Adobe's free Premiere for iPhone turns your mobile device into a movie studio with its new video editing app

Press material showing Adobe Premiere for iPhone in action

(Image credit: Adobe)

Adobe announces Premiere for iPhone
Mobile video editing app boasts end-to-end editing
Android version is in the works

It's official - Adobe Premiere for iPhone is a go. If you were as surprised as I was when Adobe announced the discontinuation of their mobile video editing app, Rush, then this latest announcement will be music to your ears.

I was lucky enough to be briefed by Adobe about their newest release: Premiere for iPhone (an Android version is also in the works). Even better, the video editing app is free, which considering what it does, is quite impressive. You only have to pay for cloud storage and generative credits.

Put simply, it looks like Adobe Rush on steroids, with some impressive features taken from the Premiere Pro desktop version (such as Enhance Speech), along with a host of streamlined tools, all designed to make video editing fast, while offering pro-level quality.

What to expect from Adobe Premiere for iPhone

As a mobile editor, Premiere for iPhone works in the portrait orientation, the top of its interface being for the Viewer, and the bottom, for your Timeline. You can resize the two sections to see more or less of either of them.

Based on the demo I saw, working in the Timeline, and seeing how existing clips move around across multiple layers to make way for new additions, reminded me a lot more of Apple’s Final Cut Pro X than Premiere Pro - which is not a bad thing at all. It seems that frame-accurate editing is also entirely possible with this app.

Selecting a clip in the timeline reveals a series of tools at the bottom of the screen which you can swipe through. You’ll find the usual editing features you’ve grown to expect from a video editor, and of course, there are the now-customary AI options, such as ‘Expand Image’, to allow you to fill the screen with an image without having to zoom into it.

Perhaps the most impressive AI feature is Generative Sound Effects. You know how this works by now: use the text prompt to describe what you’re after and the app will create it for you.

Here, however, you’ve also got the option of using your voice to record the cadence you’re seeking, for instance, and the AI tool will use that along with the text prompt to better give you what you want. The demo of this was impressive.

The editing, the advanced tools, and the fact the non-generative side of the app is free, is all very enticing. Users will only need to pay for additional storage and AI credits.

However, I'm left with a few unanswered questions.

I'm now wondering whether, like Resolve, it also works on iPad. Is there support for landscape editing? How many layers does the timeline support? Can you import Adobe Rush projects? Does the option to export your project to Premiere Pro on the desktop work with AirDrop, or does it require uploading to the cloud?

I hope to be able to answer these questions, and more, in my upcoming review. For now, you can download the app by clicking here.

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Steve has been writing about technology since 2003. Starting with Digital Creative Arts, he's since added his tech expertise at titles such as iCreate, MacFormat, MacWorld, MacLife, and TechRadar. His focus is on the creative arts, like website builders, image manipulation, and filmmaking software, but he hasn’t shied away from more business-oriented software either. He uses many of the apps he writes about in his personal and professional life. Steve loves how computers have enabled everyone to delve into creative possibilities, and is always delighted to share his knowledge, expertise, and experience with readers.

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