Instagram's Edits App Turns One: How Meta Evolved Its Free Video Editing App and What's Next

Instagram launched its new standalone Edits app a year ago as a separate creative studio platform for creators on the platform in April last year. Today marks one year since the release of the Edits app. To celebrate the first anniversary of the app, the social media platform has shared how it managed to bring more than 130 additional features to the Edits app with weekly updates. The company roped in various creators on the platform before and after the app was launched. It also held regular team meetings to deliberate on features in development, before they were released for creators.

Here's how Instagram's Edits app evolved in its first year, including the most significant upgrades, and what the future looks like for the platform.

Instagram's Edits App: One Year Later

On Wednesday, Instagram highlighted that its Edits app has been available for one year now. Looking back at the year that is behind us, the company said that it has brought over 130 additional features to the app through weekly updates. Brett Westervelt, the head of the Edits app, highlighted that before the launch of the platform, his team had worked with the creator community on Instagram.

Moreover, the team held weekly meetings on Friday mornings to get together and discuss what they had been able to build so far. Westervelt said that the meetings also involved them questioning, “Is this ready yet? Is it good enough? What will people think?”, and also making calls on whether the platform is ready for users or not. By creating a feedback loop involving the end-user, primarily creators and influencers, Instagram was able to fine-tune the Edits app, leading to its official release last year.

Evolving the Edits App Using Creator Feedback

The company said that the Edits app has helped creators in various ways, allowing them to edit videos, add captions to their Reels, edit audio tracks, adjust colours, and more. After using these features, the creator community provided feedback to the company, highlighting that it was “hard to read scripts from their notes while filming”. These led to the company bringing the in-app teleprompter feature to the Edits app.

Similarly, to simplify workflows and creative processes, Instagram added an Ideas tab to the Edits app. The section is meant to display all the Reels that have been saved by a creator, along with the specific audio clips from Instagram. The tab also provides sticky notes to users so that they can keep their ideas in one place. On top of this, the app also curates an “inspiration feed” for creators based on what they have been posting, while providing key insights by summarising the comments on their posts and generating ideas.

What's in Store for Instagram's Edits App

On what the future of the Edits app looks like, Instagram highlighted that in its second year, the platform will see the integration of new features, while refining the core tools that already exist. The company also plans to upgrade the captions, including bilingual captions, advanced colour adjustments, and speed curves.

Moreover, Instagram will work on bringing customisation options to its tools. Also, the Edits app will get upgraded to allow creators to pin their favourite tools, get their hands on more insights about their followers, and build themes for projects using the app.