Apps We Actually Use: iMovie for iOS to process videos on the go

In our "Apps We Actually Use" series, we will be focusing on those apps that we really do use on a regular basis. These are the apps we turn to when want to solve a problem, be more productive or just have some fun. The current app on our radar is iMovie for iOS.

I spend a lot of time shooting photo and capturing videos of my children. I love capturing those memorable moments and sharing them with close friends and family. The iPhone takes wonderful video that can upload easily to your video service of choice, but sometimes you want to edit your footage, adding some music, overlays and more.

When those editing moments strike, I turn to iMovie for the iPhone for the fastest turnover. In just a few minutes, I can import a video clip, add some stock music, select fade-in and fade-out and upload to my Vimeo account. iMovie has a surprising number of editing features that allow you to overlay video, split video, modify transitions, add titles and more. You can even speed up and slow-down footage for extra effect.

I usually use my iPhone for editing because I can edit and upload from the same device. You can also use your iPad if you prefer to use the larger screen for more precise editing or even send your partially edited iMovie projects to your Mac for the additional options available on the desktop.

iMovie provides a preview as you edit as well as the ability to view a full-screen view of your current clip. When you are done, you can export your clip to supported services such as YouTube and Vimeo as well as social networks. The export and upload process on an iPhone 5s is smooth with a 2-minute clip taking less than 5 minutes on Wi-Fi to render and upload.

You can check out this sample clip from my home movie archives. I captured two videos of my children skiing in the distance. Spliced them together, added music and had them up on my family blog in 15 minutes. The hardest part wasn't the video editing, but writing the post on my iPhone via the Wordpress app. The resulting video won't win any prizes, but it captured our last day of skiing and the music exemplified the enjoyment we had that day.

Best of all, iMovie is now included for free when you purchase a new iPhone or iPad.