Instagram has been really quick to claim a share of TikTok’s pie with its own feature called Reels. Just like TikTok and even YouTube Shorts, you can now create 15-30 seconds vertical videos in Instagram. However, the inbuilt editor is not at all intuitive. So, if you’ve been looking for a quality video editor to create videos for Instagram Reels then you’re in the right place. Here are some of the best Reel editing apps for Instagram to make professional-grade videos. Let’s check those out.
The Problem With Editing Reels in Instagram
Instagram lets you create reels with minimal effort and the process looks less like video editing and more like a procedure. Let me explain. You begin with selecting the length of the video that can be 15 to 30 seconds. After that, you choose an audio clip to pair with the video, set an Instagram filter, and start recording. Once the clip is recorded, you either post what you get or record again. There’s no way to reuse that take or edit it. That’s where third-party apps reel editing apps for Instagram come in offering multiple features in a dedicated app to edit videos.
1. Clips | Add Real-Time Captions to Instagram Reels
Clips is a wonderful app that lets you create fun videos by using Apple’s inbuilt Animojis, filters, effects, and real-time captions. When creating an Instagram Reel, it’s crucial to get your point across in less than a minute and real-time captions can really help. Clips does a fantastic job of capturing your words and transcribing them. The English language works flawlessly but you may get some errors with other languages or if your background has noise. Clips is free and only available for iPhone and iPad.
Get Clips for iPhone (free)
2. InShot | Convert Landscape Videos to Portrait for Instagram Reels
Though Instagram Reels is primarily for making vertical videos, you can upload landscape videos as well. However, you’d see that Instagram adds black borders on top and bottom that don’t look really appealing. InShot solves this problem by adding a dynamic background that is a blurred version of the original footage. Not only this looks better than a static black background, but it also adds a sense of richness that gives a perception of full-page content.
You can choose varying levels of blur or select any solid background from the color palette. InShot is free and available for both Android and iOS.
Get InShot for Android and InShot for iPhone (free)
3. Filmorago | Slow Down or Speed up Your Videos
When trying to recreate viral trends with smooth dance moves from TikTok or Instagram Reels, one trick is to slow down the music so you can effectively sync your moves to the beat. However, Instagram only has fixed speeds in which you can either slow down to 0.5x or 0.3x. On the other hand, you can speed up the video to record at up to 4x speeds. This means you can’t fine-tune and sync the footage without wasting a lot of time in the Instagram Reel editor.
FilmoraGo offers a precise speed adjustment where you can slow down the footage up to 0.1x or speed it up to 5x. It may not look like much but gives finer control over the speed of the video. The exported video would be saved with a watermark which you can remove for a one-time fee of $4.99 or get a subscription for $1/week.
Get FilmoraGo for Android and FilmoraGo for iPhone (free, in-app purchases)
4. Adobe Premiere Rush | Add Transitions to Instagram Reels
Inshot is a good Reel editing app for Instagram when you just wish to add dynamic borders on a landscape video. But if you zoom in a landscape video into a vertical video, you lose the details on the side. Adobe Premiere Rush has a smart feature called Auto Reframe that will automatically track the scene and keep the object in the middle. It’s a great way of converting a landscape Instagram Reels video without losing valuable information. You can also improve the effectiveness of the reframe by splitting the video into multiple segments and applying the effect on each part of the clip.
Along with that, Premiere Rush offers a few templates with transition effects such as fade-in, slide from the side, wipe, push, and dissolve. Adobe Premiere Rush is free but the auto reframing feature is locked behind a subscription that would cost $5/month. But you can use it for so much more than simply editing Instagram Reels.
Get Adobe Premiere Rush for Android and Adobe Premiere Rush for iPhone (free, in-app purchases)
5. VITA | Add a Video Overlay (PIP) to Instagram Reels
If you want to create a Instagram Reels video by overlaying another video on top, popularly known as PIP, VITA video editor is a great choice. Along with a full-fledged editor with multi-track editing, the PIP mode makes total sense. You can overlay a video on top of the base layer, adjust audio levels separately, resize the overlaid video, and even rotate it.
VITA is completely free and doesn’t have any ads or hidden costs.
Get VITA for Android and VITA for iPhone (free)
6. VN Editor | Add Custom Audio to your Videos
The main drawback of using third-party video editors instead of Instagram is that you need to have access to the music you’re going to use in the video. If not, you’re stuck because most editors rely on either your personal collection or music service. However, VN Editor has powerful tools that allow you to fetch audio from multiple sources. For example, you can split audio from an existing video, download with an external link, fetch from local music, record with a mic, or simply copy from your computer over Wi-Fi.
VN Editor makes sense as it lets you do all of those things even on the iPhone. Along with this, you get a full-fledged Instagram Reels video editor with multi-track editing, filters, effects, transitions, and templates. VN Editor is free on both Android and iOS.
Get VN Editor for Android and VN Editor for iPhone (free)
7. VLLO Editor | Use Green Screen Effects with Chroma Key
Green Screen opens up unlimited opportunities with just a green-colored fabric. Unfortunately, most mobile video editors don’t offer Chroma Key but VLLO does. It makes editing out the green background with easy-to-use sliders and adjust saturation, brightness, and hue. Simply tap the video layer and select the color from the footage that you wish to remove and adjust the three parameters until the entire background is removed. You would get better results if you use a consistent soft light across the frame, and don’t wear color similar to the background.
VLLO Editor is free and available for both Android and iOS.
Get VLLO for Android and VLLO for iPhone (free, in-app purchases)
Which Are the Best Reel Editing Apps for Instagram
These are some of the best Instagram Reel editing apps that you can check out if you want to up your Instagram game. The apps have a better interface and you won’t be limited by Instagram’s editor. VLLO, VN, and VITA are all around video editors with features that rival desktop class editing software. If you just want to make short modifications, Clips and InShot will do just fine. What are your favorite Instagram Reels editing apps? Let me know on Twitter.
Also Read: How to Add Multiple Photos to One Instagram Story
