Instagram Can Now Edit Your Videos for You
Instagram has a new feature called First Draft that automatically edits your videos for you. The company announced it on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, through a post on Threads. The tool looks at the video clips you choose, trims them down, removes pauses, and pieces together what it thinks are the best moments. Instagram says this takes under 10 seconds. TechCrunch
First Draft is available on iPhone to start. You can use it from Instagram's camera while recording, or from your Reels gallery after picking multiple clips. The idea is to save you the work of putting a video together piece by piece. Instead of starting from a blank timeline, you get a rough version to start with and can tweak it from there. TechCrunch
Other apps already do something similar. Adobe Firefly's Quick Cuts and CapCut's Auto Cut both take your raw footage and automatically decide what to keep, what to cut, and how to pace the video. First Draft brings that same idea directly into Instagram's own app, so you don't have to send your video to a separate editing app and then bring it back.
This is part of a larger push by Instagram to add more editing tools inside its own app. In July 2026, the platform introduced a Replace Audio tool that lets users swap the music on existing posts without deleting and re-uploading them. Instagram has also been testing Series, a way for creators to group related Reels so viewers can watch them in order. And Meta is building an AI assistant for Edits, its standalone video-editing app. Together, these moves show Instagram pulling more of the video creation process into its own app. TechCrunch
The announcement came on the same day that Instagram head Adam Mosseri was expected to testify in Meta's social media addiction trial. The lawsuit says Meta designed Instagram and Facebook to keep children using them compulsively while ignoring potential harm. Meta has denied those claims. TechCrunch
The timing is worth noting, though there is no evidence the two events are connected. A product launch and a court date can land on the same day by coincidence. Instagram has not linked the two. That said, releasing a tool that makes it easier to create short videos on the same day the company faces questions about keeping people engaged is a contrast readers can judge for themselves.
In the broader picture, several companies are racing to automate the boring part of video editing. Adobe, CapCut, and now Meta all believe the first pass — picking the good parts and cutting the dead air — can be done by software in seconds. What sets First Draft apart is where it lives. Because it runs inside Instagram's own app, you skip the steps of exporting, transferring, and re-importing your video. For someone who does everything on their phone, that saves real time.
Since First Draft is only on iPhone for now, not everyone can use it yet. Instagram has not said when it will come to Android. The 10-second claim is a clear benchmark, but actual speed will depend on how many clips you have, how long they are, and what phone you are using.
Instagram Reels launched in August 2020 as a 15-second multi-clip video format with audio, effects, and creative tools, including the ability to save drafts and change cover images. Meta Newsroom Six years later, editing has gone from doing it all by hand to having software do a first pass for you. Whether First Draft actually changes how people create will depend on how well its choices match what creators want, and whether the time saved leads to more or better videos. The tool is available now on iPhone.
