Apple Adds To The Glut Of Social Video Tools With Its Clips App

Apple isn’t known as a major contender in the social media world, but its next app could increase its presence in that area. It has announced Clips, a video editing tool that includes several features copied from other apps and a few original ones.

Clips’ basic interface most-closely resembles Instagram, as Apple’s new app is based around creating pictures and videos, editing them, and sharing them across social media networks. It also includes a number of filters; some are text-based and geo-targeted, a la Snapchat, while others offer the sort of visual options you’d find on Instagram or iMovie. Clips also comes with editing tools that let users string multiple shots together, so perhaps Apple is looking to fill the void left by the discontinuation of Vine.

The Clips feature receiving the most attention from the press is a speech-to-text function that lets users speak into their devices to add titles to their images and videos. It’s called Live Titles, and it innovates on the text captions that have become popular on Snapchat.

“Clips gives iPhone and iPad users a new way to express themselves through video, and it’s incredibly easy to use,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s VP of Apps Product Marketing, in a press release. “The effects, filters and amazing new Live Titles we’ve designed for Clips let anyone make great-looking, easily sharable videos with just a few taps.”

Clips, naturally, will only be available on iOS devices. It is expected to arrive in April.