Apple discontinues Clips app: End of a creative era

Apple has discontinued its Clips video editing app. The application, which allowed users to combine video clips, photos, and images with music, voice, filters, and effects, is no longer available in the App Store. This quietly and without much notice marks the end of a project that began eight years ago as an accessible tool for creative video creation.

When Clips was introduced in 2017, Apple wanted to provide an easy way to create short videos with effects and text—perfect for social media. The app was intended to bridge the gap between professional tools like iMovie and fast-paced social media formats. Clips was particularly popular thanks to features like Live Titles, Memoji and Animoji support, and effects that could be used with the LiDAR scanner on newer iPhones to create realistic AR spaces. In the early years, there were regular updates with new features and improvements. However, in recent years, the app has been updated only rarely, mostly with minor bug fixes.

Apple withdraws the app

According to a support document on Apple's website, Clips will no longer be developed. It has recently been discontinued for download to new users in the App Store. Those who already have Clips installed can continue to use it and re-download it as long as it's saved in their Apple account. New users, however, will not be able to access it.

Apple advises that existing projects and videos should be backed up. Clips content can be saved to the Photos library or another location for continued use after uninstallation.

Apple has thus confirmed what had been apparent for some time: the app barely played a role in its product portfolio. There have been no major feature updates in recent years, which already indicated its impending demise.

A tool that was slowly forgotten

Clips was originally intended as a straightforward creative tool to simplify video creation for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Apple integrated creative features that were easy to use while leveraging the power of the iPhone's camera. However, it never achieved major success. While the app found its fans, it never established itself as a central tool in Apple's software landscape.

One possible reason for this was the increasing integration of similar features directly into iOS. With the further development of the Camera and Photos apps, as well as new video features in iMovie and Final Cut Pro, the need for a separate application like Clips increasingly disappeared. Growing competition from social media apps, which offer extensive editing features of their own, may also have contributed to the decision.

The end with announcement

Apple's decision to discontinue Clips therefore comes as no surprise. The app was recently a relic of a phase in which Apple increasingly experimented with creative tools. While Clips was initially considered an innovative project, the company is now focusing on improving core functions within the operating system and its core applications.

With the removal of Clips from the App Store, Apple marks the end of a chapter that, while quietly fading, provided important impetus for the further development of other products. Many ideas from Clips—such as AR effects or facial recognition for animations—are now integral parts of other Apple apps.

Apple relies on standardization instead of diversity

The discontinuation of Clips demonstrates that Apple is increasingly streamlining its software strategy. Instead of operating many smaller tools in parallel, the company is focusing more on core applications integrated directly into iOS and macOS. Clips was a creative experiment that has diminished in importance over the years, but still served as a testing ground for technologies that are now standard in other Apple products. Even though Clips is disappearing from the App Store, the idea behind it remains in another form – in the ever-expanding creative possibilities that Apple continues to offer its users directly within its own systems. (Image: Apple)