Guide
You can edit a reel in Instagram Edits in five steps, but you make each cut yourself
Updated
Edits is Instagram's free video editing app for your phone. Here's how to use it, step by step, and how Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video of you talking from one press.
In short
- To use Instagram Edits, log in with your Instagram account, start a new project, add your clips, cut the slow parts, add captions, text and music, then export.
- Edits is free, exports in 4K with no watermark and records clips up to 10 minutes, but you choose and make the cuts and on-screen text yourself.
- Cutroom's Magic Editor makes the whole edit of a talking clip for you, and you change it by asking in a chat.
A skincare creator's sunscreen review, before and after Cutroom's Magic Editor
In Edits, you make each cut and place each text box on this clip yourself. In Cutroom's Magic Editor, Jacob makes the whole edit from one press.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 45-second phone video of a skincare creator giving her verdict on a sunscreen she tried for two weeks
“Okay so I wore this sunscreen every day for two weeks. Um, it doesn't leave a white cast ... (pause) and it doesn't pill under makeup. Honestly, honestly, it's the first one I'd buy again.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Verdict style
“I wore this sunscreen every day for two weeks. it doesn't leave a white cast and it doesn't pill under makeup. it's the first one I'd buy again.”
- On “sunscreen”: your product photo cut in as you name it
- On “makeup”: your photo of the sunscreen on your skin playing on a laptop while you shrink into a small card
- On “again”: a typed call to action and a follow card at the end
- Under the whole video: calm music under your voice
Then you ask Jacob
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”v2the same edit, about 10 seconds shorter
- “Change the call to action to Try it free”v3the same edit, ending on the new call to action
What is the Instagram Edits app?
Edits is a video editor for your phone, made by Instagram and built for Reels. Here is what its App Store page says, as of November 2026.
- It is free to download, with some in-app purchases. There is an Android version on Google Play too.
- You log in with the Instagram account you already have.
- It records clips up to 10 minutes long.
- It makes captions automatically, and you can change how they look.
- It also has a green screen and a cutout tool that lifts you out of the background.
- It exports in 4K with no watermark, and shares straight to Instagram.
How to use Edits, step by step
These steps follow Instagram's own Edits site and tutorials, as of November 2026. Edits updates almost every week, so a button may sit in a slightly different place on your phone.
- Open Edits, log in with your Instagram account and tap New project. Record your clip in the app or pick one from your camera roll.
- Cut out the slow parts on the timeline, the strip of clips where you edit clip by clip. Instagram's tutorials don't show this step, so look for the cut tool on the clip.
- Tap Captions. Edits writes out what you say. Tap any caption to open the bulk editor, where you fix typos, merge or split captions and change their timing.
- Add a text sticker for your main point. You can change its line height, outline and colours, and save the look to use again.
- Add music or sound from the audio library.
- Export the video, then share it straight to Instagram or save it to post elsewhere.
How Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video like this
Jacob is the AI editor inside Cutroom's Magic Editor: it edits your video for you, then changes it when you ask in a chat.
The 4 styles, as example edits
Steps
Three steps, four angles
Skit
Hook, hard stop, demo card
Verdict
The tester's verdict
Poster
Typography does the talking
Hover or tap an example to play it, without sound. These are example edits of each style; the presenters in them are generated with AI.
- Your take: one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes
- Your style: one of 4: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster
- Your files: screenshots, a screen recording or a logo, if you have them
- Your goal: what the video is for, in a few words, if you like
- Jacob makes it: normally 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email
- Your edit: ask Jacob for changes in a chat, then export
Then you ask Jacob, for example
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”
- “Put a clip on the strongest sentence”
- “Change the music to something calmer”
Each change is a new version, and going back is free. First cut 250 credits, each change 40, questions free, export 30 credits per started minute.
What Edits leaves for you to do
Edits writes your captions, but it doesn't choose what to cut or which words to show. On a one-minute talking clip that can be a lot of small cuts and text boxes.
- You find and cut every um, repeat and long pause yourself.
- You decide which words get text on screen, and place each one.
- You add your own screenshots or product shots and line them up with what you say.
- You check the captions word by word before you post.
If you'd rather not edit at all
Cutroom's Magic Editor is for people who'd rather film than edit. You upload one clip of you talking, up to 3 minutes long. You add any screenshots or product photos, pick a style and press "Make my video".
Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole edit. Then you change it by asking in the chat, in plain words. Every change makes a new version, and the earlier versions stay.
- It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready.
- A chat message that changes the video costs 40 credits. Tapping a word to cut it or fix its caption is free.
- You get one vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920. There is no 4K or wide export, and you post it yourself.
- A video up to a minute costs 280 credits. Your first video is free, no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom mark; Lite at $19.99/month removes it.
Questions people ask
- Is Instagram Edits free?
- Yes. Edits is free to download, and the App Store lists some in-app purchases. Its exports have no watermark.
- Can Edits add captions automatically?
- Yes. Tap Captions and Edits writes out what you say. Tap any caption to open the bulk editor to fix a wrong word, then change how the captions look.
- Is Edits better than CapCut?
- Edits is the easier pick if you post mostly to Instagram, because it shares straight there and its exports have no watermark. CapCut also lets you style and animate text, and it works online on a computer too. Check CapCut's own page for what is free today.
- Is there an app that edits the video for me?
- Yes. Cutroom's Magic Editor turns one clip of you talking into a finished vertical video. It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready. Your first video is free, no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom mark; Lite at $19.99/month removes it.
Rather film than edit? Upload one clip and let Cutroom's Magic Editor make the whole edit.