Your first film on iPhone or iPad

Bring a few clips

Use three short videos or photos and, optionally, music you have permission to use. Make a 20–30 second film before starting a long project. Meridian’s iPhone and iPad editor uses the same project format and editing model as the Mac, with controls arranged for touch.

You can create, import, edit, save, and recover projects on iOS without a subscription. Creating new exports requires active export access. A subscription offer may appear at startup; closing it lets you continue editing. See access and restore.

Create the project

1. On Projects, tap New Project.
2. Enter a name, such as “Saturday walk.”
3. Choose Landscape, Vertical, Square, or Portrait. Vertical is a useful starting canvas for a phone-first film.
4. Tap Create. Meridian creates a saved working project in app storage.

The project name opens Project Options, including Save, Save a Copy, Sequence Settings, and Project Health. You can change the canvas later, but review every shot’s framing after doing so.

Import and assemble

1. Choose the Media workspace.
2. Tap Import from Photos for videos or images, or Import from Files for videos, images, and sound files.
3. Wait for imports to finish. Check Project Options → Activity if an item fails.
4. Tap a media item to preview it in Source. Tap Add to sequence for a simple first assembly.
5. For a smaller range, open Source marks and edit targets, mark In and Out, and tap Append.
6. Repeat with two more shots. Select Sequence in the viewer and play the edit.

Imported media is copied into managed storage. Photos picker failures are listed separately from file import results; successful items remain in the library. Importing does not promise every format offered by a provider will decode.

Cut and adjust

Choose Edit and tap a clip to select it. Move the sequence playhead into that clip, then tap Split. Select Trim for relative precision operations, or open the clip’s actions and choose Precision Edit… for an absolute start, end, or move position in sequence frames.

For small screens, Show Clip List is an alternative to tiny timeline targets. Use Fit, Zoom In, Zoom Out, or Go to Selection to navigate. Undo is available in the editing actions; Tools → Commands provides named commands including Redo.

Add a title and balance sound

Choose Titles and tap an Essentials preset or New Title at the desired sequence position. Select the title and use Inspector → Text to replace its words. Tap Save Text, then Font, color, layout and reveal to refine its appearance. Trim the title to leave time to read it.

Select the sound you want to adjust. Inspector → Audio offers Clip gain, Fade in, and Fade out. Check which linked audio clips are selected before changing levels. Use Color for basic picture adjustments; small changes are easier to judge while learning.

Save and deliver

1. Tap the project name and choose Save. Resolve any orange save warning first.
2. Choose Deliver, or tap Export in the editor header.
3. Enter a filename and choose H.264 as a practical first format. Inspect Settings preview, audio, captions, and source policy.
4. Tap Export Movie. If requested, review the subscription terms or restore existing access.
5. When the movie completes, use Save to Files, Share Movie, or Save to Photos.

Watch the completed file outside Meridian. A movie export shares the finished picture and sound; Share Portable Project shares an editable project with its required media. Learn the distinction in moving projects between devices.