects and other elements coming soon.