Final Cut Pro iPad update: 23 new transcription languages, MotionVFX and Creator Studio

Apple has announced a Creator Studio update that adds 23 new transcription languages to Final Cut Pro, which it says makes it “easier than ever to caption and search footage” (Apple). If you talk to camera in a language other than English, that could be the first time Final Cut’s automatic captions and transcript search work for your videos. Apple has not yet published the list of languages.

What arrives in November, and who pays for it

Apple announced the update on 27 October. It is due on the App Store in November as a free update for existing Creator Studio subscribers (Apple). New subscribers pay $12.99 a month or $129 a year in the US. There is a one-month free trial, and you get three months free when you buy a new Mac or a qualifying iPad (Apple).

Apple lists these additions for Final Cut Pro (Apple):

• 23 new transcription languages for captions and footage search.
• Built-in MotionVFX templates, titles, transitions and graphics, plus tools for rotoscoping, tracking and colour grading.
• A Content Hub with Apple-curated stock videos, photos and backgrounds.
• Image generation from text descriptions inside a project.
• Round-trip editing of images in Pixelmator Pro, more keyframe easing options, and clips that can be disconnected from the primary storyline.

Mac, iPad or both: read the small print

Apple introduces these changes with the sentence “Final Cut Pro for Mac and iPad delivers an exceptional set of new capabilities for video editors”, but it does not say which device gets each one (Apple). The MotionVFX section only names Mac: “Final Cut Pro for Mac now integrates MotionVFX directly into the app” (Apple). For the transcription languages, the Content Hub and image generation, the announcement names no device.

So if you are hoping for MotionVFX titles on your iPad, wait for the release notes before you subscribe. The same goes for the new languages. Final Cut Pro is not coming to iPhone with this update. The iPhone part of the announcement is Voice Memo Studio Sound, with which users can “reduce room ambience and background noise” in voice memos recorded on supported iPhone models. You can then keep working on the recording in Logic Pro (Apple).

What the new languages change for a talking-head edit

In a talking-head video, the words are what you edit. A transcript lets you find the take where you said the line right, search a long recording for a topic, and turn speech into captions without typing it all out. Until now, if Final Cut could not transcribe your language, you did all of that by ear. With 23 more languages, many more creators can use those tools in the app they already pay for.

What still decides how good the result is: how accurate the transcription is for your accent, and how much time you spend fixing the captions. We cannot judge either until the update ships. Our guide on getting a video transcript automatically and cleaning it up covers the checks that are worth doing with any tool.

MotionVFX and stock footage: useful, but not for every video

Titles, transitions and stock clips help when a video needs packaging, such as an explainer with chapter titles or a cutaway while you describe something. A yap video rarely needs much of that. Most of the work is cutting false starts and tightening pauses, and the steps in how to edit a talking-head video are the same whether or not you have thousands of templates. If you want to add cutaways, our explainer on when you need B-roll can help you decide.

If you edit on your phone

Final Cut Pro on a Mac or iPad is a timeline editor, and it is a strong option if you already work at a desk. If you record and edit on your phone, there are other tools. Our overview of text-based editing without the desk compares phone apps that let you edit by transcript. slicecut is one of them: you strike words in the transcript to cut them, and the export renders on the phone at source quality. It does not add titles, effects or subtitles.

The short version

• The update is due in November, free for existing Creator Studio subscribers.
• 23 new transcription languages for captions and search are the biggest change for anyone who talks to camera in a language other than English.
• Apple names only the Mac for MotionVFX. Check the release notes before you count on any of the new features on your iPad.
• Nothing in this update brings Final Cut Pro to iPhone.