Edit your home movies faster than ever

It automatically arranges the best moments from your videos and photos to create a stunning video montage. This free mobile app also has a wide selection of themes and background music to choose from.

Creating

a home movie using your photos and videos can be tricky and time-consuming because the process often involves a lot of detailed editing. Now you can take the hassle out of editing with the aptly-named Quik app.

STEP1

We’ll first show you how to transfer your photos and video files from your PC or mobile device to the phone or tablet you’re going to edit your home movie on. The best free service for this is Send Anywhere ( www.snipca. com/23610). Install it on your PC and mobile devices. Open the program/app on your Pc/mobile device (where the photos are stored), click Send 1 , select the files you want to use 2 , then click the Send button 3 . You’ll see six digits on your screen. On the editing device, open the Send Anywhere app, tap Receive, enter the six digits, then tap the Receive button to download your files. Now install Quik (Android www.snipca.com/23611; IOS www.snipca.com/23612) on that device.

STEP2

What you need: Quik; Android or IOS (phone or tablet) Time required: 20 minutes Open Quik on your phone or tablet, tap Get Started, Allow Photo Access, OK, then tap ‘No, thanks’ at the bottom right. Before you start editing, tap the cog icon at the top right, tap the ‘Save videos in 1080p HD’ slider at the top, then close this window. Next, tap the ‘+’ icon at the bottom of Quik and you’ll see all the photos and videos on your device. Tap the All Photos dropdown menu 1 , then scroll down to see other sources for your files, including Facebook 2 , online storage services you use 3 or files transferred via Send Anywhere 4 .

STEP3

Tap to select the photos and videos you want to use (up to 75 files). These will appear in a timeline at the bottom 1 . Repeat this to add files from other sources 2 . By default, the files appear in the order you added them (from left to right), but you can rearrange them by long-pressing a tile then dragging it 3 . Move the tile to the bin icon 4 to remove it from your timeline. Tap Add 5 when you’re happy with your sequence.

STEP4

Quik has 29 themes 1 to choose from – each with its own background music, transitions and filter effects. Tap a theme’s tile to apply it, then tap the tile again to for options to change its default transition and filter effect. Swipe up or down to select the one you want, then tap OK. To change the theme’s default music, tap the Music tab 2 , then tap the music tile you want. You can also add music stored on your device, by scrolling through the tiles to the right, tapping My Music, the ‘+’ icon, OK, then selecting a music file on your device.

STEP5

Next, tap the Play icon 1 to see options to add a title at the start of your video. Tap the title tile on your timeline 2 , tap the pen icon 3 , then enter your title. By default, there’s only one title screen (at the beginning), but you can tap Duplicate to add a second (and more), then enter the text of your choice. Tap OK at the bottom when you’ve finished. You’ll see your title tiles on the timeline 4 . Tap and drag to reposition them.

STEP6

Tap the spanner icon 1 to see three more editing options. Format 2 lets you choose from two screen sizes - Cinema (widescreen) or Square videos. Select one to see a preview, then tap OK to choose it. Tap Duration 3 , move the slider to set the length of your video, then tap OK. The Music Start option 4 is useful if you want to start a song part of the way through. Drag the music slider to set your start point, tap OK, then Save 5 when you’re happy.

STEP7

You’ll now see options to share your video on sites like Facebook, or send a link to it via text message or email 1 . Tap Photo Library 2 to download the edited video to your device. If you don’t want to share it yet, tap Skip 3 . The video will begin saving to your app. To access it, open the app, then tap the My Videos section at the bottom right. All videos are downloaded in 1080p resolution. Unlike some other free video-editing apps that add prominent watermarks, Quik only adds a one-second splash screen (featuring the app’s logo) at the end of your video. ●