Easy Instagram Story Editor for iOS
More than 500 million Instagram accounts are using Instagram Stories every day. If you’re looking for a way to create stunning IG Stories, check out Animoto: Social Video Editor, our new app for iOS.
Our Instagram Story editor makes it easy to create professional videos, quickly. Stand out from the sea of content on Instagram with templates that make it easy to get started. Choose from professional layouts, a library of licensed music, and more.
Read on to find out how to use Animoto: Social Video Editor to level up your Instagram Story game. Start telling your Stories with video.
How to Use Animoto’s Instagram Story Editor for iOS
In this section, we’ll dive into step-by-step instructions for how to get started with our Instagram Story editor. Once we’ve shown you how, we’ll dive into more specifics about some of the features below. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Download the app
First things first, you’ll need to download the Animoto: Social Video Editor iOS app. The app is free to use, with the option to upgrade to remove a “Made by Animoto” watermark. Create unlimited videos for Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, WhatsApp status, and beyond.
Step 2: Choose a template or start from scratch
To make your life easy, we’ve curated a collection of templates that you can use to make your own Instagram Story videos. They can be customized with your own text and images or video clips. Plus, you can change the colors, fonts, add your logo and more to create on-brand Stories.
When you open the app, you’ll be given the option to select a template or start from scratch. We’ll show you how to create a video with a template now, but you can learn more about starting from scratch in the features section below.
If you’re starting with a template, just tap to select the one you want to use. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll be using the "New Post Teaser" template. It’s a simple, one-block template. Our other templates vary in length, but all can be customized in the same ways.
Step 3: Add photos or video clips
Tap a block to edit it and then tap on a placeholder photo or video clip to select it. Tap the "Media" icon to select a photo or video clip from your camera roll or shoot a photo or video clip to include in your story.
Once you’ve added media, you can hold, drag, and pinch to resize or reposition it within the layout.
Step 4: Add your own text
Tap on the text to update it and make it your own. For this one, we’ll just change the text slightly to say "Swipe up to view" instead of "Tap in feed to view." Notice that we’ve also updated the font and colors. You can easily do the same by tapping on the font and color icons.
Step 5: Choose music
Did you know that 70 percent of Instagram Stories are watched with the sound on? Good music in a Story is delightful, and our app includes a growing list of commercially-licensed tracks to choose from. Tap the “Music” icon to select a track and bring your Story to life.
To learn more, check out our post on how to add music to an Instagram Story.
Step 6: Share to your Instagram Story
Once you’re done, you’re ready to share to Instagram! To share your video to your IG Story, tap the Share icon in the upper right corner of your workspace in the app and then tap “Stories.” The Instagram app will open and you can easily set up and share your Story.
Now that you’re familiar with how to use our Instagram Story Editor to customize a template, you’re ready to get started. But the Animoto: Social Video Editor app offers a variety of advanced features and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet. In the next section, we’ll show you more of what the app can do, including using Layouts, Brand Settings, and more.
More Instagram Story Editing Features
What we’ve shown you so far is just the beginning of what you can do in Animoto’s Instagram Story editing app. Let’s dive in to check out all of the app’s features.
Starting from scratch
Don’t want to start from a template? No problem. When you open the app, just tap “Start from Scratch” to build your Story from the ground up.
You can add blocks to create your Story, including the following:
- Media: Add a photo or video clip.
- Text: Add text, including a title and subtitle. Choose your colors and select a font.
- Logo: Add a brand logo to your Story.
- Layouts: Choose from a variety of layouts that showcase multiple images at once. Some layouts display video clips too.
Instagram Story Layouts
Layouts allow you to showcase 1, 2, 3, or 4 photos at once. Create an eye-catching collage layout by tapping the + icon to add a new block and selecting "Layouts."
Note that some layouts are able to display video in some of the sections. You’ll know because the videos in your camera roll will be available when you are selecting media for these sections.
Commercially-licensed Music
We mentioned this earlier, but we just wanted to remind you that 70 percent of Instagram Stories are watched with the sound on. And good music is a fun way to surprise and delight viewers.
The Animoto: Social Video Editor app includes a variety of commercially-licensed tracks, hand-picked by our team. They music in our growing collection ranges from high energy to slow and pensive.
Video and Text Styles
Give your styles visual flair with our unique Video Styles and Text Styles. You’ll find both when you tap “Design” in the app and can mix and match to find a look you love.
Our Video Styles currently include a simple clean default design, a torn paper style, and a brush stroke style, which you can see in action below.
Test Styles are options for the way in which text animates on screen in your Stories. You can see those in action below.
Brand Settings
Brand Settings are a time-saving feature built to help make it easy to keep your Stories on brand. Go to Settings and tap Brand Settings to store your favorite color, go-to font, and your logo to quickly apply to all of your future Stories.
Ready to get started? Download the iOS app and create your first Story today. When you’re done, let us know what you think! Happy Story making!