How To Rotate a Video on Any iPhone Model

Sometimes, your iPhone automatically rotates videos in the wrong orientation if you shoot them at a weird angle. Or, if you’re as absent-minded as I am, you probably accidentally recorded it upside down or sideways.

To fix this, you can manually rotate a video on your iPhone to your desired orientation. Below, I’ll walk you through several ways you can do so in just a few minutes.

How Do I Rotate a Video on My iPhone?

1. Rotate the Video in the Photos App

The video rotation feature is only available in the Photos app on iOS 13 and later. If you own an older iPhone model and cannot update your software, follow the other methods below.

2. Rotate Video Using the iMovie App

This is a longer process for fixing video orientation, but it’s the next-best method I’ve found besides using Photos. iMovie is Apple’s native app and comes pre-installed on all iPhones, so you won’t have to install it separately. Follow these steps to rotate video using iMovie:

1. Launch iMovie on your iPhone.
2. Tap Start New Project > Movie.
   
3. Select the video you want to rotate and tap Create Movie.
   
4. Use your thumb and forefinger on the movie preview to perform a rotation gesture. An arrow showing the direction of the rotation will appear on the screen.
5. Tap Done at the upper-left corner.
   
6. Tap the Share button at the bottom.
   
7. Tap Save or Share Video to save the new video to your iPhone or send it directly to the recipient.
   

3. Use a Third-Party App

The methods above are good enough for merely rotating a video. But if you want to make other changes to your video, opt for a third-party video editor equipped with multiple tools.

Here are some that I personally use and love. These are all downloadable from the App Store.

CapCut

CapCut is a top choice among video editors. It also lets you tweak settings like the resolution, frame rate, and code rate of your rotated video. Follow these steps:

1. Open Capcut.
2. Tap on the New Project icon to import the video.
   
3. Select the video you want to rotate. It will appear on your timeline.
4. Tap Add in the bottom-right corner.
   
5. Tap Edit on the bottom-left corner.
   
6. Tap Transform > Rotate, represented by a circular arrow. One tap causes a 90-degree rotation anticlockwise.
7. Once the rotation is complete, tap Export in the top-right corner to save the video to your iPhone’s media gallery or share it on social media platforms.
   

InShot

InShot also has a slew of editing features, and one thing I particularly like about the app is its user-friendly interface. Follow the steps below to rotate a video:

1. Open the InShot app.
2. Tap on the Video option.
   
3. Select your video, and tap the green checkmark in the bottom-right corner.
   
4. Tap the Rotate icon on the bottom bar, then tap the Rotate icon again in the menu that follows. Tap the checkmark icon when you are done.
   
5. Tap the Export icon at the top-right corner and then tap Save. You can find your video in the Photos app.
   

Video Rotate + Flip Video Easy

This app is focused solely on rotating and flipping videos, so it might be a good choice if you don’t want to deal with multiple editing options. The only downside is that it shows several ads in between.

1. Open the Video Rotate + Flip Video Easy app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Click to Import, and select one of these two options: Import from Albums or Import from file browser. 
   
3. Once you have selected your video, choose one of the rotation options at the bottom of the screen. These include CW90, CCW90, CW180, and CCW180. CW stands for clockwise, and CCW stands for counterclockwise.
   
4. Tap Save Video To Library. Your video can be found in the Photos app.

4. Rotate Video Online

Clideo

Clideo is a free online tool. Its user-friendly interface made it a breeze for me to work with. The best part is that it can work with all the main video formats, including MP4, AVI, and MOV.

1. Open the Clideo website.
2. To upload a video, tap Choose File.
   
3. Once the video has been uploaded, tap the clockwise and counterclockwise buttons. Each click rotates the video 90 degrees.
4. Tap Export when ready and wait for the video to be processed.
   
5. Tap Download to save it to your Files app.
   

Video Candy

When I need to quickly rotate iPhone video files online, Video Candy is another go-to option. Follow the instructions below to learn how:

1. Open Video Candy in any browser on your iPhone.
2. Tap Add File and select a video to upload.
   
3. Use the buttons with arrows to turn your video 90 degrees to the left or right.
4. Once you are satisfied with your changes, tap Export. After it finishes exporting, tap Download to download the file to your Files app.
   

All these features make it possible to shoot and edit HD videos straight from your iPhone. If they get too large for your social media uploads, however, I suggest looking into free and paid video compression tools.