We’ve long been champions of CyberLink PowerDirector. Earning 4.5 stars in our review, it’s not just one of the best video editing software out there, but after extensive testing, we found it one of the best alternatives to Premiere Pro, too. 

But that’s on desktop computers. We wanted to know if the company’s iOS and Android tool is one of the best video editing apps for your mobile device - or whether it’s best left on the cutting room floor.  

Cyberlink PowerDirector app: Pricing & plans

• This is a subscription-only app, but if you don’t mind a few limitations and some watermarking, you can also use it for free 

Although you can use PowerDirector for free, you will be missing out on some advanced features, such as Auto Captions, Video Enhancer, and even Adjustments (that’s right: basic image calibration is considered a premium feature here). Some effects and transitions will also be out of bounds. On the plus side, you will be able to include these into your project; you just won’t be able to export it with them still present without subscribing. 

Another downside, which is of course totally expected, and more reasonable than forcing you to pay for colour adjustments, is a ‘PowerDirector’ logo stamped on the lower right of your video. And finally, the highest resolution you can expect to export for free is HD (1920x1080). 4K is a premium feature. You can try all of these premium features and even export your work without hassle, free for 7 days. After which, if you don’t cancel, you’ll be charged at the yearly rate. 

• Pricing & plans: 4/5

Cyberlink PowerDirector app: Interface

• A good interface that can be used in any orientation - shame that setting isn’t switched on by default

PowerDirector is designed to make editing easier, and with that in mind, it makes for some of the best video editing software for beginners thanks to a series of shortcuts should you need to make a quick edit on a single clip. You could, for instance, use ‘Video Enhancer’ to improve your shot, or ‘Speed’ to speed it up or slow it down. Want to blur faces in a clip (or the entire body, or even just the background)? Then ‘Mosaic' is for you. 'AI Colour’ is designed to automatically improve your image’s colours, while ‘Face’ and ‘Body Reshape’ are there to give you an instant new look without altering the background.  All these are but a click away and also come with a quick animated tutorial to give you an idea of how they work. 

Bottom of the screen is an icon labelled ‘Demo’. It contains a series of short templates you can download and use in your own projects, speeding up the creation process. 

If you’d rather just start from scratch, just tap on ’New Project’. Any existing videos you’ve already started work on, will also be available in the ‘My Projects’ section beneath it. 

When it comes to the editing interface, you’re able to work in either orientation, although that isn’t immediately obvious by default: when you first open PowerDirector, you’re locked in portrait. You need to go into the Preferences, and manually switch to ‘auto-rotate’ to be able to work in either orientation. It’s a weird thing to restrict, especially when their promotional information makes a big deal that this app is orientation agnostic. 

When working, you’ll find the interface very clean and easy to use. You have a large preview section at the top, beneath that is your timeline, and at the bottom a series of tools. When working on a phone, those tools can be made to disappear in landscape when you’re not using them, to further declutter your screen.  

• Interface: 4/5

Cyberlink PowerDirector app: Video editing

• A good series of editing tools is at your disposal, making it easy to construct your project 

You’ll find editing is as good as the best of them. It’s easy to scroll through your project, zoom out of the timeline to get a bigger sense of scale, then zoom in for fine, frame-accurate work. You can add as many clips as you need, trim them, reorder them, work with multiple layers, the works.  

Need to use a tool? No problem. The icons and their titles are large enough to be read easily, but small enough to not feel like they’re taking up too much room. 

You can add stickers, titles, special animated effects known as ‘decors’, and filters. These appear as clips on separate layers, making it easy to move them around, and apply them across multiple clips if you want to. Altering their parameters is simply a question on tapping on them and seeing all available contextual tools at the bottom of the interface. 

When it comes to editing your text layer, repositioning the words is a simple matter of dragging it in the main preview section. Resizing and rotating is done in the same way. You’ll also find a long list of tools associated with text layers, ranging from animation to motion tracking. Simply tap, alter the parameters, and you’re good to go.

There are also advanced features such as chroma keying, although we found the results to be not as good as the competition, especially when it came to messy hair, where shades of green stubbornly remained in between unruly strands.

But really, for a mobile app, it does a pretty good job, with an interface that is not too small, and relatively easy to use. The only fiddly bit is moving clips around as it seems to take a little while for the app to realise what you’re trying to do. But aside from that, it’s pretty good.

• Video editing: 4.5/5

Cyberlink PowerDirector app: Media limitations

• Good direct connection to a handful of online media library, but sadly PowerDirector runs roughshod over your request for privacy and insists on seeing your entire photo library

It stands to reason that a video editor would be useless without media to edit. And to help you with that, PowerDirector links you directly to free online libraries for botj Pexels and Pixabay, where you can choose as many video clips and photos as you’d like. There’s also a link to iStock, but that content isn’t free. 

If you’d prefer to use your own footage, no problem: you can access your device’s Photos Library too. Except there’s a pretty major hiccup for the privacy conscious. As with any other app, the first time you launch it, you’re asked if you’d like to grant it access to your entire library, or restrict it to just the media you want to use. So far so good. 

Unfortunately, if you wish to add additional clips after that first batch, you can’t. There seems to be no way to do that, and PowerDirector insists it needs to see all your media to work. But in actuality, that shouldn’t be the case: other apps work fine with just the clips you allow it to use.

PowerDirector also insists it needs full access to your library in order to export any projects. Again, other apps export fine without being granted full access. Which begs the question: why is PowerDirector so adamant your privacy is secondary to its needs?

CyberLink PowerDirector app: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You’re looking for an elegant mobile video editor, with many easy to use tools, and don't have access to any of the best video editing computers or the best laptops of video editing. 

Don't buy it if...

You don't like a video editing app side-stepping your privacy, and you’d rather buy something outright than subscribe to it.

CyberLink PowerDirector app: Alternatives

For some of the best alternatives to PowerDirector on iOS and Android, we recommend checking out LumaFusion, DaVinci Resolve for iPad, and CapCut.  

It’s been over three years since we last reviewed KineMaster - and that’s a lifetime when it comes to the best video editing apps for phones and tablets. As video production has grown in importance, the entire landscape has changed since our last look, from the arrival of rival free editors like CapCut to the release of LumaFusion and DaVinci Resolve for iPad, both bringing professional-level editing tools to mobile devices. So, we thought it was high time we went back and checked if it’s still worth a download.  

KineMaster: Pricing & plans

• Although there is a subscription option, you can do a lot without paying - much more than other subscription-based apps

Not only can you download and start using KineMaster right away for free, the developers allow you to do this while providing very few restrictions. 

The only obvious drawback would be a relatively large watermark top right of the video. In addition to that, you will have certain other limitations, such as not being able to use premium assets. If you’d like access to these, remove the watermark so you can use them for professional use, and add 10GB of cloud storage, you’ll need to set up a subscription. We would've also liked to see a one-off cost option, as with LumaFusion and DaVinci Resolve for iPad's Studio upgrade,. 

• Pricing & plans: 4/5

KineMaster: Interface

• Well-designed interface, offering you the tools you need when you need them

We did notice some changes to KineMaster’s interface in the intervening years, most prominently prior to diving into a project. The opening section is locked in the portrait orientation when viewed from a mobile phone, and this is where you can search for templates, ‘mix’ (i.e. use someone else’s creation as a template for one of your own projects). You can also check your inbox and manage your account. It’s worth noting that if a project you’d like to ‘mix’ contains premium assets, you’ll need a subscription to access those. Sadly, we couldn’t see a way of knowing if it requires a subscription until you hit that download button, so it’s a bit of a gamble browsing through the various possibilities.

Creating an account is free, and perhaps even better, is not needed if you just want to get started with your video projects. Once you tap on ‘Create’ and choose to either start a new project, or continue working on an existing one, the interface switches to landscape. You are restricted to editing in that way, and any experienced editor will likely prefer that anyway: there’s certainly more room to organise yourself.

On that side of the interface, very little seems to have changed. Even the best video editing software can often feel very restrictive on the small screen, and most developers have created very similar layouts, with tools mainly on the left, a preview section above, and the timeline below. On the plus side here, that does mean it’s 

KineMaster was a little more creative in that respect. That doesn’t mean to say you’d be lost in a wildly different interface; let’s put it this way, if you’ve used different editors in the past, it won’t take you long to figure out where everything is. The biggest difference is the circular interface top right. It’s divided into quadrants. This is where you get to add additional media, music, work with layers (titles, effects, etc), and record a voice over. The central button lets you access your device’s camera. There are also a handful of peripheral buttons just beyond that circle, to get into the asset store, playback your project or export it. It makes everything easy to access.

To the left are a series of buttons to control the look of your editing interface, take a screenshot, or jump to the next edit point.

• Interface: 5/5

KineMaster: Video editing

• Very easy to edit, from hands on in the timeline, to a series of parameters all accessible via changeable contextual tools

The editing itself starts by tapping on a clip in your timeline. This replaces that circle with various editing tools. It’s not immediately obvious, but that list is scrollable, giving you access to a vast range of options, for both your clips’ video and audio parameters. This is necessary to make sure those buttons aren’t too small, and their labels are easily readable - something some other video editors could pay attention to.

This contextual list changes if you select other types of media, such as an audio clip, or even the edit point between two clips - which reveals all available transitions.

Aside from these, you can also directly affect the edit from the timeline itself, like trimming a clip by dragging one of its edit points inwards, or tap and hold to move a clip to another position, with the other clips slotting along, making sure there are no gaps in your edit,

You can also zoom in and out of the timeline using the traditional touch gesture, to quickly see more of your project, or get close for some frame-accurate work.

By and large, you’ll be working with a single layer of video - which certainly makes things easier if you’re looking for the best video editing software for beginners on a mobile device. However, you can work with additional layers, but only for specific purposes. This allows you to insert titles, special effects that encompass more than one clip, or just a portion of said clip, or add some media for that a picture-in-picture effect. The latter is also how you can superimpose some footage, and remove its background to blend two layers together.

In order to do that, you can use the ‘Chroma Key’ tool (if you shot your clip in front of a green screen), or the ‘Magic Remover’, which we found does a pretty impressive job, as long as the background isn’t too cluttered and you’re not moving the camera too much.

For those who have seen us bemoan the casual disregard to a user’s privacy in our reviews for CapCut and Filmora, you’ll be pleased to learn KineMaster is a much kinder beast. You can easily restrict its access to your Photos Library at launch, and update your selection over time. We still can’t believe some developers don’t allow you to do that and insist on seeing your entire library.

All in all, KineMaster works surprisingly well, and will mostly get out of your way as you edit, offering you the tools you need for the job at hand, while hiding those that are of no relevance to the selected media.

• Video editing: 5/5

KineMaster: Store & export

• A vast store where many assets are available to download for free, and hardly any restriction when exporting your project

If you’re looking for more effects, transitions, stickers, music, and so on, this is where KineMaster’s Asset Store comes into its own. You’ll find a lot of these assets are available for free. Just tap on them to download them into your app. Those that have a little golden crown to the thumbnail’s lower right are only available to subscribers. As you’d expect, this accounts for most of the best ones, although there is a huge selection for you to explore and use, even if you’ve decided not to go down the paid road.

Once your project is complete, you may expect the push to subscribe would be relentless, but we found KineMaster to be quite unobtrusive: tap on the ‘Share’ icon, choose your format (from the standard H.264, the more modern but less compatible H.265, and GIF - for simpler/smaller projects), select the resolution, bit rate and quality, and click on ‘Save as Video’.

This is where the request to subscribe will rear its head, but simply click on ‘skip’ to get on with the rendering. We were very pleasantly surprised to see you can export projects up to 4K. Most competing products restrict their free offering to HD at the most. You will, of course, get a ‘KineMaster’ logo, top right of your movie, but this is a very minor drawback to have access to so much for free.

• Store & export: 5/5

KineMaster: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You want a high end video editing app for your mobile device, with a wide array of tools, all for free (as long as you don’t mind having your work watermarked).

Don't buy it if...

You want a free video editor without a watermark. 

KineMaster: Alternatives

We've reviewed plenty of the best alternatives to KineMaster. For free video editing apps, check out Apple iMovie for iOS and CapCut. For professional-grade video editors, we love the free DaVinci Resolve for iPad and LumaFusion, available for a one-off fee. Both are very powerful with excellent performance.

SocialScreen started back in early 2016 under a slightly different name, SocialGrab AS by its co-founders, Joacim Lunde and Arvid Vasskog. From its office in Trondheim, Norway, it offered a number of media services, including web development, marketing and consulting services. The company endeavored to be able to link together multiple social media sources, for the delivery of an improved stream of info. The realization came that a screen needed to be developed as a display medium for these ‘Social streams.’

As this progressed, the screen itself became a product, and SocialGrab developed software specifically for these screens, with a subsequent emphasis on screen related products. To reflect this expertise with these screens, in 2019, the company’s name was changed to SocialScreen.

Features

SocialScreen, a comprehensive digital signage software, boasts a range of features. These include:

SocialScreen supports a wide variety of different content types, including:

Additionally, it offers compatibility with various platforms and devices:

Users should also be aware that there is no iOS app. While there is an Android app, with a recent update from this month, also keep in mind that it has zero reviews, with no rating, and comes up as only 10+ downloads, making us surmise that this app is less popular than using the software directly through a web browser.

Pricing

SocialScreen pricing is based on a choice of tiers. There are four overall, including a free tier and three paid tiers.

The entry level tier is free, but has its limitations, that include only a single screen, only one user, and 720p video. Support is limited to chat only, and just to convince you one step more there is a watermark on the video image, making this tier overall less desirable for anything other than occasional use.

Moving up is the Standard tier, which has a monthly cost of 109 NOK (about $9.84 USD) per unit. For this entry paid tier, there is no watermark, there can be three users, the single screen limit is lifted (although at an additional subscription cost), and the video is Full HD, namely 1080p. Also, the support is via both chat and email.

Next up is the middle paid tier, Business at a cost of 219 NOK (about $19.76 USD) per month per unit. This includes the features of the lower plan, along with up to 10 users on the system, and support is via email, chat and telephone (although not listed on the website if the numbers are only in Norway, or the hours and days of operation).

The top tier is Enterprise, available for a monthly fee of 329 NOK (about $26.69 USD) per unit. This plan is aimed at larger organizations, as the name suggests, with support for an unlimited number of users, support for 4K video, and full support, along with a customized service level agreement (SLA).

For each of the paid tiers, there is an offer of a full two week trial period. In terms of each screen needing an individual subscription, we would like to see a discount offered on an additional screen, and also an annual discount for prepaying 12 months at a time.

Support

While there is a Help Center for SocialScreen, overall, the direct support options are limited. We also found the website for some reason when we were accessing it from the USA seemed to default back to Norwegian on several occasions, but thankfully the Google Translate button kept appearing to get it back into English, a situation we normally do not find when accessing websites overseas. 

We found a link for a chat, but when we went to open it on our Chrome browser, it would not open on a few attempts. We also did not find any phone numbers listed which is often a preferred method for direct contact, nor were there any direct emails. The only method we found for direct contact is a contact portal. However, some higher tiers do list telephone and email support, so we’re gonna assume they disclose the contact info with the subscription.

In the self help category, there are multiple guides, for setting up the screen initially, specific to the OS, and also for the screen model. There is also a helpful FAQ of about a dozen or so questions with answers, such as “Do we have to have wired internet?” with a spoiler alert of no, but it is preferred.

Final verdict

SocialScreen is a powerful and versatile digital signage software that offers a variety of features and pricing options. It is easy to use and can be used to create engaging and interactive displays. However, the direct support options are limited, particularly on the lower tiers, and the phone support, which is limited to the upper tiers, the hours and days are not specified on the website. 

In our Wondershare Filmora review for Windows and Mac, we were pretty impressed both by its focus on newcomers, but also on the powerful features. It earned an outstanding 4.5 stars in our review, and in our experience, it’s easily one of our top choices for best video editing software for beginners. 

But that’s the desktop version. With Wondershare also vying for position as one of the best video editing apps, we wanted to know how the Filmora (formerly FilmoraGo) experience translated to the iOS and Android mobile apps.  

Wondershare Filmora: Pricing & plans

• Free but limited version with subscription or perpetual license alternatives that remove the app’s unwelcome restrictions

First of all, you don’t need to pay anything to download Filmora to your phone or tablet. You’re even allowed to use many of the features, and edit projects without giving Wondershare a cent. There are, however, some limitations. For instance, there will be a ‘Wondershare Filmora’ logo applied to the lower right of all your projects. That in itself is hardly surprising, nor is the fact that some tools will be out of your reach, like use of the app’s AI capabilities.

The free version does offer you 100 credits to play with, but they will get exhausted pretty fast if you like playing with those features. Perhaps the worst downside is the throttled resolution: although Filmora will work with clips of any resolution (we tried it with videos up to 4K with no issues), the output is limited to 720p. That’s quite a let down. Mobile editors we’ve explored in the past all allow 1080p exports. Some even let you choose higher resolutions, although most charge for that. Limiting the resolution to that extent is not a good point.

Of course, all of this goes away when you subscribe. For a monthly or annual subscription, you get unlimited AI credits, more stickers, tools, available songs, and 1GB of online storage. A perpetual license is also available, so the software is yours for a one-off fee. However, you’ll be locked to the current version, whereas the perk of subscribing is to always get the latest and greatest version. 

We especially like the cross-platform license. This gives you access to Filmora across iOS, Android, PC and Mac, for a quarterly or annual fee. Useful, we feel, if you're running any of the best video editing laptops or the best video editing PCs alongside your phone. 

If you’re not a fan of subscribing but like Filmora’s AI tools, you can purchase between 1000 and 10,000. The same applies for extra cloud storage storage, up to 100GB. 

• Pricing & plans: 4/5

Wondershare Filmora: Tracking

• Filmora wants to track you when you’re not using the app - why is that a thing? And why do the developers insist on you sharing your entire Photos Library with them, rather than giving you the option of selecting just the clips you want?

As you launch Filmora, you’ll be asked if you’d like it to track your activity across other apps and websites. We’ve encountered this before with InShot - an otherwise excellent video editing app marred by privacy concerns - and here we are again with a video editor wanting to know what else you’re doing on your phone or tablet. Yes, it’s easy to ‘Ask App Not to Track’, but why does this app need to ask that at all (we know, we know: it’s because of advertising, but that’s hardly a good enough excuse if you ask us). Frankly, it’s a trend we do not like.

Next, Filmora tries to entice you to purchase a subscription, or do a free 3-day trial. Just tap the button that looks like a line, top left, to get out of that request if you just want to get to the free stuff.

Again, just like we saw in our InShot review, you’re highly encouraged to allow the app full access to your entire Photo Library. You can ‘manage’ which clips to give it access to, but frustratingly, you can only do so once. There is no way to add to that selection afterwards, like so many other apps allow you to. We question this artificial restriction and wonder what Wondershare does with its access to all your personal media.

Of course, if you don’t have an issue with privacy, this will be of no concern to you, and you will enjoy what Filmora has to offer. If you like to control what an app can and cannot do, you may well hesitate at this point. It is possible to circumvent this by solely using stock footage that you can access from the app’s media section, or by syncing up to your WonderShare Cloud account - although that does need payment, while at the same time making the process more cumbersome.

• Tracking: 0/5

Wondershare Filmora: Video editing

• Excellent tools, easy to use, with simple features and extensive options for all skill-levels

Filmora works great whether you’re using a phone or tablet. However, phones only work in portrait, but tablets can be used in any orientation. All the tools you need can be found at the bottom of the screen. If you don’t see what you’re after, scroll left or right to reveal more options. A large preview of your project can be seen at the top, with the timeline in the middle. Having tried out the best video editing software, we can tell you this is a pretty standard and familiar interface, which makes it a lot easier to get started whatever your experience.

As you’d expect, everything is controlled via touch. Want to trim a clip? Tap on it in the timeline, then tap and drag its end point inwards. Want to add a transition? Tap the slanted icon in between two clips in the timeline, for the bottom row of tools to turn into a choice of transitions. Tap on the one you like, tap on the ‘tick’ button and you’re done. It’s that easy.

You can technically only work with one layer of video, although this can be circumvented somewhat with the picture-in-picture effect, which you can also use to key out a background. Filmora offers you various options to do this. The most effective is ‘Chroma Key’, which only offers two sliders for you to work with, yet it’s incredibly effective. 

Not everyone has access to green screen equipment, so you can instead use ‘Remove Background’. However, as you probably expect, the results will greatly depend on how cluttered your background is - and how sharp the edges of your subject are. There’s also a ‘Replace Sky’ option, which does exactly what it says on the tin, and we found it surprisingly accurate.

In fact, all the tools we tried worked great, and the app is well-designed for touch controls, helping you create your project with ease. You’re able to change your project’s format (from widescreen, to square, to tall, and more), add animated stickers, insert titles and customize them to your heart’s content, apply masks, and so on. It’s a very complete set of tools.

Most of Filmora is however not designed with the advanced user in mind - the inability to properly work with multiple layers makes that obvious. Also, many tools don’t offer you any options. Take ‘Noise Reduce’ for instance: you can switch it on or off, and it does a pretty good job, but there are no parameters for you to tweak. It’s an all or nothing kind of deal. On the other hand, you have extensive control over color grading. You win some, you lose some.

All in all, Filmora for mobile devices is a very good, simple app that's well designed and will help you create projects with ease. Just a shame about the potential privacy intrusion.

• Video editing: 4.5/5

Filmora: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You’re looking for a simple to use video editor with many options available for free, and don’t mind the app potentially intruding on your privacy.

Don't buy it if...

 You don’t like to subscribe to apps, don’t like the potential privacy intrusion, and need to export at a higher resolution than 720p without having to pay.

Filmora: Alternatives

For some of the best alternatives to Filmora, we recommend checking out Apple iMovie for iOS, LumaFusion, DaVinci Resolve for iPad, and CapCut.  

‘Release your Unlimited Creativity’ is the tagline for InShot. It’s a noble goal, but in the fight between the best video editing apps, how does this iOS and Android video editor hold up against the creative competition?  

InShot: Pricing & plans

• A generous free app with the top tools and effects reserved for those who subscribe or pay the one-off fee

Let’s start with the good news: InShot is free to use. You can create a project, apply some effects and nice-looking transitions, then export the whole video without paying a cent. Sure you’ll see a few ads on top of the screen, and your output will be watermarked, that’s the trade-off for plenty of free apps. 

If you want access to additional tools and effects, and no longer wish to see ads nor have to deal with watermarks, you need to hand over some cash. There are three options available to you. There’s a monthly subscription, at $4 a month, a yearly one for $15 which is a real deal compared with the monthly one, and a lifetime one-off fee of $40. The yearly subscription also offers you a short 3-day free trial - cancel your subscription before that time and you won’t have to pay anything. 

For UK readers, prices are the same in pound sterling (as if the exchange rate simply didn’t exist). 

• Pricing & plans: 4/5

InShot: Getting started

• Spent ages declining each and every cookie or just sell your soul and accept them all. Worst design ever - if we could give a negative mark, we would

Before we go any further, we’d like to discuss the cookies InShot somehow needs to insert into your video editing experience. Usually, you can allow or deny such requests in bulk - pretty simple and straightforward. Ins chose the most user-unfriendly approach. This isn’t the only app or website to do this, mind, but that doesn’t stop it from being diabolical. 

First you have to forbid the app from tracking you across other apps and websites. Why would a video editor need to do that anyway? Then you can either ‘Consent’ to all those lovely tracking and monitoring cookies, or ‘Manage options’, and this is where the fun begins - if your idea of fun is repeatedly hitting yourself in the face with a hammer.

As you might’ve guessed, there is no ‘deny all’ option. Instead, you need to untick the ‘legitimate interest’ from each and every single ‘vendor’, and that list feels endless. What's a legitimate interest? We don’t know, but rest assured it’s not your legitimate interest, it’s the vendors’. And there are over a hundred of them. 

Who has time for this nightmare and why would you need to do this to access a video editing app? As a user, this would have put us off instantly, and we would’ve deleted the app without ever looking back (just picture us walking away with purpose in slow motion from an app exploding in the background - that’s the vibe we’re after). But we have a job to do, so just to be able to actually test out the app, we gave up tapping after a few minutes and accepted whatever cookies were left through gritted teeth. The things we do for you…

• Getting started: 0/5

InShot: Importing media

• Grant InShot access to all your photo library, or restrict it to just a few - except you can only do that trick once

In order to make use of a video editor, you need to give it some media. As with all apps, you can either choose to give InShot access to your entire photos library, or manage which ones it can have. So far, so good.

Only problem is, if you opt for the latter option, you can only do so once. Never mind the fact nearly all other apps have an ‘add more’ button or similar, allowing you to increase the number of media you wish to grant an app access to. Here, if you want to add more, you must give InShot access to all your photos.

Couple that with the questionable way the app deals with cookies and your ‘consent’, and we’re beginning to wonder whether this really is an app worth downloading at all. Especially if you’re at all concerned about your privacy. 

• Importing media: 1/5

InShot: Video editing

• A fantastically well-designed and easy to use mobile video editor, with a great deal of tools and export options all available for free

Despite all of the above, InShot is a well-designed, simple, and elegant mobile video editor. You start by choosing the type of project you’d like to get involved in: a video, a photo, or a collage.

The latter two obviously deal with still images, while the former can be just video or a combination of still and moving images.

Whichever one you choose, your tools can be found at the bottom of the interface while the top is devoted to your media. Video projects also have a timeline in between, where you can add clips, reorder them, alter them, and so on.

If you’re used to using any of the best video editing software, you’ll feel right at home with InShot. The interface is incredibly well done, to the point you feel you have frame accurate control. In our experience, that’s a great achievement for a touch-based interface.

You’ll also find numerous tools, from the basics like adding titles and transitions, to more advanced effects such as chroma keying (i.e. green screen), and complex speed alterations. Whichever ones you use, they are well-designed and easy to handle.

Free users do have a few transitions and effects available to them, from the basics to some interestingly more visually appealing options. Although you can preview the best ones, those cannot be used until you pay for the privilege.

The buttons aren’t too small, the labels are easy to read. Honestly, kudos on the design front. Performance is a snap too, and aside from watermarking your project with a subtle ‘InShot’ logo, lower-right of your project, there doesn’t appear to be any limitations. You’re even allowed to export your project in 4K, something most competitors restrict behind a paywall. 

InShot won’t stop you or ask you to pay for the privilege. Truly, great attention has been paid to this app’s performance and usability. Such a shame they didn’t put as much time and effort on the privacy side of the equation.

• Video editing: 5/5

InShot: Scorecard

Should I try?

Try it if...

You’re looking for an easy to use mobile video editor for your phone or tablet and have no qualms about potential privacy concerns.

Don't try it if...

You don’t like the idea of a developer insisting on tracking and monitoring you, while forcing you to hand over access to your entire media library - no matter how great its app actually is. 

InShot: Alternatives

Looking for the best alternative to InShot? We recommend checking out LumaFusion, Apple iMovie for iOS, DaVinci Resolve for iPad, and CapCut.  

When Apple released its iMovie for iPhone in 2010, it quickly became one of the best video editing apps around. Back then, it was an absolute game changer. Here was a simple to use app with which you could create a project, edit shots taken with your iPhone, and effortlessly upload it to the web. The following year, an iPad-compatible version was offered, and since then nothing much happened until last year, when major new features were released.

How does Apple's video editor app perform now? Let’s take a look.

Apple iMovie for iOS: Pricing & plans

• A free app with no intrusive ads - what’s not to like? 

Whichever device you use, one of the best advantages of Apple iMovie is the cost: it’s free. Even better, you won’t be bombarded with intrusive ads, nor will the software ask to track you across other apps. 

All you'll need is an Apple device, as it’s highly likely the software will never appear on an Android device. As with a slew of other consumer-orientated Apple-created apps, just head on over to the App Store and download the latest version. 

• Pricing & plans: 5/5

Apple iMovie for iOS: Interface

• A restricted interface on an iPhone, with more flexibility when using an iPad, or when removing the training wheels

Aside from selecting an existing project, you’re given three options to create a new one. ‘Movie’ is the original - and if you’ve used any of the best video editing software, you’ll find yourself in familiar territory. You get a blank canvas, which you’ll populate with the media stored in your device’s Photos Library, and you’re responsible for all the editing, effects, transitions, titles, and so on. ‘Storyboard’ relies on pre-made templates, and is like an extension of the traditional ‘Trailers’ feature you’ve had on the Mac version for years. In fact, ‘Trailers’ are integrated into ‘Storyboard’. And finally, there’s the simplified ‘Magic Movie’ which effectively turns the app into one of the best video editing software for beginners by letting iMovie do most of the editing work for you.

The interface is quite different whichever option you select. Depending on the editing path you choose, iMovie for iOS works either in any orientation (‘Movie’), or restricts you to portrait mode except when working on an iPad (‘Storyboard’ and ‘Magic Movie’), reflecting how basic or advanced Apple believe your chosen project to be.

• Interface: 4/5

Apple iMovie for iOS: Movie

• Features aren’t extensive but they do let you work on anything from simple edits to green screen work

Even though this is the option that is the most hands-off, you’ll still find it incredibly easy to use. You start by selecting the clips you’d like to use in your project, and they’ll be added in the order you selected them. iMovie automatically inserts a simple cross dissolve between each clip, but it’s a simple matter to alter: just tap on it and choose another from a list of 5. 

Yes, Apple is being a bit stingy on that front. Some transitions have options - the ‘fade’ can either transition to black or white for instance, and you can specify in which direction the ‘slide’ and ‘wipe’ go (up, down, left or right), but that’s not a lot to play with. The duration can be set from half a second up to 2 seconds in length. These are pretty minimalistic options compared with the competition.

Trimming is a simple matter of selecting a clip and dragging its edit point inwards, cropping involves clicking on the magnifying glass and repositioning the clip within the frame. You’ll find speed controls, animated titles, the ability to detach the audio track from the video, a bunch of colour effects, and surprisingly easy to use green screen effect, among others.

For the most part, you will be working with a single layer of video. This can be expanded when working with green screen clips or you’re looking for a picture-in-picture effect, but that’s pretty much the extent of your multi-layered video work.

To be fair, although it’s sleek and works effortlessly, with iMovie enabling you to create a fun little project, applying sound effects, adding one of dozens of available soundtracks, shooting some footage right from within the app itself, and even recording a voice-over, it almost feels too simplistic and limited compared to the more advanced tools the competition, like LumaFusion, offers. 

• Movie: 4/5

Apple iMovie for iOS: Storyboard

• Follow the instructions and build your edit based on ready-made templates - it’s more limited but you get nice themes as compensation

The Storyboards in iMovie are designed to make things a little easier, while offering you options not readily available in ‘Movie’. You start by choosing which category you’d like to work in, from ‘About Me’, to ‘Gaming’, ‘Makeover’, ‘Q&A’, and many others. Whichever one you select, you get to choose from a list of styles, parts of which are customisable, such as the font selection, colors, and effects.

Once that’s done, it’s time to build your project. This is a little like paint by numbers: the template will ask for specific types of shots with which to build the project, such as medium shots, wide shots, close ups, all in a specific sequence. You’re not obliged to follow that request, but obviously a template is there for a reason. Your editing options are vastly more restricted than what you can do in ‘Movie’, limiting you pretty much to trimming a clip, altering its audio’s volume, and making basic speed changes. 

If you like to follow a script, with effects, transitions and titles all set up in advance for you, you may well enjoy this way of working. As mentioned above, it’s very similar to how Trailers work on the Mac, except this offers you a broader range of subjects, helping you create a quick movie with ease.

It’s worth noting that we encountered a glitch on an iPhone 14 running iOS16, with the footage shot on an iPhone appearing upside down (the same footage appeared the right way round in ‘Movie’). An iPad Air running iPadOS 16, and an iPhone XS running iOS 17 using the same clips, worked as expected.

• Storyboard: 3/5

Apple iMovie for iOS: Magic Movie

• Simple editing that does most of the work for you. It’s basic, simple, and fast, and great if you don’t have the time to create a short film yourself

Your last choice, ‘Magic Movie’ doesn’t even pretend to offer you options. It’s clearly designed for the person who doesn’t have the experience or time needed to make a short film, but would like something nice to remember an event with - so why not let a machine do all the work?

‘Magic Movie’ will ask you to choose the clips you’d like to use, and once you’re happy with your selection, tap on ‘Create Magic Movie’. There’s really nothing particularly ‘magic’ about the process though: the app will trim the clips for you and apply transitions between them, including an opening title, and some background music. It’s pretty basic fare.

You’re not completely out of the loop: you’re able to reorder your clips, trim them differently, and even change the type of transition, but your options will be the same as for the ‘Storyboard’ section - in other words, not as extensive as they could be - but if you need a short film done in record time, this is the way to go.

Apple iMovie for iOS: Scorecard

Should I try?

Try it if...

You own an iPhone or iPad, and are looking for the best free video editing software that's easy to use and offers various levels of complexity depending on your ability.

Don't try it if...

You’re looking for a mobile video editor with more advanced options, or one  that gets updated with more features on a regular basis.

Apple iMovie for iOS: Alternatives

For the best alternatives to iMovie for iOS, we recommend checking out LumaFusion, DaVinci Resolve for iPad, and CapCut.

It may be pitched as one of the best video editing apps for GoPro wearers, but there’s more to Quik than meets the eye. With unlimited cloud storage, an automatic highlights reel, and even the option to remote-control devices, the app has a lot of potential for habitual photographers, streamers, and video-makers.  

We wanted to see whether Quik is just a cute companion for the best GoPro cameras, or whether the mobile video content creation tool stands up on its own. So, we took the iOS app, identical to the Android version, out for a spin.  

GoPro Quik: Pricing & plans

• Cheap subscription and deals squarely aimed at GoPro users

You can download the app for free, and even start using it without having to register an account. But there are serious limitations to this ‘free’ app, because GoPro really wants you to subscribe.

There are two subscription levels: ‘Quik' costs $2 a month or $10 a year. It unlocks all of the app’s editing features, and lets you upload your Murals to the cloud as a backup option. It’s not a high price to pay by any measure, but we do think it’s quite a lot compared to the best free video editing software (like Apple iMovie or DaVinci Resolve), or those you can get for a low one-off cost, like the excellent LumaFusion. 

‘GoPro’ is the second subscription tier, which is priced at $25 for the first year and $50 thereafter. This plan offers more goodies, especially for GoPro fans - and frankly that will describe most users of this app. Alongside the Quik subscription features, it adds discounts for GoPro gear, auto uploads, some of the best cloud storage if you want unlimited space for GoPro footage. There's even guaranteed faulty camera replacement, and 1080p live streaming. The discounts on cameras, mounts, accessories alone might make this a very attractive proposition: at last, a subscription to an app that offers way more than just the app itself. 

• Pricing & plans: 3.5/5

GoPro Quik: Interface

• A simple interface, focused on your phone’s portrait orientation - more versatile on a tablet

The interface is designed to be worked solely in a phone’s portrait orientation. Tablets are more versatile and the interface will resize itself in any orientation. This is not the only mobile video editor that works like this, and although it could be argued to make sense on a phone, some might prefer to work in landscape, but can’t with Quik.

The app is actually well designed, with all the tools available at the bottom of the screen, which you can swipe through, with the main preview taking up most of the top half, and your edit filling up the rest of the available space in between.

In order to keep the visible tools to a minimum, the bottom bar is contextualised, changing depending on what’s selected. It makes it very convenient on a phone. You have more space on a tablet, but for the sake of consistency, the layout is the same as for the phone, whichever way you’re holding your device.

But Quik is more than just a video editor. It’s also a link to your GoPro equipment. You can use it to access the media stored in your camera and upload it to your phone or tablet, and you’ll also find tools in the edit section that are designed to work exclusively with shots taken with specific GoPros. That level of access and control makes Quik most interesting, and as it can also see your phone’s media library, you can easily mix and match shots from different devices within a single edit. Just as the top subscription is very attractive to GoPro users, this side of Quik is also chiefly focused on GoPro users.

• Interface: 3/5

GoPro Quik: Video editing

• Two different ways of editing, depending on how involved you wish to get

Quik offers you two different types of projects to create: Murals and Studio. You give away most of your control with Murals, but we did find it a great choice if you just need something done at lightning speed. 

If you’re a rookie looking for the best video editing software for beginners, this is about as gentle an introduction as you could hope. You select the clips you wish to work with, give your project a title, and the app will create everything else for you, editing, effects, transitions, the works. 

You do have some editing control, but if you prefer a more hands on approach, we recommend using the Studio which is more fleshed out, although here too, there are limits. Set appropriate expectations. This isn’t (and doesn’t aim to be) the best video editing software. It won't help you work with chromakey green screen effects for instance, or let you build complex multi-layered edits. This is for quick, simple jobs, with a few flashy effects. 

• Video editing: 4.5/5

GoPro Quik: Tools

• Limited tool, good for beginners but may constrain experienced editors - and the ‘free’ option is only a trial

Playing with the app you’ll notice quickly that it’s designed for simplicity. The fact each clip is represented by a thumbnail of the exact same size no matter how long a particular clip might be, makes that clear. This makes the app great for beginners, but more cumbersome for more experienced editors as you don’t really get a feel for the length and flow of your project.

Even still, performing basic edits like trimming feel more involved than they should be, as you need to tap on a clip to select it, tap on the edit button at the centre of the thumbnail, tap on the trim tool, then trim your clip. That’s a lot of tapping, when competing editing apps let you do that directly from the Timeline.

Having said that, you have a nice number of options, such as good color correction. It’s never going to hit the accuracy of the best monitors for video editing, but for the small screen, it’s excellent. There’s also a series of themes you can choose which set your project’s fonts, music, transitions, all for you, greatly speeding up the creation process.

Any effect, theme, music, and so on, sporting a blue lightning bolt icon, means this is a premium subscription-only feature. You can certainly select it and work with it, but you won’t be able to save your work unless you’re a subscriber.

It is possible to find a few that are free and create a project without having to pay for anything but there’s a huge caveat here: the ‘free’ option is only free for a limited time. In fact, you can only work on a few Murals and even fewer Studio projects before Quik prevents you from working on anything else. Making a change after you’ve saved your project doesn’t work. Deleting it doesn’t reset the count either. Think of ‘Free’ as a very limited trial run. If you want to continue to edit with Quik, you’ll need to give them your money in a recurring way, each year.

The best thing Quik has going for it, is its integration with GoPro’s hardware. In that respect, it’s a great fun app, with loads of simple features, and ways to quicken the edit for you while you get on with taking your next awesome shots. The video editing capabilities are simpler than we were expecting, but they may well suit many people who can’t be asked to get down and dirty in the minutia of video editing. 

A subscription makes perfect sense if you use a lot of GoPro gear. You get great discounts and even replacement protection, with the app just being a bonus at that stage. However, if you don’t own GoPro equipment, there are undoubtedly many other editors out there that would suit you better.

• Tools: 3/5

GoPro Quik: Scorecard

Should I try?

Try it if...

You own GoPro equipment, need to transfer your media from your camera to your phone or tablet, and don’t mind limited editing options.

Don't try it if...

You don’t own GoPro equipment, and in that respect the options and deals are not relevant to you.

GoPro Quik: Alternatives

We've tested, reviewed, and rated a massive range of video editing tools. For alternatives to GoPro Quik, we recommend the iOS version of Apple iMoviem and the mobile video editing apps CapCut and our favorite, LumaFusion.