Instagram has just launched its Edits app for Mac. After a long spell as a mobile-only experience, Edits on desktop also adds a handful of new and more advanced features compared to its mobile counterpart. It brings support for a multi-track timeline, more granular editing tools, and direct publishing to Instagram.
The app is free, and even the 4K videos that you export from the Edits desktop app will remain completely watermark-free. There’s only one limitation. The app only supports Macs with Apple’s M-series silicon, and not older machines with an Intel processor.
When editing across a multi-track timeline, users can set keyframes for dynamic transitions, keep an eye on audio waveforms for accurate cuts, and play around with color wheels and curves for more precise color grading. In addition to the editing controls, users will have full access to a library of licensed, royalty-free songs that they can use in their videos. Users can also import their own custom LUTs and font files.
One of the most convenient additions is direct publishing to Instagram, which means you don’t have to download the video files locally and then upload them to Instagram. Moreover, the app supports videos in multiple aspect ratios, which makes sense because Instagram recently announced that it is expanding to longer-format videos after a sustained focus on vertical Reels.
The app is pretty feature-loaded. Over the past year, Instagram has added plenty of new features to it. In December last year, Edits landed pre-built templates, more advanced text customization options, storyboards, and the ability to pull public Reels directly into the app so that users can remix them easily. Just over a month ago, Instagram also added an AI assistant inside the Edits app.
The assistant looks at your Reels and, based on your analytics and how they performed, tells you what you should post next for maximum exposure. The app is now available to download from the official site, and it’s also available on Android and iOS.