iMovie, Apple's default video editing software, hasn't changed a lot recently, but it still shines thanks to its ease of use and more than competent audio editing, color grading, media organization, and speed-changing tools. It also includes unique support for the Cinematic and ProRes iPhone video formats. The software remains an excellent choice if you own an Apple device and want to dabble in video editing, but it's starting to fall behind competitors that are rapidly adopting exciting AI features and making other advancements. The more capable, cross-platform CyberLink PowerDirector is our Editors' Choice winner for enthusiasts, while the premium Adobe Premiere is our Editors' Choice winner for professionals.

Pricing: It's Free

If you purchased a Mac on or after October 20, 2010, you can get iMovie for free from the Mac App Store. Essentially, that means the app is free on nearly all Macs in use. On iOS and iPadOS, iMovie is a default app, though you can remove and reinstall it as you like.

If you get serious about video editing and want 360-degree footage support, lots of tracks, more effects, motion tracking, or multicam support, you should move up to Final Cut Pro. That app should feel familiar if you are coming from iMovie, despite its vastly greater feature set and power. You have to pay $299 to purchase it, or get it through the $ 12.99-per-month Creator Studio subscription. CyberLink PowerDirector, for comparison, costs $139.99 for a perpetual license or $79.99 per year.

What Makes iMovie Unique?

Beyond standard video editing features, iMovie offers unique tools to help you create catchy videos, including Storyboards, Trailers, and Magic Movies. The Trailers feature is available on the Mac, but Magic Movies and Storyboards are mobile-only. Magic Movies takes the template-based Trailers feature several steps further by automating the creation of a compelling mini movie from your video clips. (See the Storyboards and Magic Movies section below.) iMovie on all its platforms also supports proprietary iPhone video formats, such as Cinematic mode and ProRes.

That said, iMovie doesn't offer 100-track timelines, customizable transitions, motion-tracking options, or multicam support like more advanced video editing software like DaVinci Resolve and PowerDirector. It also lacks nifty AI tools, such as auto-captioning, that are available in Premiere and even the free Microsoft Clipchamp.

What's New in iMovie?

Apple hasn't released a major update for iMovie since 2023, though it continues to make bug fixes and performance improvements. The latest minor macOS version (10.4) speeds up the export of HEVC and H.264 files on Macs with Apple silicon processors. Prior to that, in version 10.3, it gained support for new iPhone features, such as Cinematic mode (iPhone 13 and later) and log-encoded video shot on the iPhone 15 Pro. The version of iMovie for iPads and iPhones is technically separate from the one for Macs and sometimes gets platform-specific updates.

System Requirements: Works on Most Modern Apple Devices

The latest version of iMovie requires macOS 14.6 or later and 4.3GB of storage. It runs on both Intel (for now) and Apple Silicon-based Macs, but there are no Android or Windows versions. To test iMovie, I installed it on a MacBook Air with an Apple silicon M1 CPU and 8GB RAM. On mobile, the app requires iOS 17.6 or later.

Interface: Simple and Straightforward

iMovie's interface is much simpler than most video editors, with a trackless timeline that lets you drag video clips anywhere. It shows you only the tools you need at any given moment, without cluttering the screen. The application has a dark interface, even if you aren't using a dark OS mode. It starts out with two tabs at the top center: Media and Projects. On the left side of the Projects view window is a single, prominent plus button. When you click it, you get two choices: New Movie or New Trailer. You import content by tapping the down arrow icon.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

The app uses a standard three-pane design, with source content at the top left, a preview at the top right, and a timeline spanning the bottom of the screen. You don't see any track divisions as in other software. Instead, you drag clips onto the timeline, where they extend to reflect their running times. You get just two video tracks, which is a far cry from the 100+ that other enthusiast applications allow. Note that your first clip determines your project's resolution—you can't set it manually, unlike with competitors.

A neat interface touch is that you can scrub through any clip in the Media view simply by swiping your cursor across it. In an improvement over earlier versions of iMovie, clicking a clip selects the whole clip rather than just a range within it. The old behavior could make adding full clips to your timeline dicey. A plus button lets you add a clip to the timeline without dragging. Another helpful feature is that clips in the source panel display an orange line along the bottom of their thumbnails once you add them to your project.

I had no trouble importing any video content I threw at the program. Media from an iPhone, a GoPro, and a video camera all displayed properly and were editable, as were 8K clips from a Samsung Galaxy phone. You can import 360-degree content, but the app can't edit the point of view; it simply shows their dual fisheye or equirectangular view. If you start a project in iMovie on iOS, you can later transfer it to the desktop version.

As for media organization, iMovie lets you mark clips or even clip sections as Favorites or Rejects, but not with face or geographical tags, keywords, or ratings like in Adobe Premiere Elements. Content you use in your project appears in the separate Project Media section of the source panel. The Projects page makes finding what you're working on a snap and is always accessible via a button at the top left. iMovie is less fussy, but also less powerful at organizing files compared with Premiere Elements' separate Organizer helper app.

Basic Video Editing: Helpful Tools

Dragging inserted clips around in the timeline is easy, and they automatically cling to the adjacent clips in what's called a magnetic timeline. This action also creates Clip Connection lines, just like in Final Cut Pro, which helpfully keep media together when you move either clip. You can't turn off this magnetic behavior as you can in most, if not all, enthusiast-level software, but workarounds like adding a black background clip are possible.

You can trim clips in the source panel before adding them to a project, or simply drag the end handles to change the in and out points. For more control when working with a transition between two clips, the Precision Editor expands the view to show you the parts of the clips before and after the edit. It also indicates how many seconds (but not frames) are in the clips and transitions.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

In addition to trimming, you can crop and rotate video clips or photos. Photos automatically apply the Ken Burns pan-and-zoom effect, making them more engaging in a timeline.

The autocorrect button (magic wand icon) did a good job of enhancing lighting and color in many of my test clips, especially those shot with an iPhone. If the automatic settings aren't to your liking, you can enhance skin tones with a dropper tool, match color between clips (a pro-level tool), and set the white balance from a point in the frame.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

If you want the program to make some informed artistic choices for you, you can apply a Theme. This option is hidden in the Settings panel, which you open via a link below the movie preview. You have 14 themes to choose from, each with titles and transitions for a cohesive viewing experience. Newscast and Travel are two of the more engaging options. The latter shows your movie's location on a map.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

The same is true for the wonderful Trailers feature, which adds stirring orchestral background music. But the real beauty of Trailers is that it teaches you professional movie production processes using an outline, storyboard, and shot list, telling you exactly which shots to include and when, as well as how long each shot should last.

On the mobile version, you can do even more with the Storyboards feature (which includes Trailers as one of its template choices) and Magic Movie.

Special Effects: Green-Screening and Speed-Changing Stand Out

The two video tracks you get in a timeline easily accommodate iMovie's green-screen (aka chroma-key) tool, which is automatic and extremely effective. You find it from the overlay button above the video preview window. This is also where you access the picture-in-picture (PiP) feature, which supports just one embedded picture. CyberLink PowerDirector can include multiple PiP images and even animate them across the screen. iMovie offers a split-screen effect, but only with two exact halves; no resizing is possible.

Time effects are simple and powerful, too. You can apply the freeze-frame effect with a single click, then adjust the freeze time. You can also choose Fast or Slow, and enter a speed percent for slowdowns and speedups. Selecting Reverse doesn't stop you from using those timing changes, which is handy.

What other programs call effects, iMovie calls Clip Filters. You access them not from the menu section that includes Transitions and Titles, but from an icon (three overlapping circles) above the preview window. Among the nifty options here are Duo-Tone, Sci-Fi, and X-ray, along with several black-and-white and retro looks.

You won't find nearly as many transition options as in PowerDirector, Premiere Elements, or other enthusiast-level apps, though some fun ones, such as cube spin, mosaic, and page peel, are available. iMovie doesn't offer keyframes, motion tracking, or multicam editing,

Titles and Audio: Appealing, But Limited

Title and text tools in iMovie work well. After you from a selection of well-designed title style, you can enter text and edit right in the preview window. Many of the title options animate in and out. It's possible to change the alignment, font, and size. You even get the good old Star Wars scrolling text effect if you want.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

For audio functions, iMovie ties in with GarageBand and iTunes for background music. Alternatively, you can pick from a decent selection of background soundtracks and sound effects, including cosmic, four levels of pitch (up and down), and robot. Many audio controls, such as bringing down the bass and treble levels, enhancing vocals, equalizing, and reducing hum, are one-click, non-adjustable affairs, but you can tweak the Reduce Background Noise setting with a slider.

Sharing Movies: Good Social Options

You can easily share your creation via email, to your iTunes Library, and to YouTube or Vimeo. You can no longer share directly to Facebook, but a Prepare for Facebook option creates an output file that's ready to post on that platform. (The Theater feature for sharing and viewing among Apple devices is no longer available.) You can also just save your project to a video file, but the options are limited. You can't choose the file type or resolution, unlike competing consumer video editors. The default MP4 format is nearly universal, however.

Rendering Performance: Very Respectable

For render speed testing, I have each program join seven clips at various resolutions, ranging from 720p to 8K. I then apply cross-dissolve transitions between them. I note the time it takes to render the project to 1080p30 with H.264 and 192Kbps audio at a bitrate of 15Mbps. The output movie is just over five minutes in length. I run multiple test runs and take the harmonic mean (which minimizes the effect of outliers) on a 2020 MacBook Air with an M1 processor and 8GB of RAM that runs macOS Tahoe.

The leaders here are Final Cut Pro and CyberLink PowerDirector, with DaVinci Resolve and iMovie close behind. Only Adobe Premiere Elements remains significantly slower, even though that same product performs well on Windows. In short, you need not worry about iMovie slowing down your project output.

Mobile Experience: All You Need for iPhone Video Editing

More people are likely to be using iMovie on an iPhone or iPad than on a Mac, simply because more of those devices are in use. Apple has gone to great pains to make the macOS and iOS versions of iMovie consistent, but the Storyboard and Magic Movie features remain mobile-only. I'm not sure why Apple never added these helpful tools to the desktop version, though it did add Trailers.

The timeline works brilliantly on smaller mobile screens. Instead of moving the insertion point, you swipe on the clip thumbnail itself to move it in the timeline.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

The app supports HDR (Dolby Vision, which newer iPhones support), offers lots of title customization options, imports and shares 4K 60fps content, and lets you use gradient, patterned, and solid backgrounds.

Transitions are obvious thanks to arrows in small boxes between the clips. Clicking on them lets you change the type. You can add more media to your movie by tapping a plus sign, and reordering content is as simple as tapping and dragging. You can also intuitively pinch-zoom the whole timeline. If any interface element is unclear, simply tap the question mark icon for an explanation.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

To create a new movie on mobile, click the plus sign. As in the Mac version, you then see a choice of Movie or Trailer. Both options offer templates, with Trailers going further in guiding you on which types of scenes to include. The Movie option includes default transitions and titles, optional background music, and applies motion to any still images you include.

Dozens of fonts keep the movie-making experience fresh, and you can change the color picker or eyedropper, and edit the title's size and location with pinch-and-drag touch gestures.

When you tap on a clip, you can split it, detach its audio track, duplicate it, or delete it. Time-stretching options include freeze-frame, speedup, and slowdown. Outputting movies on the iPhone or iPad is like sharing from any other iOS app.

Storyboards and Magic Movies

The mobile version of iMovie extends the concept of Trailers, the templates that tell you exactly what kind of shot to add to create a compelling mini movie, with the Storyboards feature. This offers 20 template types, of which Trailers is just one. Among the templates are those suitable for cooking tutorials, makeovers, news reports, product reviews, and video games. It's a healthy selection.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

Once you settle on a Storyboard type, you choose a Style, which you can change at any point. The Storyboard templates offer a great starting point for YouTubers to deliver polished uploads for their subscribers. The templates aren’t rigid, either. You can add, remove, and reorder shots to taste, or apply Instagram-like filters. You can also change the look and feel of the productions later, choosing a different style.

(Credit: Apple/PCMag)

The Magic Movies feature makes digital movie-making as simple as it gets. You select videos from your camera roll, and the tool trims them and joins them into a mini-movie with a title and background music. As with Storyboard movies, you can adjust the relative volumes of the background music and your clip. It's also possible to open the project in the full editor to change clip lengths and make other edits; just tap the pencil icon next to a thumbnail and choose Edit Clip.