Sure, you could go out and buy one of the best video cameras for recording your video content, but now more than ever the best camera for recording YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and other videos might already be in your pocket. The best video recording apps for 2024 turn your smartphone into a video recording powerhouse, and they’re all just a download away.
Do you need a video recording app on your smartphone? You can use the native camera app, but the best video recording apps for iPhone and Android devices let you do things beyond the standard tweaks and setting adjustments.
Features such as faster image quality control, focus, exposure, and more, let you truly take control of the shot. Another benefit of shooting video on your smartphone is that you can post directly to social media or your channels with less messing around.
Native camera apps are designed for everybody. The best video recording apps, however, are designed specifically for videographers and creators… and that makes all the difference. Check out our list of the best video recording apps for smartphones.
Filmic Pro
Subscription: $1.99 to $39.99
Best video recording app for most people
Pros:
- ✅Fully automatic and manual features
- ✅Clean interface
- ✅Tons of pro features
- ✅Excellent output quality
Cons:
- 🚫Subscription model
- 🚫Pro features can be overwhelming
Filmic Pro has been around for a minute. It’s a go-to for, especially for those getting started with recording video content on their smartphones or tablets. For beginners, don’t be turned off by the “pro” in Filmic Pro. The app is easy enough for beginners and has a ton of more advanced features to grow into to really take control of your production.
Available for iOS and Android devices (most smartphone camera apps are either/or), Filmic’s attractive and easy-to-use interface deserves all the praise it receives.
Filmic Pro Features
It features automatic and manual controls with simple sliders for video features, including exposure, focus, frame rate, bit rate, ISO, shutter speed, zoom, aspect ratios, and more. There are also some good effects like slow motion and timelapse.
While video quality has always been excellent with Filmic capable of shooting in 4K (with support for DolbyVision HDR), the app’s latest Filmic V7 version, there have been several improvements, including support for 16- and 24-bit audio and app integrations with hardware such as DJI and Zhiyun gimbals. The app has also added a new Custom Function Button that lets you create an easy-access button to your most-used or favorite feature right on screen.
Filmic Pro offers a range of weekly and yearly subscription tiers starting at $1.99/week all the way up to $39.99/year. When you’ve mastered the app, there are also several kits and add-ons in the Filmic Pro Suite you can expand into, to take your smartphone videography to even higher levels.
Mavis Pro Camera
$5.99 + in-app add-ons
Best iOS video recording app
Pros:
- ✅Wide features for iOS users
- ✅Excellent external audio options
- ✅Pro-level color and sound tools
- ✅Relatively inexpensive
Cons:
- 🚫Not available for Android devices
Another highly-rated video recording app, Mavis Pro Camera is up there with Filmic Pro, but made specifically for iPhone. Designed to level-up your iPhone to give it much more robust pro-level capabilities, it offers a wide range of manual and automatic features, including focus, exposure, ISO, shutter speed, and shutter lock, allowing you to let the app do the work for you or take control when you want something to your specific artistic tastes.
Mavis Pro Features
Mavis has support for shooting in resolutions from HD to 4K, and it has some of the best audio compatibilities we’ve seen, allowing you to use the iPhone Lightning or USB-C port to connect and external audio devices like mics and audio monitoring/passthrough through headphones.
The interface is easy on the eyes and all the on-screen controls are well laid out and accessible, especially while you’re shooting. And while it’s easy to use for beginners, the advanced, pro features are top-notch, too and include live vectorscope and waveform monitor for ensuring uniformity of color and hue from shoot to shoot, and Mavis has some excellent audio metering and controls, too.
The Mavis app itself is inexpensive at just $5.99, but in-app purchases can rack that amount up.
ProMovie Recorder
Free / $2.99 to remove watermark
Best free video recording app for iOS
Pros:
- ✅It’s free!
- ✅Has great basic and pro features
- ✅Easy to use
- ✅Tons of control
Cons:
- 🚫Not available for Android
- 🚫Have to pay to have the watermark removed
If you’re just dabbling into the world of smartphone video for your TikTok or YouTube channel and you’re not quite ready to commit to paying for more advanced features, ProMovie is a great place for iPhone users to start. With features quite similar to those of Mavis and Filmic, it’s shocking how good this free iOS app is. The free version adds a ProMovie watermark to footage. Removing said watermark costs $2.99.
ProMovie Features
Now, onto the features. Like the other apps on our list, ProMovie Recorder offers up automatic and fully manual control of your shots (exposure, shutter speed, ISO, focus, white balance, and more), and will shoot ultra wide, wide, and telephoto video from HD (1080p) resolution at 240 frames per second to 4K at 60 fps.
But it’s the on-screen interface that makes this free video app appealing. The UI layout may not look as fancy as some of the pay options, but everything you need is just a tap or two away. Resolution, audio, and settings controls sit along the side, which open up to expose all the options you need, with exposure controls right there on the right, with current shot details along the bottom that change as you move the camera.
Full control of your aspect ratio, resolution, and frames rates as well as microphone input selection, sample rate, and audio format are also accessible in a snap. For a free app, ProMovie Recorder is kind of a no-brainer. If nothing else, it’s a great into into the world of smartphone video recording apps. And while iOS exclusivity is bound to make Android users sad, they can check out the open source Open Camera app instead. It’s also free and offers many of the same features.
Riverside
Free + monthly plans starting at $15/mo.
Best video recording app for podcasts
Pros:
- ✅Easy to use interface
- ✅High-quality video and audio
- ✅Local recording on your device
- ✅Up to eight people can join at a time
Cons:
- 🚫Free tier is limited
- 🚫Subscriptions aren’t cheap
You may have checked out our post on the best cameras for video podcasting here on the TubeBuddy blog, and if you’re a podcaster, you’ve heard of Riverside software for recording podcasts on our computer. Riverside Mobile for iOS and Android devices is an extension of Riverside, but allows you to record from anywhere, as long as you have your device with you.
Riverside Features
Using your smartphone’s camera, built-in audio, or even external microphones for better sound quality, Riverside allows video recording up to 4K and audio up to 48kHz, to separate tracks for up to eight people, such as guests and co-hosts, no matter where they are. Just point your phone(s) at the action and you’re in business.
Riverside’s superpower is local recording—caching, basically—on each participant’s device, be it a smartphone or computer. This extra step means video is live streamed at the highest quality the camera is capable of. If the internet connection is at all unreliable, your video stream won’t suffer.
Riverside offers a clean, easy to use interface. Just send your guests a link to the session and they simply tap to join. You can even invite others as you record, and you can live stream to YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and other social media platforms, too. Even if you’re not going live, at the end of the recording, all the files are stored to you for editing and uploading to your channel.
The Riverside app itself is free, and with an account you get some basic features, limited recording, and only 720p quality. But if you like what you see, you can subscribe to a full-fledged plan for either $15 or $24/month.
What’s your pick for the best video recording apps 2024?
The native video cameras found in most smartphones are good for most people, but to take full advantage of what your device is capable of, as well as the benefits of having a full-featured recording device (and studio, for that matter) in your pocket, you really need a dedicated video recording app.
The level of image and sound controls that the best video recording apps offer can take your YouTube, TikTok, Instagram videos, and video podcasts to the next level. And in most cases they require minimum investment, putting everything you need right in your pocket.
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