YouTube is beefing up its Shorts platform with a suite of new editing tools aimed squarely at poaching TikTok creators. Expect beat-synced editing, gallery stickers, and AI-generated stickers to land sometime this spring, though YouTube isn’t dropping specific dates just yet.
As TikTok’s future hangs in the balance in the U.S., YouTube is seizing the moment to lure creators to its short-form video arena. The company recently unveiled a set of tools designed to inject much-needed dynamism and user-friendliness into the Shorts editing process, aiming to mirror the creative freedom TikTok users have come to expect.
Google outlined five new tools slated for release this spring in a recent blog post. Details remain sparse, with the simultaneous rollout on Android and iOS still unconfirmed.
Leading the charge is a revamped in-app video editor, a feature YouTube says creators have been clamoring for. This enhanced editor will grant creators finer command over clip timing with zoom and snap functionalities. Users can also drag, drop, and edit clips with music or timed text, previewing their Shorts in real time is another part of this update.
Another tool is designed to automatically sync video clips to a song’s rhythm. By selecting a track, YouTube says its system will handle video edits to the music’s “beat,” a process that makes beat-driven dance videos simpler.
Templates are also getting a facelift. Users can now incorporate photos from their personal gallery and leverage built-in effects. Also, the original creator of a template gets the credit when their work is reused.
For visual flair, YouTube is introducing enhanced sticker options. Creators can now import image stickers directly from their phone’s photo gallery into Shorts. Rounding out the updates is an AI-powered feature that lets users conjure up entirely new stickers based on brief text prompts.
