Frequently Asked Questions

Bitcut is an AI-powered video editor built natively for iPhone and iPad. It combines a full-featured timeline editor with AI tools that turn long videos into short-form content automatically. You can import clips, sync them to music beats, generate Shorts with AI, add animated subtitles, reframe horizontal video to vertical with face tracking, and export — all from a single app on your device.

Yes. The complete timeline editor is free with no time limit, including music import, beat sync, transitions, title cards, voiceover recording, and export. The free plan includes 30 minutes of AI processing per month, which covers features like AI Shorts generation, AI subtitles, and voice enhancement. Paid plans unlock more AI minutes, face tracking, cloud storage, and remove the watermark from exports.

Bitcut runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later. The app is optimized for both form factors: on iPad, you get a larger preview area, a spacious timeline, keyboard shortcuts (Space, Cmd+Z, Cmd+E, arrow keys), split view support, and a 5-column media picker for faster browsing.

No account is required for free features. Bitcut uses device-based authentication, so you can start editing immediately without signing up, entering an email, or creating a password. If you subscribe to a paid plan, your subscription is managed through your Apple ID via the App Store. Optional Apple Sign In is available for cloud publishing features.

The core editor works fully offline. You can import clips from your photo library, arrange them on the timeline, trim and split, add music with beat sync, apply transitions, record voiceover, and export — all without an internet connection. AI-powered features (Shorts generation, AI subtitles, voice enhancement, cloud publishing) require an internet connection because they involve server-side processing.

Your videos stay on your device. Unlike web-based tools that require uploading your entire video to cloud servers, Bitcut processes video locally on your iPhone or iPad. When you use AI features, only the audio track is sent to our servers for transcription — never the video itself. Audio is deleted from our servers immediately after processing. Published Shorts are stored encrypted on our infrastructure with access restricted to your shareable link.

Import a long video (like a podcast, lecture, vlog, or interview), and Bitcut's AI analyzes the speech to find the best moments. It transcribes the audio, corrects the text, then intelligently segments it into self-contained Shorts. Each Short is created as a separate project with trimmed video, word-level subtitles, and a quality score. The entire process typically takes a few minutes depending on video length.

Trailer picks the best, most engaging moments from your entire video and compiles them into a single highlight reel — great for teasers and promotional clips (15 seconds to 3 minutes).

Split divides your video into equal-length parts, each becoming a standalone Short. Useful for serialized content like tutorials or multi-part stories (up to 10 parts).

AI Smart Cuts is the most advanced mode. AI analyzes the speech content to find natural story boundaries — complete thoughts, compelling arguments, interesting anecdotes — and cuts there. Each Short gets AI subtitles and a quality score. Supports 12 languages.

When using Smart Cuts mode, each generated Short receives an overall score from 1 to 10 based on four criteria: Hook (how attention-grabbing is the opening), Engagement (how interesting is the content throughout), Completeness (does it tell a full story with a beginning and end), and Standalone (can a viewer understand it without watching the original). Shorts are ranked by their overall score so you can quickly identify which ones are worth posting.

You can import videos up to 40 minutes long for AI Shorts generation. Longer videos produce more Shorts — a 40-minute podcast typically yields 6 to 12 clips depending on the content density and your chosen mode. For best results, make sure the source video has clear speech audio. Background music is fine, but very noisy environments may reduce transcription accuracy.

Bitcut supports 12 languages for AI transcription and subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic. The AI automatically detects the spoken language, transcribes it, and generates correctly timed word-level subtitles. With the Creator plan, you can also generate translated subtitles in multiple languages from a single video.

AI minutes are consumed when you use server-based features: AI Shorts generation, AI subtitles, and voice enhancement. The Free plan includes 30 minutes per month — enough to try generating Shorts from a short video. Pro gives you 300 minutes per month, suitable for regular content creation. Creator includes 1,000 minutes per month for high-volume workflows. Minutes reset at the beginning of each billing cycle.

Import your video clips and a music track into a project. Bitcut analyzes the music using FFT-based beat detection and places beat markers on the timeline. When you add clips, they automatically trim to align with beat boundaries — so every cut lands on a beat. You can also filter clips by date to quickly find today's footage. Beat Sync is completely free and works offline, making it ideal for music videos, montages, and rhythmic edits.

Absolutely. Every Short generated by AI is a fully editable project in Bitcut's timeline editor. You can adjust trim points, reorder clips, fine-tune subtitle timing, change subtitle styles and colors, add transitions or title cards, adjust voice enhancement levels, and re-export at any time. AI gives you a strong starting point; you have full creative control over the final result.

Bitcut offers 7 animation styles for word-level subtitles: Fade (smooth opacity), Pop (scale-in), Slide Up (from below), Typewriter (sequential reveal), Bounce (spring physics), Glow (luminous appearance), and Wave (ripple effect). Each style supports full customization: colors, font size (pinch to resize in preview), position (top or bottom, drag for fine-tuning), text stroke, background type (gradient, plate, or none), and a karaoke mode that highlights words as they are spoken.

Face Tracking converts horizontal (16:9) video into vertical (9:16) format by intelligently following faces. It uses Apple's Vision framework to detect faces in every frame, locks onto the primary speaker, and smoothly tracks their movement with spring-based camera physics. Scene changes (like a cut from close-up to wide shot) are detected automatically with two-pass precision, and the virtual camera repositions instantly. The result is a vertical crop that always keeps the subject centered, without any manual keyframing. Available on Pro and Creator plans.

Bitcut supports multiple export quality presets, including a web-optimized light preset (720p HEVC at 2 Mbps for small file sizes) and full-quality export (up to 4K). HEVC (H.265) compression is supported for maximum quality at smaller file sizes. Subtitles are burned directly into the video, and all timeline edits — transitions, title cards, voiceover, voice enhancement — are rendered into the final file. Exported videos are saved to your photo library or can be shared directly.

After exporting your Short, you can upload it to Bitcut's cloud with one tap. Each published project gets a unique shareable link (like bitcut.app/p/my-vlog) with a preview page where anyone can watch your video directly in the browser. The AI also generates a ready-to-post description with an attention-grabbing hook, relevant hashtags, and copy optimized for the platform you choose — YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, or TikTok.

The Free plan includes 500 MB of cloud storage for published Shorts. The Pro plan provides 5 GB, which is enough for dozens of Shorts. The Creator plan gives you 50 GB, designed for creators who publish frequently. You can see your storage usage at any time in the app, and deleting published Shorts reclaims the space immediately.

Yes. You can delete any published Short from within the app at any time. Deletion removes the video file from our servers and reclaims the storage space for your account. The shareable link stops working immediately. There is no archive or recovery period — once deleted, the content is gone permanently from our infrastructure.

When you publish a Short, Bitcut's AI analyzes the video's content and generates a social media description tailored to each platform. It creates an attention-grabbing hook (the first line people see), a concise description that summarizes the content, and relevant hashtags for discoverability. You can generate separate versions optimized for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok — each following the conventions and best practices of that platform. Copy with one tap and paste directly into your post.

The free plan gives you the complete timeline editor with no restrictions: import unlimited clips, add music with beat sync, trim and split, reorder, apply transitions and title cards, record voiceover, and export. You also get 30 minutes of AI processing per month and 500 MB of cloud storage. The only limitations are a small watermark on exports and access to basic (not all) subtitle styles. No credit card required, no trial that expires.

Pro ($9.99/month) is for regular content creators. You get 300 AI minutes per month, no watermark, face tracking, all voice enhancement presets, all subtitle animation styles, and 5 GB of cloud storage.

Creator ($19.99/month) is for high-volume and professional workflows. On top of everything in Pro, you get 1,000 AI minutes per month, AI Story Director (automated narrative assembly from raw footage), multi-language subtitle translation, priority AI processing, and 50 GB of cloud storage.

Yes. Subscriptions are managed through the Apple App Store, and you can cancel at any time from your iPhone or iPad Settings. When you cancel, your subscription remains active until the end of the current billing period — you will not be charged again. After it expires, your account reverts to the free plan. Any published Shorts within the free storage limit remain accessible; content exceeding the free limit is preserved for 30 days so you can download or delete it.

Yes. Both Pro and Creator plans offer a free trial so you can experience all premium features before committing. The trial gives you full access to everything in the plan, including face tracking, all AI minutes, cloud storage, and watermark-free exports. If you decide not to continue, simply cancel before the trial ends and you will not be charged. Trial availability may vary by region and is managed through the App Store.

All payments are processed securely through the Apple App Store using your Apple ID. You can choose monthly billing or save 17% with annual plans ($99.99/year for Pro, $199.99/year for Creator). Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing cycle unless you cancel. You can manage your subscription, switch plans, or cancel at any time in your device's Settings under Subscriptions. No payment information is stored by Bitcut — everything goes through Apple's secure payment infrastructure.