Heard of the Instagram Edits app? (Bet you have, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be here. :)) Let’s take a look at what it can (and can’t do), and how you can use it to create high-quality Instagram Reels and other short-form content faster and more efficiently (and creatively!)
- What is “Edits” on Instagram?
- Getting started with Instagram Edits
- How to make Instagram Edits
- Organizing and planning your content with Instagram Edits
- How to add text and fonts in Instagram Edits
- How to use the green screen
- Working with cutouts and layers
- Enhancing your Reels with music and sound effects
- Advanced editing techniques
- Why won’t Instagram save my Edits?
- Best practices and tips for creating Reels with Instagram Edits
- Try Instagram Edits to see what you think
- FAQs about Instagram Edits
Simplify Instagram Business
Management with One Tool
- Manage & reply to comments and DMs in one place.
- Monitor ad comments from multiple accounts.
- Automatically delete spam comments.
- Automate answers to repetitive questions.
- Schedule posts to multiple accounts at once.
- Analyze performance and monitor hashtags.
- Keep track of your competition.
- Create or schedule in-depth reports in seconds.
What is “Edits” on Instagram?
Edits is the brand new standalone app from Instagram with easy-to-use yet powerful video editing tools (and Instagram’s answer to Bytedance’s CapCut, widely used not just for editing TikToks, but also Instagram Reels. At least, until now.)
As Instagram has evolved far beyond static photo posts (who also used to post photos of questionable quality of their lunch on Instagram to their Instagram feed?), video is now the go-to content format for many creators. It drives engagement, discoverability, and growth on the platform.
It’s used by creators and influencers, small businesses and large brands – all wanting to connect with their audiences, tell stories, and showcase products. And all of them will benefit from the New Instagram Edits App.
Instagram’s Edits is Meta’s latest offering to support content creation, giving users a dedicated, streamlined platform for crafting Reels. If you know CapCut, the idea’s essentially the same – a mini editing studio tailored specifically for Instagram-style, vertical videos. The main Instagram app still offers basic editing tools, but Edits brings more power, flexibility, and creative control. And I mean, much more.
Instagram Edits features a full timeline for clip arrangement, layered editing for visuals, text, and audio, enhanced control over effects, transitions, and animations, and easier project organization and media management on top.
So, it feels more like a lightweight version of a professional video editor, customized for vertical videos and Reels.
Its key features include:
- Multi-track timeline with layers
- Large library of fonts and text effects
- Built-in green screen tools and cutout features
- Sticky notes and folders for content planning
- Access to Instagram’s trending audio and sound effects
- Speed and color controls for advanced edits
- Captions (something many people are missing when creating Stories and Reels in the Instagram app)
- And more
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Getting started with Instagram Edits
Download and log in using your Instagram account
Instagram Edits is currently available in select countries via the App Store and Google Play. And you can use your Instagram account(s) with it, switching between accounts as you would on Instagram itself. It also lets you post your videos straight to Instagram (and Facebook).
The dashboard and layout
Once you’re inside, you’ll be prompted to create your first project and upload a video.
You’ll also see a few tabs in the menu at the bottom:
- Ideas tab: It’s where you can collect your content ideas – add sticky notes and save reels and audio.
- Inspiration tab: That’s where you’ll find trending audio that you can use for your video content.
- Projects tab: Access existing projects or start a new one from here.
- Create & edit tab: It’s where you can record your Reels just like you would in Instagram and then edit them.
- Insights tab: With – you guessed it – your content insights and stats.
Video editing tools
The name’s Instagram Edits, after all, so let’s take a look at what editing tools are available.
When you upload or record a video in the app, you’ll be able to access a video timeline with layers, where you can add:
- Text
- Audio
- Captions
- Voiceover
- Stickers
- Sound effects
- Visual effects and transitions
- A video/image overlay
Each layer is draggable and adjustable, allowing fine control over timing and order. And within your primary footage, you can add more video fragments or cut some out, just like in any editing software.
How to make Instagram Edits
Let’s take a more detailed look at how to actually create a Reel using Instagram edits.
- Start by creating a new project from the default tab you see when you go inside the app.
- Upload or record a video, then start editing.
- Using the plus sign on the right of your video timeline, you can add more video clips – from your gallery or recording with your camera. You can also order and reorder them as needed.
- To cut out fragments of your video, tap on “Split” in the bottom menu.
- Use the controls in the bottom menu to adjust volume and speed. Make sure you tap the right layer first (for example, if you have separate audio and video layers).
- Zoom in on the timeline for frame-precise editing.
- Add transitions between clips to create a smoother flow or to achieve a desired effect.
- You can also use special effects like filters, overlays, or glitches to grab your audience’s attention.
- Insert text with animation options and add captions.
- Add music or voiceovers using the audio tools.
- The “Cut silences” tool will help you edit your voiceovers for a better flow.
- And you can also use the green screen option straight from the bottom menu to upload images or videos in the background.
Once your video is edited, you can export it and save it to your camera roll or share it straight to Instagram and Facebook.
Organizing and planning your content with Instagram Edits
The cool thing about the new app is that it’s not just a video editor on your phone, but it can help you discover trending audio and keep your inspiration and ideas in one place, so you can go back to it later.
Here’s how you can do that in the app:
- Use sticky notes and saved audio for brainstorming ideas. Sticky notes work like digital post-its within your project. Use them to write down your video script, list transitions or effects you want to use, or save reminders or inspiration.
- Create projects for different themes or campaigns. You can separate personal and business content, or your product launch campaign from the summer sale campaign, etc.
- Reuse to make content creation easier. You can reuse templates for recurring formats, save audio and text styles for consistency, and even keep collections from Instagram in the Edits app. A good practice could be to schedule time to batch-create and organize drafts weekly, using the Instagram Edits app.
Now, if you want to make planning and organizing your Instagram content even easier, pair it with NapoleonCat’s Instagram management tools for business to:
- Schedule your posts, Reels, and Stories in a shared visual content calendar, along with other social media platform content (So, for example, you can schedule your Reels and TikToks simultaneously, saving you quite a lot of time.)
- Manage comments on your Reels, Stories, posts, and ads on Instagram, as well as your DMs, in one Social Inbox, next to all your social media interactions.
- Automate some of your interactions, for example, replying to frequently asked questions or instantly removing spam and hate comments.
- See extended insights for your content’s performance over specific time periods to inform your content strategy.
- Collaborate with your team and clients on content creation and comment moderation – all in one platform.
Simplify Instagram Business
Management with One Tool
- Manage & reply to comments and DMs in one place.
- Monitor ad comments from multiple accounts.
- Automatically delete spam comments.
- Automate answers to repetitive questions.
- Schedule posts to multiple accounts at once.
- Analyze performance and monitor hashtags.
- Keep track of your competition.
- Create or schedule in-depth reports in seconds.
How to add text and fonts in Instagram Edits
The advantage of Instagram Edits over “just” Instagram is that you have a much wider choice of styling your text than the few Instagram styles, including:
- Bold sans-serifs for loud statements
- Handwritten fonts for casual or personal vibes
- Elegant serifs for premium branding
The app also lets you:
- Add shadow and outline for readability (if you’re familiar with CapCut, it essentially works the same)
- Add fade-ins or typewriter animations
- Scale text according to importance and focus
- Change color (with basically unlimited hue combinations)
- Align text to left, right, and center,
- And add background
With all the available options, it’s easy to match your brand colors and fonts precisely without adding the text in other image editing tools (which Instagram can’t read = they won’t work for your Instagram SEO.)
How to use the green screen
When you want to record a video describing another video or image, you can use the green screen effect, available in the bottom menu when editing a video layer.
To use it:
- Upload the video you want to use as the background.
- Select the video layer and find “green screen” in the bottom menu.
- Tap it and then record yourself on top of your “green screen” – like I just did. 😀
It’s a great tool for things like:
- Placing yourself “inside” your website or app that you want to talk about (e.g., in a tutorial or review)
- Add fun backdrops for memes or reaction clips
- Use product mockups or branded backgrounds
Follow these tips to make your green screen videos look better:
- Record with even lighting and minimal shadows (a green screen recording can vary dramatically depending on the lighting)
- Avoid wearing clothes that match the backdrop
- You can resize the overlay video and move it around (also during recording) so that you don’t cover the elements you want to talk about.
Working with cutouts and layers
The app’s AI tool lets you extract a subject from an image or video. To do that:
- Select a frame or image
- Tap Cutout
- Adjust the edges and save
You can then layer your cutouts over the original footage to create more dynamic scenes, without having to remove the background from a photo in another app such as Canva.
And the coolest thing is you can create cutouts from videos with essentially a few clicks, which can be a great alternative to the green screen effect, letting you:
- Add your reaction as a cutout over another video
- Show a product demo alongside your talking head
- Place text or symbols next to your face in comedy skits
You can add multiple cutouts on different layers, essentially letting you create a pretty advanced video collage with just one app on your phone.
Enhancing your Reels with music and sound effects
Sounds are key elements of Reels (especially those trending ones), and you have several options to play with them inside the Instagram Edits app:
- Browse trending music within the app
- Access sound effects like swooshes, clicks, and more
- Record your voice over a video
- Find royalty-free music
- Import music and sounds from your phone (though, avoid uploading copyrighted tracks without a license)
- Use voice effects to alter the sound of your voice
A really cool feature is syncing beats with your visuals using beat markers on your audio layer.
Advanced editing techniques
The Instagram Edits app is really powerful when it comes to what you can do – incomparably so when you look at the native in-app Reel editor. Here are a few things you can do.
Speed controls, color correction, and audio mixing
- Speed up or slow down clips to match the mood or audio
- Adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation for better visuals
- Control audio levels for dialogue vs music balance (you can adjust each layer’s volume to find the right balance for the whole thing, and make sure the background track doesn’t overwhelm the speaker.)
Adding transitions, overlays, and custom filters
- Add smooth transitions like fades or slides, for a professional look of your Reel
- Use overlays for branding or animated elements. For example, you can add another video on top and let it play for a moment, to then refer to it.
- Create and reuse custom filter presets for consistency.
Using keyframes and fine-tuning details for polished results
- Add keyframes to animate movement, focus, or opacity.
- Fine-tune text and sticker positioning frame-by-frame.
- Polish timing for each clip to avoid awkward cuts
Here’s an example of how you can use keyframes in your Reels.
Why won’t Instagram save my Edits?
If you encounter problems saving or exporting your Edits, or using the app in general, here are some common issues and how to troubleshoot them:
- If your app is freezing or crashing, try force-quitting and reopening.
- If your Edits are not saving, check if you’re logged into the correct account, and make sure your phone has enough free space.
- You should also enable storage permissions in your phone settings
- If your app continues to lag or crash, restart your phone
To correctly export an Edit:
- Tap “Export” in the top-right corner
- Choose “Save to device” or “Open in Instagram”
- Your video will appear in your camera roll or Instagram drafts
Best practices and tips for creating Reels with Instagram Edits
- To stay consistent with your editing style:
- Use similar fonts, colors, and transitions across videos
- Build templates for faster content creation
- Save and reuse branded elements
- If you want to make sure Instagram algorithm “likes” your content:
- Use a hook to grab attention in the first 2 seconds, and edit out any silence that your Reel starts with (it might cost you views)
- Use trending sounds and formats – but always add something original to a trend. It’s not about just blindly following it as much as it is about adding a personal spin on it.
- Include relevant hashtags and keywords in your captions so the right people can find your content easier.
- To keep up with app updates and trending editing formats
- Follow @creators on Instagram or Meta’s blog for new feature releases
- Watch what top creators are doing with Reels (there are also many creators who share tips on editing, trends, and hooking your audience, so look for them on Instagram).
- Try out trends early while they’re still gaining traction – that’s when you have the biggest chance of going viral with your content
Try Instagram Edits to see what you think
Instagram Edits truly offers everything you need to make standout Reels without leaving the Instagram ecosystem. It’s intuitive enough for beginners and powerful enough for pros, letting you create polished content that fits your style and goals.
Don’t be afraid to test new techniques, mix formats, or play with trends. The more you create, the faster you’ll develop a unique visual voice.
And if you want to dive deeper, follow Instagram Creators for tutorials and tips, and, of course, check out NapoleonCat’s blog for more content strategy insights! 🙂
FAQs about Instagram Edits
Instagram just released its new built-in video editor, Edits. Here are some FAQs to help you get the hang of it.
How to find Instagram Edits?
Instagram Edits is a standalone app currently being rolled out in select regions. To find it:
- Search for “Instagram Edits” in the App Store or Google Play Store
- Check Meta’s official announcements for availability in your country
- Make sure your Instagram app is up to date – it may notify you about the new app
Once downloaded, you can log in with your Instagram account to start creating.
How to do Edits on Instagram?
To make an edit using the Edits app:
- Open the Edits app and tap New Project
- Import or record your video clips
- Use the timeline to arrange, trim, and layer content
- Add effects, transitions, text, music, and more
- Export your video directly to Instagram or save it to your device
The app gives you more flexibility than the in-app editor and is ideal for crafting polished Reels.
Is Instagram Edits free?
Yes, Instagram Edits is completely free to use. It’s part of Instagram’s growing set of creator tools aimed at making video content creation easier and more engaging. There are no in-app purchases or subscription fees at the moment.
What is the new Edits app on Instagram?
The Instagram Edits app is a separate video editing app from Meta designed specifically for Reels. It offers advanced editing features like:
- A multi-layer timeline
- Green screen and cutout tools
- A wide range of fonts and effects
- Access to trending audio and sound effects
- Project planning and folder organization
It’s perfect for creators, marketers, and anyone who wants to step up their video editing game for Instagram.
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