Status
In TestFlight. Coming to the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
VidTools — an app by Didactic Initiatives
Twelve video tools. Nothing uploads.
Compress a video to an exact file size, split it, convert it, reframe it, or strip the location data out of it. Every tool runs on your iPhone, with Apple's own frameworks. There is no server to upload to, because we do not run one.
Coming soon to the App Store
See the twelve tools ↓
Three reasons it exists
Every other answer to these problems asks you to upload your video to a stranger's server first.
The size wall
Hit every upload limit
Discord wants 10 MB. Email wants 25. A form wants 50. A quality slider guesses at those numbers; VidTools aims at them directly, and steps the resolution down rather than miss the one you set.
The odd jobs
Fix any video problem
Sideways footage, a washed-out HDR clip, a spatial video that will not play, audio you need gone, a crop you cannot make stick. Twelve tools, one app, instead of twelve browser tabs.
The privacy part
Edit without uploading
A web converter takes a copy of your video and keeps it on someone else's disk for as long as they like. VidTools reads your file, edits it, and writes it back — all on the device in your hand.
The twelve tools
Every one of them is free to use. Pro removes the ads, not the features.
Main tools
/ 01
Compress
Hit an exact file size, not just a quality setting. Name the size you need and VidTools encodes to reach it — dropping the resolution a step when the bitrate alone cannot get there.
/ 02
Split
Cut one video into pieces, by file size or by piece count. Useful when a platform caps the length or the megabytes and you would rather post three parts than re-shoot.
/ 03
Convert
Swap the container (MP4, MOV, M4V), re-encode HEVC to H.264 for a device that cannot read it, pull the audio out on its own, or export the clip as a GIF.
Quick fixes
/ 04
Scrub metadata
Remove the location and device data a video file carries, before you send it to anyone.
/ 05
Fix rotation
Turn a sideways video the right way up. No re-encode, so the picture is untouched.
/ 06
Remove audio
Drop the audio track and keep the video exactly as it was. No re-encode.
/ 07
Trim
Cut the start or the end. No re-encode, so trimming costs you no quality at all.
/ 08
Inspect
See the codec, the bitrate, the resolution and the colour space at a glance — before you decide which tool the file actually needs.
/ 09
Make crops permanent
A crop in the Photos app is only ever a suggestion: Photos keeps the full original so anyone can hit Revert. This writes a copy with nothing to revert to.
Advanced
/ 10
HDR to SDR
Fix a video that looks washed out and grey on a screen that cannot show HDR. It tone maps the real colour, rather than relabelling the file and hoping.
/ 11
Reframe
Turn a wide video into 9:16 or 1:1 for a feed that demands it — filling the gap with a blurred bar of the video itself, not a stretch and not a crop that cuts heads off.
/ 12
Spatial to 2D
Make a spatial video from an iPhone 15 Pro or a Vision Pro play on an ordinary screen, by keeping one eye's view and encoding it flat.
One payment, or none
There is no subscription, and there is no locked tool.
Free
$0
- All twelve tools, in full
- No account, no login, no sign-up
- No cap on how much you edit
- Supported by ads
Pro
$4.99 once
- Removes every ad, for good
- Not a subscription — one payment
- Unlocks nothing, because nothing is locked
- Restores on your other devices
Two things worth saying plainly. "Make crops permanent" writes a new, flattened copy. It does not reach into the old file and change it. The original still holds the whole picture until you delete it, and VidTools keeps that deletion as a separate, deliberate step — never a silent one.
And compressing a video re-encodes it, so it costs some quality. That is what compression is. The tools that can avoid a re-encode — trim, remove audio, fix rotation, scrub metadata — all do, and the app tells you which kind of job you are about to run before it runs it.
Questions
Does my video ever leave my device?
No. Every tool edits your video on your device, with Apple's own frameworks. Didactic Initiatives LLC runs no server, so there is nowhere for your video to go. The full detail is in the Privacy Policy.
What does VidTools Pro unlock?
Nothing. Pro removes every ad for one payment of $4.99, and it is not a subscription. Every tool works fully before you buy it and after.
Can it really hit an exact file size?
It aims at the size you set and re-encodes to reach it. Past the point where asking for a lower bitrate returns the same number of bytes, it steps the resolution down instead of quietly missing your target.
Which tools re-encode my video?
Compress, convert, GIF export, HDR to SDR, reframe and spatial to 2D — they all change the picture or the codec, so they must. Trim, remove audio, fix rotation and scrub metadata do not: they rewrite the container and leave every video sample exactly as it was.
Why does "Make crops permanent" need my whole photo library?
A Photos edit keeps the hidden original, so that Revert still works. That original is reachable only through the photo library itself — not through the file the picker hands an app — so the tool needs library access to read it and write the flattened copy back.
Does it show ads, and can I turn off tracking?
Yes to ads, in the free app. On first launch iOS asks whether VidTools may track you across other apps; decline and you still get ads, just not personalised ones. You can change that answer at any time in the app's own settings.
Get in touch
VidTools is nearly here.
The app is finished and in testing on real devices. When it reaches the App Store, this page gets the download link. Until then — a tool you wish it had, or a video it should handle better? Tell us.