Efficient Compute
How to add text to a video on iPhone
Not in the Photos app: its Markup tool works on photos, not videos. For free, use iMovie, which puts a title style over a clip, or an editor with text overlays. In Talk, tap Text, type, choose a font, colours and how it comes in and goes out, then drag it into place; it starts at the playhead and you set how long it stays on the timeline. Or say it: “add a title that says Day one for the first three seconds and fade it in.” Text is free in Talk, and exports carry no watermark.
The steps
- Put the playhead where the text should start New text starts at the playhead and stays for three seconds. Both change later, so this only saves a drag.
- Tap Text and type A few words read in the seconds text is on screen; a sentence often doesn’t.
- Choose a font and colours Thirty fonts are built in, from Helvetica and Futura to Didot and Marker, and you can import your own .ttf or .otf file from the Files app. Over a busy picture, give the text a background box: it stays legible on every frame, whatever passes behind it.
- Choose how it comes in and goes out Under In and Out: Fade, Slide Up, Slide Down, Slide Left, Slide Right, Zoom or Pop, or None for a hard cut. The animation follows the text if you move or retime it later, so you never have to redo it.
- Place it and time it Drag the text on the preview to move it, pinch to resize it and twist to rotate it. On the timeline, drag the ends of its bar to set when it appears and when it goes.
- Export The text is burned into the picture, so it shows on every platform the video goes to. Talk exports 1080p free with no watermark; 4K and HDR need Pro.
The prompt bar does the same from a sentence: “put ‘Part 2’ in the top left for the whole video”, “add a yellow title that pops in”, “make the text bigger”. It sets the font, colours, position, timing and animation it reads from what you asked, and every result is ordinary text you can still drag and edit.
Where to put text on a vertical video
TikTok, Reels and Shorts draw their own interface over a vertical video, and text underneath it is lost. Two areas are covered on all three:
| The bottom fifth | The poster’s caption, the account name and the sound line. On a 1080 × 1920 video that is the lowest 384 pixels. Text centred lower than about a quarter of the way up is at risk. |
|---|---|
| The right edge | The column of like, comment and share buttons takes roughly the right-hand eighth, about 130 pixels at 1080 wide. Keep long lines within the middle 70% of the width. |
Talk’s captions have a switch for this, Clear of App Buttons in the caption style panel, which lifts them above those areas on vertical canvases in the preview and the export. Text you add yourself goes where you put it, so place it with those two areas in mind, and look at the preview with the shot’s busiest moment on screen.
Text, titles and captions are three different tools
| Text | Words you type, placed and timed by hand: a title, a label, a call to action. This page. |
|---|---|
| Captions | Words made from the speech, timed to it line by line or word by word. Typing those by hand takes hours; automatic captions take a minute. |
| Titles in iMovie | Eleven animated styles that sit on one clip. You can change the font, colour, size and position, but the title belongs to its clip, so timing it within the clip means splitting the clip. |
Ways to add text to a video on iPhone
| App | Timing | Fonts | Animation | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talk | Its own bar on the timeline | 30 built in, plus your own .ttf and .otf | In and Out styles and keyframes, free; following a moving subject on Pro | Free, no watermark |
| iMovie | Tied to a clip; split the clip to time it | iMovie’s list | 11 animated title styles | Free, from Apple |
| CapCut | Its own track | A large library | Many text templates and effects, some on Pro | Free, with Pro extras |
| Photos app | No text on video: Markup works on photos and screenshots only | Built in | ||
As of October 2026. Check the current App Store listing before paying for a text feature.
Frequently asked questions
Can you add text to a video in the iPhone Photos app?
No. Markup in the Photos app adds text to photos and screenshots, not videos. For text on a video you need iMovie, which is free from Apple, or another editor.
How do I add text to a video on iPhone for free?
iMovie and Talk both do it free, with no watermark. In iMovie, tap the clip, tap Titles and choose a style, then change its font, colour, size and position. In Talk, tap Text, type it, choose a font, colours and an animation, and drag it into place.
How do I make text appear and disappear at a certain time?
In Talk, text has its own bar on the timeline: drag its ends to set when it appears and when it goes. In iMovie a title belongs to a clip, so to show text over part of a clip you split the clip where the text should start and end.
Can I use my own font?
In Talk, yes. Import a .ttf or .otf file from the Files app and it joins the font list, for text and for captions. Check that the font’s licence allows use in video.
How do I animate text in a video?
Start with an In and an Out animation: Fade, Slide in four directions, Zoom or Pop. For a path of your own, Talk’s Animate tool sets keyframes for position, size, rotation and opacity, free. To pin text to something that moves in the shot, motion tracking is on Talk Pro.
Where should text go on a TikTok or a Reel?
Above the bottom fifth of the frame and clear of the right edge. The apps draw the caption and sound line across the bottom fifth and a column of buttons down the right-hand eighth or so. On a 1080 × 1920 video, keep text above the lowest 384 pixels and left of the last 130.