Instagram released Edits for macOS on Thursday, bringing its free short-form video editor to desktop for the first time since the app launched on mobile in April 2025.
The desktop version includes a full multi-track timeline, keyframes, audio waveforms, keyboard shortcuts, and support for connecting external AI agents through an MCP server.
Creators can export in 4K without a watermark and publish directly to Instagram, with built-in tagging and location features.
Brett Westervelt, who leads Edits, said in a blog post that creators had described “the same moment to us: a project gets too big for your phone”.
He added that “your work is growing, and your tools should grow with it”.
The launch puts Edits in more direct competition with ByteDance’s CapCut, which has offered desktop editing since 2021 and reports more than 200 million monthly active users.
Edits crossed 50 million active users in October, roughly a year after launch.
Meta previewed the desktop version in June at a creator event in Los Angeles and said at the time that it was in development.
An AI assistant that analyzes Instagram performance data arrived on mobile in September.
The Mac-only release leaves out Windows, where CapCut has a substantial desktop base.
Instagram has not announced a Windows or Linux version, and I don’t see it coming any time soon.
The desktop app also cannot yet edit the same project across mobile and desktop (yes, it’s currently not cross-platform), though Meta says it is working on that and plans weekly updates.
Matthew Simari, head of product management for Edits, told The Verge that the MCP integration lets creators use “any agent you want” to work with video inside the editor, citing Meta’s Muse as one option.
That agentic editing layer is not something CapCut advertises in the same form, and it gives Edits a feature that reaches beyond timeline trimming.
