How to combine videos on iPhone: iMovie, the Photos workaround and multiple takes

To combine videos on iPhone, use iMovie: start a Movie project, select the clips in the order you want them, and tap Create Movie. The Photos app cannot join clips into one video. If the clips are several takes of you talking, there is a faster route that also lets you cut them at the same time: merge them into one transcript.

Below are the steps for each, plus the details that decide whether the result looks like one video or several glued together.

How to combine videos with iMovie

iMovie is Apple’s free editor and the built-in answer. Apple’s steps (Apple Support):

1. Open iMovie and start a new project.
2. Choose Movie.
3. Select the videos you want to combine. They are joined in the order you select them.
4. Tap Create Movie.
5. To change the order, touch and hold a clip in the timeline and drag it to a new position.
6. Tap Done, then the Share button, and save the video to your library.

This is the method that also answers searches for splicing or stitching videos together on iPhone. They all mean the same thing: several clips, one file.

Change the transitions

iMovie puts a transition between every clip. Apple’s guide gives Dissolve as the default; you can tap the transition icon in the timeline and choose None, Theme, Cross-dissolve or Slide (Apple Support).

For clips of different scenes, a short dissolve is fine. For several takes of the same person in the same spot, choose None. A plain cut between two takes reads as a jump cut, which viewers of talking-head videos are used to. A dissolve between two shots of the same face looks like a mistake.

Trim each clip before or after joining

Every clip in the timeline can be trimmed by dragging its ends, and split if you want to remove something in the middle. The steps for cutting out a middle section are in how to cut out parts of a video on iPhone.

Can the Photos app combine videos?

Not as an editor. Photos can trim a single clip, but it has no way to put two clips into one file.

There is one workaround since iOS 27. Photos can turn a selection of photos and videos into a slideshow and save it as a video: select the items, tap the More button, choose Start Slideshow, adjust it with Customize, then Share and Save Video (iGeeksBlog).

It is a slideshow, though, not an edit. You can change the transition style, the duration per photo and the music, but you cannot rearrange the items in the slideshow editor, trim them, or add text. For a holiday recap it may do. For anything you want to control, use iMovie.

Apple’s other small editor, Clips, is not an alternative any more: Apple discontinued it in October 2025, and new users can no longer download it (PetaPixel).

Combining several takes of a talking-head video

If you film yourself talking, combining clips usually means something specific: you recorded the video in several takes because you stumbled, lost the thread or ran out of breath. Now you want one clean video, and the takes overlap. Take two repeats the end of take one; take three starts with “okay, so”.

In a timeline editor you join the clips, then go through the joins one by one to cut the overlaps. That works, but it means scrubbing through every seam to find where the repeated sentence starts.

In slicecut, the takes become one transcript:

1. Import the takes into one project. They read as a single document, one after another.
2. Read through it. Where a sentence appears twice, strike the version you like less: tap a word to strike it, or drag across the sentence.
3. Strike the “okay, so” at the start of each take and anything else you do not want.
4. Set the pauses with the pause dial so the seams between takes have the same rhythm as the rest of the video.
5. Export. The video is rendered on the phone, at source quality, and saved to your library.

Because you see what was said, the repeated sentences are easy to spot, and the cut lands right before the next word. You combine and edit in one pass instead of two.

The limit is 15 minutes per source video and 20 minutes for the finished project. For short-form videos, Reels and Shorts, that is plenty.

Before you combine: make the clips match

Combined clips look like one video when they match. The things that give the seams away:

• Different orientation. A horizontal clip in a vertical video gets bars or a crop. Film all takes the same way up.
• Different exposure or white balance. If the light changed between takes, the cut shows it. Lock exposure on the iPhone camera by touching and holding on your face until AE/AF Lock appears.
• Different sound. A take with a fan running next to one without sounds like two rooms. Record all takes in the same place, with the same microphone.
• Different framing. If you moved the phone between takes, the jump between them is bigger than a jump cut. Either keep the phone still or make the change deliberate, for example a closer framing for a new section.

Our guide on making a talking-head video on your phone covers the setup that keeps takes consistent.

Which method to use

Your clips	Method
Different scenes, e.g. a trip	iMovie with short transitions
A quick recap without editing	Photos slideshow, saved as a video (iOS 27)
Several takes of you talking	slicecut: one transcript, cut the overlaps, export

On Android the built-in options are different; see how to merge videos on Android.