Smartphone photography took a huge turn ever since Instagram was first released on iOS and Android. It was probably the first time an app allowed you to add custom filters to your photos in order to make them look classy. Over the course of time, many other photo editing apps with similar functionalities also made their way into the various app stores.
Eventually, video sharing also became popular on social media and all of a sudden, people wanted to add Instagram-like filters to their videos too. Nowadays, there are indeed many apps are available on the App Store and Google Play Store that serve as full-fledged video editors, allowing you to add cool effects and transitions. Although such apps serve the main purpose, they are often complex, bulky and consume a lot of resources to process videos.
On the other hand, a lot of users look for less sophisticated and lighter apps, that serve basic editing functionalities like video trimming, predefined filters, etc. In fact, Instagram is a very good example of such an app, provided you know how to edit videos using Instagram filters, without actually posting them online.
But if you’re looking for other offline solutions for adding custom video effects and filters, below is a list of few iOS and Android apps that allow you to do so.
Video filter apps for iOS
The iOS App Store is especially known for its diversity in a wide variety of intuitive camera apps. Here are a few that let you apply cool video filters to new and already existing videos in Camera Roll.
Spark Camera ($0.99)
This app checks all the required boxes for being the perfect candidate to be on this list. It’s simple, lightweight, has the option to trim videos, and even add smart video filters and effects. It features an elegant UI that allows you to control different features with the help of simple taps and swipes. Everything that you need to do with your video is right there in front of you.
Spark features more than 10 stunning filters to choose from, each with adjustable intensities. You may also trim the video at desired points, and add music from your iTunes library to suit your video. Once you have finalized your video, you can save it to Camera Roll or share online on Instagram, Snapchat, iMessage, etc.
Video Filters (Free, In-app Purchases)
Video Filters is a video editing app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that lets you add cool filters to your videos in Camera Roll. In addition to native iOS photo filters, such as Mono, Tonal, Noir, Fade, Chrome, etc., the app also features unique filters like Whiten, Pub, Old, Sepia, Thermal, Scalene, etc., for videos.
After selecting the particular video that you want to edit, you get to pick the video filter of your choice from a wide variety of available filters. You can also trim the length of the video as desired. When you are done with the changes, tap on the export button to save it to Camera Roll or share it online. Even though the app is available as a free download, there is no limitation on the duration of the video. Also, the app does not embed any watermark into the edited video. However, it does feature in-app purchases for additional, premium video filters.
Get Video Filters
Chromic (Free, In-app Purchases)
This video filter app brings “Hollywood quality” color correction to your videos in order to create rich, expressive movies. From Film Emulation, Dramatic Hollywood Environments, Authentic Vintage Aging and many more, Chromic brings in filter variations from among 6 different filter sets. In the free mode, you get at least one example filter from among all the six sets. Additional filters may be unlocked through in-app purchases.
In addition to video filters, the app offers up to 9 different adjustments to enhance video effects manually, including Exposure, Contrast, Saturation, Hue, Temperature, Shadows, Highlights and more. You can preview the effects of filters and adjustments in real-time as you change them.
Once you’re done with the changes, you may choose to save the result as a new clip or overwrite the original one, in Camera Roll. With Photo Editing Extension support, you can also take advantage of Chromic’s video filters and effects within other apps that implement photo editing extensions.
Viddy (Free, In-app Purchases)
Viddy is a fast and simple video editing app that includes fun video effects and creative filters. Additionally, it also includes other editing tools, such as manual adjustment for brightness, contrast, temperature, etc., a crop and rotate tool, and an RGB level adjustment tool. You can also add custom background music to your videos. Finally, you can export the edited videos to Camera Roll and share them on social media.
Video filter apps for Android
Like the App Store, the Google Play Store also feature a decent number of video editing apps, including the ones that let you apply innovative effects and filters. Here are a few mentionable video filter apps that you can try out.
Note: Some of these apps may be resource intensive and may affect the performance of your Android device depending on the hardware specifications, video size & quality, type of effect being applied, and various other factors.
Quik (Free, In-app Purchases)
GoPro Quik creates awesome custom videos from your favorite photos and videos available in your Gallery, Facebook, Google Photos or GoPro Plus. You can also create videos based on a single clip, trim it for the desired duration, and apply custom video styles from among 25 different available presets. You can even add a custom soundtrack to go with your video. When you’re finally done editing your video, you can save it to the Gallery in HD (1080p or 720p) quality, and share on various social networks.
Effects Video (Free, Ad-supported)
The specialty of Effects Video is that it lets you apply multiple effects in real-time as you record the video. It features more than 40 different filters, including a few of the popular Instagram filters (although they do differ slightly compared to the original ones in Instagram). Once you have completed adding the desired effects, the app lets you save the video to your device or share it on social networks.
One feature that users might find lacking is the inability to edit videos already available in Gallery. You can only apply effects to the videos that were recorded from within the app. Also, the size of the videos are usually smaller compared to other editing apps. While that is good news for users with limited storage, it also means that HD quality videos can’t be created using this app.
Artisto (Free, Ad-supported)
A few months ago, a photo editing app took the Internet by storm, allowing users to add colorful painting-like effects to still photos. The app was called Prisma. Artisto is like Prisma, but for videos. It helps you create special videos that look like masterpieces out of an artist’s book.
Using Artisto is quite easy and simple. Just record a video using the camera module of the app, or choose an existing photo or video (it works with photos as well). Next, select the filter that you want to apply, and that’s it! Save the result to your phone, share it on social media, or just print out a specific frame and add it to your collection!
These are just a few of the video filter apps available on the App Store and Google Play. If you know of any better video filter app, let us know in the comments below. Also, if you want to stick to Instagram filters, do check out our article on how to save Instagram videos without posting them online.