Affordable & Accessible: The Definitive Guide to 9 Budget-Friendly Editors

9 Best Free and Easy Editing Apps You Should Know

Richard Bennett

Dec 14, 2023• Proven solutions

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Have you ever made a video 100% on your phone using a mobile video editing app?

If you’ve just started off on YouTube, there’s a good chance your main camera is the one in your phone. Actually, there’s a good chance of that even if you’ve been making YouTube videos for a while now.

Since you’re shooting videos on your phone, why shouldn’t you edit them there too? Here are 9 free video editing apps you can use for YouTube.

Note: This is not a ranked list. The apps will appear in alphabetical order.

1. Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS)
2. Cameo (iOS)
3. Clips (iOS)
4. Filmora (Android or iOS)
5. Funimate (Android or iOS)
6. iMovie (iOS)
7. Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS)
8. PowerDirector (Android)
9. Vlogit (Android or iOS)

Adobe Premiere Clip (Android or iOS )

Key Points:

1. Automatic using clips. Times them to music
2. Guides you with pop-up tips
3. No text/title overlays
4. Exports directly to YouTube

Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional-grade desktop editor, and Adobe Premiere Clip lives up to the quality standards set by its big-brother software. It is missing some features you might want for YouTube videos, like title effects, but it does have some bells and whistles. There’s a good selection of filters.

Making changes to your picture, like adjusting the exposure or the prevalence of highlights or shadows, is just a matter of sliding bars. The tools for splitting and duplicating clips are easy to find too. You just toggle between the two icons right above your video – the one that looks like a shutter and the one that looks like adjustment bars – to switch between the picture tools and the other tools.

You cannot add what you might normally think of as a title effect in Adobe Premiere Clip, so it’ll be hard to fully complete your video. You can add text cards to put in-between your video clips, but you can’t overlay the title on top of a clip.

You can share your video directly to YouTube when you export.

Cameo (iOS)

Key Points:

1. Easy-to-apply themes
2. Customizable titles
3. Limited features
4. Exports to 4K (if your clips are 4K)

Vimeo is a video sharing site with more of a ‘filmmaker’ focus than YouTube, so it isn’t a surprise that their mobile editing app Cameo can export high-quality 4K videos.

Like some of the other apps on this list, Cameo does not have a huge variety of functions. You can reorder your clips, trim them, add titles, and apply themes (essentially filter and title combos).

There are three icons on the main interface: Scissors, a Music Note, and Filters.

The Scissors will take you to the trimming screen, where you can make your clip shorter or longer.

You can also add a title in the trimming screen, but you will not be able to change the font style or color until you are in the Filter screen.

In the Filter screen (tap the overlapping filters icon on the main interface) you will be able to adjust the color of your text by tapping on the circle with the A in it. Tapping where it says ‘Font’ will change your font style.

You can also tap on Themes and choose a premade style.

Here’s what ‘Crush’ looks like applied:

My font was changed, and there’s also a filter now. In order to apply a filter, you must start with a theme.

Clips (iOS)

Key Points:

1. Great selection of stickers
2. Lacks some basic tools
3. Simple interface

Clips is an intuitive app with a lot of options for decorating your videos. It is lacking in some of the more basic editings features you might expect (i.e. you cannot split clips or do any color correction), but it has a lot of fun features like stickers and emojis that could make up for that depending on your needs.

There are also more traditional effects, like filters and titles. There are a wide range of title options in styles that are popular on YouTube, and a fairly standard filter selection.

While you cannot split clips in this app, but trimming and reordering them is easy. For trimming, you just select the clip and then Trim to open a screen where you can drag the start and end points of the clip.

To rearrange your clips, just tap the clip you want to move and hold down. You’ll be able to drag it to a new location.

It’d be hard to rely on Clips exclusively as your YouTube video editor, but it’s well suited for Instagram or for making quick ‘on-the-go’ videos.

Filmora (Android or iOS)

Key Points:

1. Export directly to YouTube
2. 16:9 or 1:1 for Instagram
3. Includes effects like transitions, filters, and overlays
4. End-roll logo

You can make a complete video easily just by tapping and dragging in Filmora, and there are even effects like filters, transitions, and overlays you can add to make your video more polished.

After importing your media into Filmora (you can import videos and photos saved on your phone, or media which has been uploaded to a social media account like Facebook or Instagram) you can change the order of your clips by tapping one, pressing down for a moment, and then dragging your clips where you want them.

Trimming a clip is as simple as tapping on it and then Duration. You’ll get this screen where you can adjust the length easily by dragging the markers to beginning or endpoints.

Cropping and zooming are simple too.

Filmora comes with pre-made themes you can apply which include titles, filters, and other effects. These might not be ideal if you already have branding you like to use for YouTube, but in some situations, they can make video creation a lot faster.

Filmora comes loaded with music, or you can even import your own music from your phone.

Once you’re done, tap ‘save’ in the top right corner of your screen to export your video. From the save screen, you’ll be able to export your video directly to YouTube.

One potential drawback is that Filmora will add its own logo to the end of your exported video. This logo will not distract from your video content since it is added at the end and never overlaps any of your clips, but it still might not be ideal for all creators.

Funimate (Android or iOS )

Key Points:

1. Easily add text and shapes
2. Rainbow doodling
3. Shake effects
4. Small ‘Funimate’ watermark in videos from the free version

Funimate is lives up to the ‘fun’ promise in its name. It’s designed mostly for music videos/Musical.ly and while it is missing a lot of more typical editing options, there are a few free tools in Funimate that other apps just don’t have.

For example, there are shake and distortion effects available through Funimate that you usually only find in desktop software.

You can also draw rainbow designs on your video with your finger – no other app on this list can do that.

The text tool in Funimate is easy to use, and there are cool looking glow effects you can apply in the color selection screen. Those options are also available when you’re adding shapes, likes stars and sparkles.

Funimate is not built for typical editing, which is both its strength and its weakness. Trimming your clips is its own stage which you must complete before you start adding effects, and you cannot split clips or add multiple clips.

The free version of Funimate does add a small watermark to your videos in the bottom-right corner, but it is subtle enough that I almost missed it completely while reviewing the app.

iMovie (iOS)

Key Points:

1. Trailer templates
2. Themes
3. Limited tools and resources

iMovie’s mobile app is designed for ease and includes things like ‘trailer templates’ and themes that allow you to make a video quickly and with minimal effort.

This streamlined app is limited in its features. Other apps on this list have left out color correction tools or clip splitting tools and instead loaded up on decorative features like stickers, emojis, and overlays. iMovie has left out these tools and does not have an abundance of decorative features either.

There are filters, themes, and titles, however.

The titles are simple but polished, and you’ll find all the standard types of filters.

The themes include a variety of graphics and are applied to your entire video, not individual clips. You can also apply one filter to your entire video.

iMovie also includes a decent selection of transitions, which you can apply easily by tapping the area between two clips.

Movie Maker Filmmaker by Alive (Android or iOS )

Key Points:

1. Good title tool
2. Stickers
3. Change clip duration
4. 16:9 or 1:1

Movie Maker Filmmaker (the app will be labeled ‘Alive’ in on your phone) has a lot of features that will help you put together a fun YouTube video. There’s a great selection of stickers, filters, and overlays and they’re all easy to apply. You just click on what you want and resize/reposition it in the player.

This app is missing a lot of basic editing features, however. You cannot adjust things like brightness or saturation. This won’t be a problem if you’re happy with your clips as-is, but it’s a bit odd to not have those options.

There is a text tool and while it is fairly basic, it is also flexible. There is a good selection of fonts to choose from, and you can also choose whether or not you want a colored background, and if your text should have a shadow.

Once you’ve decided on the look of your text you can drag it, resize it, and tilt it however you want in the preview screen.

A slightly odd feature of this app is that it doesn’t save your video to your phone or export it directly to YouTube. Instead, it saves it – and shares it – within the app and gives you the option of sharing it with YouTube after.

Power Director (Android)

Key Points:

1. A timeline like desktop software
2. All the basic editing features
3. Lots of transitions
4. Videos from the free version will be watermarked

The first thing you’ll notice when you open up Power Director is that the interface looks a lot like the interface of a lot of desktop editors with a very classic timeline. This familiarity could make it easy to jump into if you’re used to editing on your laptop.

However, Power Director is a bit less intuitive than most of the other apps on this list. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s difficult to use – it isn’t, it’s much easier than a lot of desktop software – but among mobile apps designed for streamlined efficiency it does stand out as being a bit harder to dive into.

That is partly because there’s a lot you can do with it. It has the tools you would expect in an editor. You can split and trim clips, and you have all the standard color tools including some that most mobile apps leave out.

A lot of apps have Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation, but PowerDirector also has Color Temperature and Tint.

In addition to editing tools, PowerDirector has bells and whistles like filters –

- and a ton of great transitions.

One drawback of PowerDirector is that the free version will watermark your videos. This watermark is not intrusive, but it isn’t as subtle as the Funimate one either.

You can export videos from PowerDirector directly to YouTube.

Vlogit (Android or iOS )

Key Points:

1. Easy thumbnail maker
2. Export directly to YouTube
3. Animated stickers

Vlogit is also an app from the creators of the Filmora Video Editor. It isn’t quite as intuitive as Filmora, but the major benefit of Vlogit for YouTube creators is that it was designed with you in mind. It has features like animated stickers, emojis, and a thumbnail maker which were included specifically because YouTubers and vloggers need them.

All the usual adjustments you might want to make, like saturation or sharpness, are easy in Vlogit. So are adjustments to the length or crop of clips.

After you save your video you’ll have the option of creating a thumbnail using a screenshot from your video. You can add a colored border, text, emojis, and more!

Once you’re done, you can export directly to YouTube. Like Filmora, Vlogit does have a post-video logo roll.

Have you ever used a free mobile app to edit one of your YouTube videos? What did you use, and were you happy with the results?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Building Engaging Learning Experiences: YouTube as Your Classroom Screen

Easy Ways to Make a Great Educational Video for YouTube

Marion Dubois

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

YouTube is an app that makes it easy for teachers to carry out their work efficiently and conveniently. A teacher should start a YouTube channel because it is beneficial to their students and themselves. The materials or content dished on these channels helps give lessons and instructions in the absence of the teacher, give a detailed explanation and trigger the students’ interest.

Also, it archives all the lessons for a long time and makes them easily accessible by both the present, past, and future students. Students can quickly go back for a review for upcoming exams. Through feedbacks or comments, teachers can provide answers to students with the problem of clarity.

A teacher needs to know what an educational video is, what makes an excellent educational video, and how to make an educational video for YouTube before opening a YouTube channel. Now, let’s delve into it!

Part 1. What’s an Educational Video?

From the name “educational video,” you can coin out that it is a video made for the sole purpose of educating or passing out knowledge for the sake of learning. The primary purpose of these videos is to teach an audience about a particular problem or important topics they want to learn about.

Sometimes brands use this method to advertise their brand while being a source of information.

Part 2. What Makes a Good Educational Video?

An excellent educational video aids the learning process. It triggers learners in analyzing and evaluating concepts provided by the video. Videos are great educational tools that most teachers must adopt due to their role in facilitating the learning process.

To make a good educational video, you should keep the following points in mind:

• Keep your students engaged

An excellent educational video should be eye catchy and exciting to get your student’s undivided attention. You can achieve it in any way, one of which is that you need to put yourself into the teaching mode, which means that you should give out the impression of your excitement for the course content you are talking about. Ask them questions, let them feel involved in the process. Please don’t go ahead talking with a cold tune. It makes them tired of listening or seeing the video.

• Be sure to maintain a right-size of video length

It’s better shorter than longer. Have you ever seen a boring, long movie? It’s almost the same feeling you get seeing a long educational video.

The video should be straightforward to leverage the advantage of this form of learning. One needs to make this video of the right size for easy assimilation by the learner. Depending on the course topic, your video can be between 2 - 20 minutes long.

Most importantly, don’t try to do much and use more straightforward, understandable concepts.

• Stay focused

Making your videos focused and not running around many things helps it pass the information that plays a good role in video length management and engagement. Videos that try to divert from the topic may end up not hitting the nail on the head and not accomplishing their purpose.

• Center your interest on the student’s needs

Any educational content should be centered to meet the needs of the students. That goes beyond creating content, but covers the entirety of satisfying the needs of your learners.

Part 3. How to Make a Great Educational Video for YouTube?

The best and most recommendable video maker for making a great educational video is Wondershare Filmora.It is a video maker that enables you to create videos with effects like transition, filters, motion elements, and titles on your video.

Color grading and speed control of each clip on your video are possible using Filmora. You can apply other features like screen record, split-screen options, audio ducking, keyframing, motion tracking and more with an easy-to-use interface to fit the student’s interest.

To make a great educational video for YouTube, you can achieve this using Filmora. Follow the steps below.

Step 1. Launch Filmora and select the aspect ratio

Launch Filmora by double-clicking on the icon, and start working on a new project by selecting project aspect ratio.

Step 2. Create a new project and import footage

Click the “New Project” icon on the program’s welcome screen and wait for some time for the editor to load.

Then, move to choose your desired aspect ratio and click on the import footage icon located at the left corner of the video editor.

Step 3. Organize your project material

At the bottom of the “My Project” tab, click on “add a new folder”. In that new folder, arrange the footage alphabetically. This reduces time spent browsing files and increases efficiency.

Step 4. Preview and edit your video

Press the play icon to preview the video clip. Trim your video clip to the desired video size by dragging the end of the video clip left or right.

Then add customized text and add effects to the video if needed. An amazing effect can be added to each clip of the video to create an outstanding video.

Step 5. Export and share the video

When you’re okay with the already made video, click the Export button. Choose the YouTube option to upload it easily from the Filmora program.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, the process of creating an educational video requires that you pay attention to some things to create an excellent educational video that achieves the learning goal. Once you’ve learned what it means to make an educational video, how to go about it wouldn’t be something to worry about.

Thus, with the steps mentioned above, how to make a great educational video for YouTube has been answered. Now, you can go ahead and make amazing educational videos by yourself.

Marion Dubois

Marion Dubois is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Marion Dubois

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