Instagram’s free video editing app, Edits, now runs on Mac. The desktop version adds a multi-track timeline, color grading and 4K exports with no watermark, and it can post straight to Instagram. There’s a catch for a lot of people, though: it only works on Macs with Apple’s own chips, and there is no Windows version.
Who can use Edits on desktop
According to Instagram’s Edits for Mac page, you need three things:
- A Mac with Apple silicon, meaning an M1 chip or newer. Older Intel Macs are not supported.
- An Instagram account. You sign in with it to keep your projects with you and to post without leaving the app.
- No money. The download is free.
Windows users are out of luck for now. Instagram’s page says plainly that Edits on desktop is only available on macOS, and it gives no date for a PC version.
How to check if your Mac can run it
- Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen.
- Choose About This Mac.
- Look for the line that says Chip. If it says Apple M1, M2, M3, M4 or newer, you’re good. If you see a line that says Processor with Intel in it, Edits won’t run on that Mac.
What you can do in the desktop app
The look is the same as the phone app, with more room to work. Instagram lists these tools on its Mac page:
- A multi-track timeline, so you can stack clips, text and audio in layers, the way longer videos are usually built.
- Keyframes, which let you set a starting and ending point for a zoom, move or fade so it plays out smoothly between them.
- Audio waveforms, the visual shape of the sound, so you can cut right on the beat.
- Color wheels and curves, plus your own LUTs, which are color presets many editors use to give footage a consistent look.
- Instagram’s music libraries, both licensed and royalty-free, plus your own fonts and unlimited automatic captions.
- Exports in more than one shape, such as vertical for Reels and horizontal for YouTube, up to 4K with no watermark.
Edits also has an AI assistant, and it works in both the phone app and the Mac app. It can look at how your videos are doing and suggest ideas for what to make next.
What to know before you switch
- It’s tied to Instagram. You can’t use it without signing in with an Instagram account, so it isn’t a fit if you edit for clients or brands that you don’t want linked to your personal profile.
- Download it only from Instagram. The Mac app downloads straight from Instagram’s Edits site, edits.instagram.com. New free apps are a common hook for fake download sites, so don’t install an “Edits for Mac” or “Edits for Windows” file from anywhere else.
The bottom line
If you already make Reels in Edits on your phone and own a Mac with an M-series chip, the desktop version is worth trying for longer or more polished videos, and it costs nothing. If you’re on Windows or an older Intel Mac, there’s nothing to download yet.
