How to shorten a video on iPhone

It is a pretty evening on the beach. Your holiday is off to a perfect start as you see beautiful waves hitting the shore. You took out your iPhone and captured an epic wave. All you need to do now is trim the video to those magic moments and share it with the world. But how do you trim a video on iPhone?

In this blog, we give you three solutions that you can choose from to trim videos on your iPhone.

Solution #1: Photos app

Photos app is the default app that shows you all the photos and videos stored on your iPhone. It is like the Gallery app on Android phones.

Photos app has some in-built editing features. Let's see how to trim a video using the Photos app.

Open the Photos app on the iPhone. Choose the video you want to trim.

Click Edit. You will see a draggable clip trimmer at the beginning and the end of the video.

Drag the clip trimmer from the start to the point till which you want to trim. Now do the same for the end of the clip. Drag the end trimmer to the point you want to keep.

The section about to be trimmed will be greyed out, as you see in the image above.

Click Done to trim. Tap on "Save as new clip" to keep the original as it is and save the trimmed version as a new file.

That's it. Your video is now trimmed to perfection.

Solution #2: Filmora

Filmora is a full-fledged video editing desktop app that goes beyond just trimming a video.

Filmora provides you with a ton of other editing capabilities along with advanced features like speed adjustments, motion tracking, audio ducking and denoise etc. Filmora also has a great collection of stock media resources to take your video to the next level.

Filmora has both a Windows and a Mac version. It supports almost all commonly-used video formats like MP4, AVI, MOV, MPG, VOB, WMV, etc.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to trim an iPhone video in Filmora.

Try It Free For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free For macOS 10.12 or later

Step 1: Import your video

Transfer your file to the desktop. Open Filmora and import the media file by choosing File - Import Media - Import Media Files. You can also use the keyboard shortcut - Ctrl + I.

Step 2: Trim video

You can trim the video in two ways:

Option#1: Drag the edges

Drag the edges of the clip (start and end) to keep only the parts you want.

Option #2: Trim to playhead

Move the red playhead to a point where you want to trim and right-click on the clip.

• The option "Trim Start to Playhead" will trim from the start of the video to the playhead.
• The option "Trim End to Playhead" will trim from the playhead till the end of the video.

Step 3: Export video

Save the video by clicking on Export. Choose the format and location where you want to save.

Try It Free For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free For macOS 10.12 or later

Solution #3: iMovie

iMovie is another app provided by Apple on their iOS and macOS devices. Unlike the Photos app, which is like a photo gallery app for iPhone, iMovie is a proper video editing tool.

Here's how to trim a video in iMovie.

Open an iMovie project. Add the video you want to trim to the project.

Once the video shows in the timeline, tap on the video. You will now see yellow trim handles on both edges of the clip.

Drag the yellow trim handle forwards or backwards to choose the part you want to keep.

Once the desired part is selected, click Done to save the project.

Now, export the project video by clicking on the share icon. Choose the option to save the video.

The trimmed video will now be saved as a separate clip in the Photos app.

All three solutions help you to trim your video. Filmora, with its comprehensive editing features, can help even when you feel like going beyond just simple trimming.

How do you trim the video and cut out unwanted parts to share the best moment of your video on iPhone and iPad? There are a couple of different ways that you can go about this process.

You can cut the videos on your iPhone 11/XR/X/9/7 with its built-in editing tools or you can opt for a third-party trimming application. This is a personal preference that will depend on exactly what you want to do with regard to your video editing.

In this article, I’ll show you how to trim and cut videos on iPhone with the built-in Photos app and introduce some video trimming apps for iOS.

• Part 1: With Built-in Photos app on iPhone
• Part 2: With third party video editing apps for iOS

Trim or cut videos with built-in Photos on iPhone

After the iOS 13 update, the Photos app on iPhone features more video editing capabilities. The Photos app is not limited to editing photos only, you can now use it to crop, cut, trim, rotate, and do color correction as well.

In order to edit your video clip, you will need to either go to the Camera app or the Photos app. Usually, I will go to the Photos app, switch to Albums, and scroll down to the Videos menu under Media Types.

From there, you will select the video that you want to edit and trim. The video will play automatically and you can see some icons such as sharing, playback, audio, and delete on the screen. Tap "Edit" on the top right corner of the interface.

Tap and drag on either side of the timeline at the bottom, and you will see a yellow box. Drag the sliders on the yellow box to adjust the starting and stopping time of your video to trim out unwanted parts.

After you have completed this, you can tap the Preview button to check and then press the "Done" button. In iOS13, the trimmed video will be saved to a new clip automatically. You can then click the Upload icon to save it to Files, add it to an album, duplicate or share it with AirPlay.

But if you want to trim and edit the original video again, just tap the Edit button, and then click Revert. This action will revert the video to the original one, and all edits made to this video will be removed as well.

Below is the video tutorial about how to trim and crop videos on iPhone and iPad published by Apple Support. If you still have some questions about trimming and cutting on iPhone, I hope this video will help.

Trim or cut videos using third party trimming & editing apps for iOS

If you want to split the video footage and cut out an unwanted section from the middle of the footage, your other option is to get a third-party application for your video editing needs. Here we will take a look at some of the best video editing apps for iOS that you can use to trim and cut videos easily:

1. iMovie

Maybe you want to do a bit more with your video than the basic Photos app allows users to. For this, Apple has created the iMovie app which is very similar to the desktop application that you can find on Mac computers. This particular application can do most of what its desktop application can do, however, there are some limitations to its capabilities. A benefit is that through this app, you can easily transfer your Mac to do any further edits that you may want to do.

You can click here to download the iMovie app from Apple App Store directly.

The trimming process in iMovie is similar to that of the Photos app. After dragging the clips to the timeline, drag the yellow slider on either side to shorten the clip. Check this article and you will see more details about how to edit video in iMovie.

2. FilmoraGo for iOS

FilmoraGo for iOS is a perfect easy-to-use app for those who may not be as technologically advanced as others. That is why this is actually a very popular choice. There are no real video editing skills that are necessary to use this application. You are able to alter the video and match it to songs that are preloaded into the application. This is all available through their free app. If you want to edit the video footage further, you can go to the Filmora video editor desktop version, which offers a lot more advanced editing features as well as trendy visual/sound effects for you to apply.

3. Splice

If you want an application that has more professional video editing capabilities, Splice is a better option for you. This is an easy-to-use app that actually allows you the ability to mix and match a variety of different types of media to really create something fantastic. This includes pictures, videos, and music. There are in-app purchases with this particular app, which gives users the ability to add some extra effects and transitions to your video.

You can click here to download this app from App Store directly.

4. YouTube Capture

YouTube Capture is a simple-to-use app that is very basic. You can do some very simple editing like trimming videos as well as color stabilization and color correction. You can also add a soundtrack or some background music. After you have completed the editing process, you can upload it directly to YouTube.

Extra Tips: Online & Desktop Solution for Video Trimming

Online Solution: Filmora Video Trimmer

If you don't want to download and install any apps on your iPhone or iPad, you can try some online video trimmers, and Filmora video trimmer is a free online tool that can help you trim video instantly. You can upload your video from your computer and video link with drag-and-drop. It is easy to use with the slider or just input specific start and end times for precise trim. It also supports various importing and exporting video format, including .mp4, .mov, .wemb, .mpeg, .flv. More importantly, the exported video is free of the watermark. It is definitely worth a try!

Desktop Solution for Video Trimming - Filmora

If you're looking for video editing software on your desktop to edit videos with fun, you should definitely download and try Filmora.

As a video editing software designed for users of different levels, you can easily trim/cut/crop your video using Filmora. What's more, Filmora also provides features to help make your video different from others. I have listed some of its features for your reference.

How do I shorten a video taken on my phone?