YouTube is releasing a new app called YouTube Create that lets you edit video right on your phone, the company announced on Thursday. The new app could encourage more people to make Shorts, YouTube’s take on TikTok-style videos; it’s generally easier to make a TikTok video than it is to make a full-fledged YouTube video, which is a key reason why TikTok has exploded in popularity.
Making a separate app also mimics TikTok’s strategy of releasing the separate (and popular) CapCut app, which helps you make videos you can share on TikTok and other platforms.
“The [YouTube Create] app offers video editing tools including precision editing and trimming, automatic captioning, voiceover capabilities and access to a library of filters, effects, transitions and royalty-free music with beat matching technology so that creators can produce their next YouTube video without relying on complex editing software,” YouTube wrote in a blog post.
The YouTube Create app will be free to download and available in beta on Android in “select markets.” Those markets are the US, the UK, Germany, France, Indonesia, India, Korea, and Singapore, spokesperson Kimberly Taylor tells The Verge. YouTube plans to bring the app to iOS next year, Taylor says.
YouTube is announcing YouTube Create as part of a suite of news from its Made on YouTube event. The company also revealed some new AI-powered features, including a “Dream Screen” tool to make AI-generated backgrounds for Shorts and AI-powered suggested video topics.
Update September 21st, 10:44AM ET: Added a tweet and video from YouTube.
