If you love creating and experimenting with video content, the InShot mobile app can help you with some basic yet impressive editing. It’s free and easy to use, and there are many features that you can manipulate to create cool effects.

In this article, we'll cover all of InShot's basic features in detail. Let's dive right in.

Getting Started With InShot

To get started, all you have to do is download the app. From there on, you can start adding new photos and videos that you want to edit. You don't need to create an account to use the free version of the app.

Download: InShot for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Add and Edit Media

  1. Open the app, select Video, and choose the video you want to edit.
  2. If you only want to edit a specific part of the video, you can trim it in the adding stage. To do this, select the video you want, and tap the scissors icon. Hit the checkmark icon to continue.
  3. Once in the editing screen, you can add more videos by tapping the + icon on the bottom left.
  4. To replace the video, tap it to select it, and scroll through the tools until you find the Replace icon.
  5. Use the Split icon to cut your video into clips. Simply drag the cursor to where you want to split it.
  6. Trim your clips by tapping and dragging the bars on either side of them.
  7. Hold down on a clip to move it around in the timeline.
  8. To delete a clip, select it, and tap the Delete icon (the trash can).

To edit an individual clip, select the Precut icon. From here, you can Trim, Cut, and Split the clip, as well as adjust its length with the bars on each side.

Other useful editing tools you’ll find include:

  • Reverse: This plays the clip backward.
  • Flip: Flip the footage like a mirror.
  • Freeze: Brings your footage to a stand-still. You can adjust the freeze duration.
  • Rotate: You can rotate the footage in 90-degree increments.
  • Crop: Adjust the crop of the footage. You can do it manually or select a pre-crop that is suited for platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
  • Duplicate: Create a copy of your selected clip.

To add transition effects, ensure that your video is split into at least two clips. Tap away to deselect the clips, and you'll see a little icon appear in between the clips. Tap it, and the transition effects window will open. Here, you can choose any funky transition to add a little character to your video edit.

Add Music and Sound Effects

To add audio, tap the Music icon. Here are your options when adding audio to InShot:

  • You can add tracks from your device, from the InShot music library, or extract them from other videos.
  • You can add sound effects, such as applause, laughing, instruments, footsteps, and so on.
  • You can also record your own voice. This is useful for dubbing or fixing inaudible words in a video.

You can add more than one music track or sound effect to the video, adjust how long they will play, adjust the volume, and move them around. You can also add fading-in and fading-out effects at the beginning and end of any audio clip. Simply tap the audio clip to select it, and these editing tools will show themselves.

Add Text

If you want to add subtitles or just random cute texts or quotes to your video, select the Text icon. This will open an array of text tools, including fonts, colors, borders, and even text animation (the three-circled icon). Once you've added your text, you can further edit it by changing its duration, position, and even adding keyframes.

Add PIP (Picture-in-Picture)

You can display a small version of another image or video on your current video. Simply tap on the PIP icon and select the image or video you want to display. You can perform a number of edits on the PIP, including InShot's new Cutout, Mask, Chroma, and Blend tools. These will come in very handy, and they practically do all the work for you.

Add Stickers and Mosaic

Go to the Stickers icon, tap Stickers again, and here you can add emojis, GIFs, and all kinds of illustrations. Instead of opening Stickers, you can also pick Mosaic, which lets you add a pixilated blur to the footage; this is great for hiding sensitive information.

Adjust the Speed

InShot allows you to adjust the playback speed of your video. Just follow these steps:

  1. Tap the Speed icon.
  2. Select the Standard control.
  3. Slide the dot to the left to decrease the playback speed and to the right to increase it.

Note that this will change the speed of the entire video clip. If you want to change the speed of a particular scene in the video, follow these steps:

  1. Tap the Speed icon.
  2. Select the Curve control.
  3. Drag the blue dots to wherever you want an increase or decrease in playback speed.
  4. Tap Preset to use a preset playback curve instead.

Explore Filters and Effects

InShot provides dozens of filters and effects and also allows you to make basic adjustments. Tap the Filter icon, and here you'll find Effect, Filter, and Adjust. Most of the effects include some type of animated visuals, the filters are plentiful, and you can perform standard adjustments such as light, contrast, saturation, and warmth.

Edit the Background

Similar to Crop, Canvas lets you customize the dimensions of the footage to fit the size of different social platforms. To display your video in the right size, the tool fills the rest of the space with a white background. You can entirely customize the background by going to Background within the Canvas menu.

Remove the Watermark for Free

Once you're done with your edit, watch your video in full-screen mode, and make any last tweaks if necessary.

If you want to remove the watermark, locate it on your footage, and press the X. You may need to watch an ad if you haven't upgraded to InShot Pro. After that, tap the Share icon at the top-right, select your formats, and hit Save. Your video should download without the watermark.

Video Editing Made Easy With InShot

Editing your videos may seem like a daunting task, but InShot simplifies the process. Use this tool to impress your social media following with all sorts of cool effects. You can utilize it for your Instagram Reels, TikToks, or even YouTube videos.

Of course, InShot isn't the only mobile app that you can use to make your videos look cool. There's an array of other apps that let you edit awesome videos on your phone.