Instagram is pushing its Edits app to be a one stop shop for creators amid intensifying rivalry

Instagram's Edits app is designed for creators with more advanced and comprehensive needs, while its in-app tools serve more casual use cases.

Instagram wants its standalone video editing app Edits to serve as a one-stop shop for creators, taking on a larger role in the creative process than standard creation tools typically offer.

"The main value prop we saw missing in the market was that most creation tools play exclusively in the editing space. Editing is important and there are a lot of players in that space. But creation is so much more than editing," Peter Shields, Director of Creator Product Marketing at Meta told Moneycontrol.

For instance, creators need tools for inspiration, ideation, scripting or sounds, building off ideas they come across, and using analytics to see what performs. They often use two or three different apps for this purpose.

"Our realisation was that no one was capturing the end-to-end journey...If you can do everything in one place, you no longer need multiple apps," Shields said.

This move comes as the Meta-owned video and photo sharing platform faces growing competition from YouTube and TikTok, the latter available outside India, both of which are expanding their creator tools to become the preferred home for creators. TikTok remains banned in India.

Is the Edits app gaining momentum?

Instagram launched Edits globally in April, after initially announcing it in January. Six months after launch, more than half of the people watching Reels on Instagram each day are seeing content created with the Edits app, Shields said.

The number of people using Edits every week almost doubled in the third quarter, and monthly active users grew 40 percent in September alone, he added, without disclosing any specific numbers.

Instagram also stated that weekly new Edits users in India have doubled compared to the previous week, without sharing any specific information.

Shields said that Restyle, a generative AI video editing feature that lets people restyle elements in a video clip through several preset categories, is gaining particular traction. The snow effect, in particular, has helped drive user growth in India, he said.

Last month, the app also offered a range of Diwali effects through the Restyle feature for two weeks.

Over the next year, Instagram plans to invest in localising the Edits app further, with a key priority being the introduction of more local fonts and localised effects, Shields said.

Who is the Instagram Edits app for?

Shields said the Edits app is designed for creators with more advanced and comprehensive needs, while Instagram’s in-app tools serve more casual use cases.

He pointed to features like keyframes, which allow users to animate individual elements in a video, as the kind of advanced capability experienced creators look for.

Another example is the teleprompter feature, which Shields said saves creators hours by letting them read a script directly from the camera view instead of juggling a Notes app while filming. That said, Edits currently offers all its features to creators free at present.

"I think of Instagram in-app tools and Edits as complementary for distinct audiences...We wanted to split out Edits as a dedicated app, because it's hard to solve for both these audiences in a single app," he said.

How is Instagram working with creators to improve the Edits app?

Shields said Instagram is “co-building” the product roadmap for the Edits app alongside creators, involving them from the earliest days of development and continuing to involve them as the app evolves.

Instagram also has an informal “Edits Council,” a group of creators the team speaks with weekly to understand their challenges and gather feedback on features the app is developing, he said.

The company also plans to tap into AI to boost creative efficiency and open up new capabilities for creators. This includes the Restyle feature, the ability to turn an image into a video, and cutouts that automatically remove the background, eliminating the need for a green screen.