Instagram's Edits App Comes to Mac With AI Agent Support

Instagram’s Edits video app is now on the Mac, and Edits on the Mac is free. You’ll need a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and an Instagram account to sign in.

Running an Intel Mac? You’re out of luck, because Instagram’s page lists Apple silicon as a must.

The bigger news is who else gets to use it: the app on the Mac ships with an MCP connection to all of its editing tools, so an AI agent can work on your video too.

Matthew Simari, who heads product for Edits, told The Verge that you can use any agent you want. Of course, Meta would love you to pick its own Muse.

What the agent can do

Simari’s example was a rough cut, and here’s the path he described for a rough cut made by Muse:

• You ask Muse to cut a clip sitting in your Downloads folder
• Muse makes the tool calls through the Edits MCP and builds the rough cut
• You open that project file in Edits and keep editing by hand

He called it going “back and forth from agentic to manual editing.”

So the agent doesn’t hand you a finished video. It builds a first draft that you finish yourself, which is how I’d want it anyway.

Already paying for an AI agent that speaks MCP? My read is that this is the real bet: Instagram lets you bring the agent you already use to the Mac instead of learning a new one.

What else is in the Mac app

Instagram’s Edits for Desktop page lists the tools you’d expect from a bigger editor:

• A multi-track timeline with keyframes, plus audio waveforms for cutting on the beat
• Color wheels and curves for grading, and your own LUTs and font files
• Instagram’s licensed and royalty-free audio libraries
• Unlimited automatic captions
• Direct publishing to Instagram, several aspect ratios and 4K exports with no watermark

Your keyboard shortcuts can come over from another editor, Meta says. Saved audio and text styles from your phone show up on the Mac too.

But there are gaps. There’s no Windows or Linux version, and you can’t edit one project on both your phone and your Mac yet.

Meta says it’s working on cross-platform editing for Edits on the Mac. It plans weekly updates. Fair.

In September, Instagram gave the mobile app an AI creative assistant that suggests videos and gives feedback using your views and retention.

Why it matters

Paying for a desktop editor just to post Reels? You now have a free option with 4K export and no watermark. For some creators, I think that’s enough to cancel a subscription.

The Verge ties Edits on the Mac to Instagram’s push into longer, widescreen video, which is far easier to cut on a big screen.

That fits the reports of Instagram offering YouTubers up to $500,000 for Features.

Still, Edits publishes straight to Instagram, so it’s built to keep your work inside Meta’s apps.

Post to YouTube or TikTok too? Then a few habits help:

• Export the 4K file and upload it to the other platforms yourself
• Keep your raw footage in your own folders as well as in Edits
• Test the agent on one short clip before you hand it a whole week of Reels, and keep your own first cut nearby so you can compare the two side by side

Count how many of the agent’s cuts you’d change by hand on the Mac, because that number tells you whether a rough cut from an agent saves you any time at all.

Common Questions

Is Instagram’s Edits app available on Windows or Linux?

No. Edits on the Mac is the only desktop version, and it needs a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later). Instagram’s page says the app is free to download.

Can AI agents edit videos in Instagram Edits on a Mac?

Yes. The app on the Mac ships with an MCP connection to all of its editing tools, so an agent such as Meta’s Muse can build a rough cut that you finish yourself in Edits.

Can I open my Edits phone projects on the Mac?

Not yet. Meta says it’s working on cross-platform editing for Edits on the Mac, though saved audio and text styles from your phone already show up on the Mac too.