What happens when your largest competitor is on the verge of extinction? Naturally, you start thinking about how to welcome their audience.
Welcoming a competitor’s audience with open arms is precisely what Meta is doing with its newest app, Edits. Initially teased early this year, the free app officially launched globally on Tuesday, April 22. Meanwhile, TikTok and its popular editing tool, CapCut, continue to face an uncertain future in the U.S.
The timing makes perfect sense. With legislation aimed at banning or restricting TikTok still under active discussion in the U.S., millions of creators might soon be looking for new video editing app. CapCut, owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, is caught in the same legal battle. This leaves a massive opportunity for Meta to step in with its own mobile editing tool.
So, what exactly is the Edits app? How does it differ from tools like CapCut? Let’s dive in and learn why the Instagram Edits app might be helpful to you as a creator, regardless of what happens to TikTok.
What is Edits (and why has Meta launched it?)
What exactly is Edits? When it was first announced, Meta called it a “full creative suite” explicitly built for creators who want to make professional-looking videos on their phones.
Most of what we initially knew came from an Instagram Reel by Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram. In a post on January 19, Mosseri set the intention for Edits: to be a complete tool for video makers on the go.
The app is now available globally for download in the App Store and Google Play Store. Months before its announcement, Meta was already working with select creators to refine the app, and new features are already in the works.
According to an official announcement on the Instagram Creators blog, Edits was built to “bring your full creation process into one place,” combining idea tracking, project organization, editing, and publishing into a single workflow.
Whether you’re team iPhone or Android, one thing is clear: this isn’t just another quick clone rushing to market. Meta is positioning Edits as a serious tool for serious creators.
Top Edits features for creators
According to Meta’s launch announcement, Edits includes robust tools for mobile creators.
Here’s what stands out:
- Full-featured editing tools. You’ll get the basics like trimming and filters, plus advanced features like green screen effects, overlays, cutouts, and AI-powered animation. Unlike CapCut, there are no templates—this app is for creators who want complete control over their content.
- Better camera capabilities. Capture up to 10 minutes of high-quality video with access to tools like touch-up, countdown timer, green screen, and Instagram’s music catalog. This built-in upgrade could mean fewer apps in your creative workflow.
- Timeline editing. A frame-accurate timeline helps you arrange and adjust clips precisely, streamlining your editing process.
- Cutouts and animation. Easily isolate specific people or objects in your clips using precision tracking, and bring static images to life using AI-powered animation. The animation tool allows creators to “turn static images into engaging videos using AI,” while cutouts let you isolate specific people or objects using precision tracking.
- Captions and accessibility. Add automatic captions in multiple languages to make your videos more inclusive and understandable across audiences.
- Audio library. Access the full Instagram music and sound libraries — including songs and audio you’ve saved.
- Inspiration feed. Browse trending Reels with popular audio, save your favorites, jot down notes and ideas, and jump into creation mode directly from the feed.
- Organization tools. A dedicated space for saving ideas and early drafts means you can organize your creative process in one place. The “Projects” feature makes it easy to manage multiple works-in-progress.
- Deep analytics integration. If you share on Instagram, you’ll get detailed insights about your videos’ performance, including metrics like skip rate and engagement from followers and non-followers.
- Flexible publishing and export. Share directly to Instagram and Facebook from within the app — or export watermark-free and post anywhere else.
The combination of these tools sets the Instagram Edits app apart. It’s your everyday editor because it’s easy to use, but you have room to grow into professional-grade edits. Who says that mobile video can’t be cinema quality?
What’s next for creators?
With Edits now officially launched, social media creators face an interesting choice. The uncertainty around CapCut’s future means it might be wise to explore alternatives now. Meta’s timing could be advantageous, especially for creators who already share content on Instagram and want deeper analytics and insights about their videos.
But here’s the thing about being an early adopter: you must be ready for some growing pains. Meta acknowledges that the first version of Edits is “only the first step on this journey”, claiming it will evolve and improve based on feedback.
Meta has also teased several upcoming additions, including:
- Keyframes: Set exact points to adjust movement, rotation, and size across your video timeline.
- Modify: Use AI to quickly update the look and feel of your clips.
- Collaboration: Easily share drafts with friends, other creators, or brands for feedback and creative builds.
- More options to express your creativity: Access more fonts, text effects, transitions, audio tools, and royalty-free music.
If you plan to try the Instagram Edits app now that it’s launched, it could be a smart time to experiment, while keeping a backup in your workflow. Don’t let new tools distract you from creating, but keep an eye on what Edits offers.
And while you’re at it, explore the full range of other social media tools for content creators.
Looking to get ahead of the curve? Whether you’re testing out Edits or building your next video project elsewhere, check out Envato’s video templates and assets collection. With everything from motion graphics to sound effects, you’ll be ready to create killer content no matter which editing app you choose.
