How to edit videos on your iPhone or iPad

The latest versions of iOS and iPadOS offer new tools and tricks to enhance your videos. Follow this step-by-step when editing videos on iPhone or iPad.

Image: Getty Images / iStockphoto

With iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, Apple has improved your ability to edit videos directly on your device. By using the new tools that are accessible in the Photos app, you can easily crop your videos. You can adjust the brightness, exposure, contrast, and other elements. You can apply different filters. And you can crop and straighten your videos. Here you can read how you can edit videos on your iPhone or iPad.

SEE: Apple Card: a cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

First make sure you use iOS 13.1 or higher on your iPhone and iPadOS 13.1 or higher on your iPad. Go to Settings and then General. Tap Software Update to check for the latest update. Open the Photos app and make sure the video you want to edit is in your library. From your library, tap the video to open it and tap the Edit link in the upper right corner.

You can crop the video in the editing screen. On the timeline at the bottom, drag the left and right sliders in or out to crop your video. Press the Play button to play your trimmed clip (Figure A).

Figure A

To adjust the lighting, lighting and related elements, tap the Adjustment icon on the left toolbar. Tap the magic wand on the right to apply automatic exposure compensation to your video. For manual control, tap the icons for exposure, highlights, shadows, contrast, black point, saturation, heat, hue, sharpness, definition, noise reduction, or vignette. For each control, drag the slider on the vertical ruler to increase or decrease the effect (Figure B).

Figure B

You can apply different filters. Tap the Filters icon on the left toolbar. On the right you can choose from different filters, including Vivid, Dramatic, Mono, Silvertone and Noir. Tap a specific filter and you can increase or decrease the effect by dragging the slider on the vertical ruler (Figure C).

Figure C

If you want to crop a video, tap the Crop icon on the left. Here you can drag each of the handles to the four corners to crop the video. Tap the rotation icon on the right and you can rotate the video by dragging the slider on the ruler. Tap the vertical tilt icon on the right and drag the slider to vertically tilt the video. Tap the horizontal tilt icon and drag the slider to tilt the video horizontally (Figure D).

Figure D

Icons at the top offer more ways to change the screen size or aspect ratio of your video. Tap the first icon at the top to rotate the video horizontally; tap the second icon to rotate it vertically. Tap the third icon and you can choose different aspect ratios for the video, such as 16: 9 or 4: 3. If you don’t like the rotation or aspect ratio changes you are currently making, tap the Reset link at the top of the screen to reset the video to the previous size and aspect ratio (Figure E).

Figure E

When you have finished all your changes, tap Done to save your changes (Figure F).

Figure F

If you save the video and then decide that you want the original back, tap the Edit link. On the edit screen, tap the Restore link and then tap the Restore to original command (Figure G). Your video returns, so you can try a new round of changes.

Figure G

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