Instagram Keeps Polishing Its Edits App to Woo Video Creators

As I watch through my computer screen, Tom Bender, the product lead for Instagram’s Edits, places a finger on his smartphone and the software traces an outline around a chubby cat from some meme video. He then takes the furry cutout and drops it over an existing video of himself within the Edits app, adjusting the animal’s opacity to make the cat slightly see-through and ensuring that his own visage in the background stays visible. This ability to fine-tune overlay opacities was just one of many new and upcoming features he demonstrated in a recent app walkthrough for WIRED. While the Instagram platform was first known for photography, it’s now dominated by video. The new Edits app serves as a companion to Instagram, but one that gives the next generation of video creators all the tools they need to make Reels. Edits launched last month on Apple and Android devices, after months of delays. Meta, which owns Instagram, is putting Edits forward as a challenger to ByteDance’s CapCut app. ... Read full article.