Use Horoptic on your phone

This covers the iPhone and Android apps. Editing and exporting on the phone are free, work offline and need no account. The Director, generation and transcription cost credits; they, and cloud sync with a Mac or a PC, need an account. A project you start on the phone is a Local project: it lives on this phone until you choose to move it to the cloud.

1. Start something

The first screen has three ways in:

• A recipe. Under Start something (on a new phone, Make the first one), tap a recipe. A recipe is a set of edits that runs on your timeline: it asks for your footage or photos, makes a new project, brings the files in and cuts them in one go. Recipes marked FREE cost nothing and need no account. A recipe marked FREE TO RUN runs free too; its card names the one step inside it that costs, such as transcription or generated music, and the recipe never runs that step for you. All recipes shows every one.
• The camera. On a new phone, Record something makes a talking-to-camera project and opens the camera.
• The Director. Type an idea under What are we making? The Director needs an account; if you are signed out it keeps your idea until you sign in.

Your projects are listed under On this phone. Tap one to open it, or tap its ⋮ menu to rename, duplicate, save it as a package or delete it. To open a .horoptic package someone sent you, use Open package….

2. Record

1. The first time, Horoptic asks for the camera and microphone. They are used only while you record, and takes stay on this phone.
2. Tap the record button to start. Tapping it again pauses; it never ends the take. While paused, tap End take to finish.
3. Switch camera flips between front and back before you start. Script opens a prompter: it shows the words you type over the camera while you talk.
4. When you finish, you are asked Keep this take? — Keep puts it on the timeline, Trim sets its start and end first, Retake deletes it and records again.

If you turned the camera off, Horoptic says so and offers Import instead; you can switch it back on in the phone’s Settings. If the microphone is refused, you can still choose Record without sound.

3. Bring in footage

In the editor, tap ＋ Media (on an empty timeline, Add from camera roll) and pick videos or photos from the phone or from Files. Each one lands as a clip at the end of the timeline. Nothing is uploaded.

4. Edit

• Trim: drag either edge of a clip.
• Split, delete, copy: touch and hold a clip to open its menu. Split at playhead cuts it where the playhead is; Ripple delete removes a piece and closes the gap.
• Undo: tap Undo in the top bar, or tap the screen with two fingers. Tap Redo, or tap with three fingers, to bring it back.

For rolls, slips and slides at a cut, use the Mac or Windows app — see trim with the pro edit grammar.

5. Export and save to Photos

1. Tap Export. For a Local project the sheet reads LOCAL PROJECT · THIS DEVICE: the video is rendered on this phone and nothing is uploaded.
2. Choose Video or Still frame, then a Resolution (1080p, 720p or 540p — never larger than the project). Turn on Normalise loudness to even out how loud the export plays.
3. Tap Export. Keep Horoptic open and in front while it renders; it keeps the screen on for you. Playback and scrubbing are slow until it finishes, and Cancel render stops it.
4. When it finishes, the video is Saved to Photos. Tap Share to send it on.

Saving needs access to your photo library. If you refused it, the sheet says so: allow it in the phone’s Settings and export again. If a render stops (for example, when the phone runs out of space), the sheet says Render stopped and NOTHING CHARGED; your project is untouched. Tap Try again, or try a smaller size.

6. Sign in, when you want the cloud

You need an account only for cloud sync with a Mac or a PC, the Director, and generation. Tap Sign in on the first screen and Horoptic opens a secure sign-in page. Enter your email, confirm you are 18 or older, then tap the button Email me a code. Type the code you receive and tap Verify & sign in (or, if you have a passkey, tap Sign in with a passkey). The page then hands you back to the app; if it does not, tap Open Horoptic.

A project stays on this phone until you open its ⋮ menu and choose Promote to Cloud, which uploads it. Credits are added on a Mac or a PC — see credits and billing.

7. Settings, text size and help

At the foot of the first screen, Settings & about holds Help & support, the Privacy Policy and the Horoptic Terms of Service. Text follows your phone’s own text size. To delete your account, open Account (top right when signed in) and choose Delete account — it erases your cloud projects and generated work, never the projects on this phone. More in data export and deletion.

Something not working? See troubleshooting, or write to support@horoptic.com.