Last year, Apple released their very own video editing app called Clips. It’s not exactly new but I recently downloaded it to check it out (I know, it was long overdue), and I thought it was worth sharing with you guys. iMovie is still on the App Store but that’s a little more advanced, which may just be why Apple produced Clips; an app that can be used by anybody. It’s that easy. So, whether you’ve got some clips you want to put together or you want to record some new clips to produce a video, the app will serve you perfectly. Check it out.
Clips
In a nutshell, Clips lets you combine videos, images and audio into a unified video, which you can then export and/or share. There are no timelines or complex editing tools involved and the app doesn’t feature a how-to guide, which only reflects how simple the app is to use. Let’s check out its features.
Recording or importing footage
You can import existing videos or images from your library or record a new clip using your front or rear camera. If you’re importing, you have to add in one at a time. Whilst this may sound inconvenient, it actually works out well. So, as you select one, you get to preview it and you can select where you want that clip to start. To add it to your project, you simply tap the record button. Therefore, not every file you choose from your library is added to your project unless you record it in, which saves the hassle of removing the ones you don’t want.
Effects: filters, stickers and more
Once you’ve added your clips, you can edit each one individually. If you decide you want to rearrange them then simply hold down on a clip and move it to your chosen position. There are a number of filters you can apply to the clip too that can really help enhance your video. I love the comic book and Ink filters; they look super-duper.
In addition to these effects, you can add labels, stickers and emojis on top of your clip/s and of course you can rotate and resize them as you wish. Since there’s no timeline involved due to the app wanting to be simple, you can’t time when any of these are shown; they will automatically pop up and display for the duration of the clip you added them to.
You can also mute a video if you don’t want the background noise, delete the clip, trim it if you find it’s too long and save the individual clip after you’ve applied some effects to it.
Music
As I mentioned, you can mute the audio on your clips but you don’t have to have a silent video. Hitting the music icon in the top-right hand corner will allow you to choose a pre-defined soundtrack or you can pick a song from your library. If you choose not to mute the original video audio then they will both play at the same time but the original audio will overpower the music you choose.
The audio will last for as long as your project and the nice part is that it automatically fades out at the end, so there’s no sudden silence.
Animated templates
You may fancy adding an intro or outro to your video or maybe you want to just spice it up somewhere in between. Either way, Clips offers some pre-built animated templates (‘Posters’ as they’re called), where the text is editable, to record into your project. There’s quite a selection to choose from and they look pretty cool.
Live Titles
This feature is really awesome; it essentially captures your voice to automatically generate captions, which appear as you’re talking. There are 7 styles to choose from and the captions match the timing of your voice and the accuracy is pretty on point too. However, if it gets any words wrong, you can edit the text and punctuation by simply tapping on the caption. From my experience, it has done a wonderful job at recognising what I’m saying. It’s really cool.
iPhone X Special: Selfie Scenes
Clips offers a special extra for iPhone X users. Using the True Depth camera, it places you in a 360-degree animated scene. There are 12 scenes to choose from, including 8-bit, Cityscape, Galactic and the Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars). It essentially cuts out the background behind you and you’ll get a 360-degree video as you move the iPhone X. Nice.
As with all other features of this app, you get to view a preview and once you’re happy, you simply hit the record button to add it into your project and of course hit the play button to view it.
Smart sharing
Once you’re happy with your project, you can save the video to your library, send it via Whatsapp or to your social media (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube etc) or save it to iCloud Drive or Google Drive. You can also send it via email or iMessage and the app even suggests people to share it with, based on the people you share with most often.
You can download it here.
Note: Clips is only compatible with iOS devices running iOS 10.3 or newer.
Thoughts
My first impressions of Clips was that it’s an excellent app. I’m not sure why it took me so long to even check it out but it really is worth it. It’s ideal for any type of video you want to create, whether it’s a special video for a loved one or family, a quick review of something or anything cool you fancy sharing on social media.
Even though I use a professional video editing software to produce my videos, Clips can come in really handy for when I want to create and share short videos on my social media, specifically Instagram so I think I’ll be utilising it quite a bit hereon. My favourite feature is definitely the live titles and I’m a huge fan of the comic book filter but, on the whole, Clips is fantastic and it can be used anywhere you are since a laptop / PC isn’t required.
What are your thoughts on the app? Do you use it? If not, do you think you could make use of it? Let me know down below and thanks for reading 
Sadia produces tech reviews, tech tips & tutorials at XALIRATE and posts here on Wednesdays and Saturdays