Top 5 Best Apps To Add Text To a Video
by 
Lina Thorne • Updated · Posted in Marketing
Adding text to your videos can be very beneficial. It can make your content more appealing and accessible to a broader audience. Think of text in a video as an element that can add more clarity, incorporate a little bit of your personality and elevate your content.
Video editing can be intimidating and pose some challenges. Fortunately, adding text to videos is not overly complicated.
Of course, you can use some complex video editing software like Adobe Premier or DaVinci Resolve. But they are not only too advanced but also tend to require rather powerful hardware which not many people tend to have.
Fortunately, with the beginner-friendly apps featured in this guide you won’t have to wonder whether you have the proper hardware or not, yet you will still be able to create some attention-grabbing videos without much effort. Even if you’ve never edited a video before, you will still be able to use either of them without any issues.
This guide features 5 best apps that you can use to add text to videos. With their help you will be able to add:
- Some text to specific parts of a video.
- A watermark to the entire video.
- Auto-generated subtitles.
Keep reading if you want to learn more!
Why You Should Add Text To a Video
Adding text to a video may seem like something unnecessary, if you are just starting to learn more about creating video content. But there are actually several reasons why you should do this:
Be inclusive
It may come as a surprise, but it’s not uncommon to watch videos on mute. Sometimes people watch Instagram Reels or TikToks without any sound while they are waiting in line, for instance. You might have already experienced it yourself – you’ve probably watched some short-from videos on mute because you just didn’t want to bother reaching for your headphones.
Moreover, keep in mind that there are also deaf and hearing-impaired people who won’t be able to understand your videos at all if they don’t contain any text.
Help out non-native English speakers
People from all over the world use social media. Which means that there are plenty of people who don’t speak English all that well. If they come across your video, they may struggle with understand it. Surely, some platforms like YouTube can add auto-generated subtitles. But have you ever actually tried to turn them on? Quite often, they are not very accurate. Therefore, if you care about your video being accessible to a broader audience, you should definitely consider adding subtitles.
Grab people’s attention
People are flooded with tons of content every single day. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube offer lots of videos on lots of different topics. It means that the competition is high and if you don’t grab people’s attention within the first couple of seconds, they will switch to the next video.
So, you need communicate to your audience what your video is about right away and do so in an engaging way.
Adding eye-catching and animated text can really help you with that.
Emphasize key points
What you also need to strive for is to help your audience to actually remember information from your videos. To do so, you will need to appeal to more than one of their senses.
To put it simply, you can add some text with the key points to your video, so people will both hear and see the key information.
Protection
You might have already heard of cases when video content was stolen from its creators. Despite the fact that there are quite a few AI-powered watermark removers, it’s usually more difficult to get rid of a watermark from a video. Therefore, if you want to protect your videos from thieves, you can add a textual watermark to them.
Make your brand recognizable
By adding your brand logo to your videos, you will not only protect your content, but also increase your brand recognition.
Keep in mind that not everyone will check out your social media handle – especially on Instagram or TikTok – but if you add your brand logo with your brand name into the video, there’s a higher chance that people will notice and remember it.
Cross-promotion
Is there another reason why you should watermark your videos? Yep! You can actually use watermarks to promote your accounts on other social media platforms. Surely, you can provide links in the description of your YouTube video…but not everyone will check the description. So, instead, you can add your Instagram handle to your video. This way, people will definitely see it and might consider checking out your IG account.
Best Apps To Add Text To Video
Alright, now that you know why you should add text to your videos, let’s move on to what apps you can use to do it.
CapCut
If you are looking for an easy-to-use video editor that has lots of tools, features and templates, give a try to CapCut. It’s available for both iOS and Android and has a desktop version.
This app is pretty straightforward and intuitive, yet also offers filters, animations, different video effects, etc. You will be truly amazed by the results that you’ll get with this video editor, even if you are a beginner.
Adding text here is really easy and you can customize it however you want. You will have access to an astonishing selection of text styles, fonts, colors, various effects and animations. You will also be able to set the exact duration for your text as well as make your text appear during specific moments of your video.
For example, you can add text and make it visible for 3 seconds, then disappear.
There are a couple more reasons why you should use CapCut to add text to a video.
List of features in CapCut’s video editor:
- Auto-Captions Feature – Automatically generates and adds subtitles to your video.
- Text Templates – Pre-made text styles, including animated elements like a “Subscribe” button.
- Text-to-Speech Feature – Converts written text into audio using digital voices.
Thanks to this huge selection of different effects, animations and text styles, CapCut is the perfect choice for creating video content for Instagram and TikTok. Both of these platforms are focused on short form content which should be entertaining and often get the attention of viewers pretty quickly. With this video editor, you can really make your video eye-catching and engaging.
You can use CapCut for free, but some tools and features are only available in the paid Pro version, so you might need to purchase a subscription to fully enjoy it.
Canva
Yep, Canva is also on this list. You may know this app as an online app for image editing. But you can use it for video editing, as well.
After all, not only the popularity of video content keeps growing, but also the demand for simple and efficient video editors. And Canva is just like that.
Canva has a web-based version that works in a browser and offers a downloadable desktop version for Mac and Windows. On top of that, you can also edit your videos using Canva’s mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
Using Canva for video editing is pretty similar to using it for image editing.
In most cases you will need to pick the necessary template first, then open it in Canva’s video editor. You will need to upload the necessary video clips into the Uploads section, then add the video to your template and get to editing. In Canva you can combine several clips into one video and add different transitions between them.
List of features in Canva’s video editor:
- Auto-Caption Feature – It might be surprising, but similarly to other video editors, Canva offers the auto-caption feature, as well. It’s not extremely accurate, but if the speech in your video is clear, you will get good results.
- Caption Editing – It’s possible to edit generated captions, so even if there are mistakes, they can be easily fixed.
- Adding Regular Text – You can use Canva to add some regular text to your videos, too.
- Text Timing Control – You will be able to add different bits of text to different parts of the video as well as set text duration.
- Wide Selection of Elements & Templates – Canva is famous for its incredible selection of different elements and templates – all of them are also available for videos.
- Text Customization Options – The choice of text customization options is quite broad. You can easily adjust the spacing, size and alignment of the text. For instance, you can add a neon-looking text to your videos, which can look very appealing.
As you may know, Canva has a free version, but some elements, tools and features are only available in the Pro version. Whenever you see an item marked with a crown icon, it means that you won’t be able to use it unless you upgrade.
Fortunately, in most cases, you will be able to add text to your videos and export it without paying anything. No watermark will be added to it.
Riverside
Riverside is a podcast recording app that offers a mobile app for iOS and Android and a downloadable app for Mac, but there’s no version for Windows. That said, it’s possible to use it in Google Chrome or MS Edge.
What’s great about Riverside:
- Auto-Generated Subtitles – It can auto-generate subtitles with amazing accuracy. Some mistakes might occur, but you can easily fix them.
- Customization Options - You will have access to a selection of different fonts, colors and styles for automatically generated captions as well as some other text that you might want to add.
- Custom Voice Generation – Riverside also offers the text-to-speech feature, but you can actually have the generated audio in your own voice, not just some random template voice. How cool is that?
Riverside is perfect for those, who often record podcasts or mainly need to add auto-generated captions to their videos. In fact, Riverside allows you to download your captions as an TXT or SRT file or burn them into the actual video.
It’s possible to not only upload already recorded video file into the app, then get it transcribed, but you can also use it to actually record podcasts.
What if you’re not an English-speaker and some parts of your videos feature different languages? Well, Riverside can transcribe in around 100 languages!
Moreover, it’s possible to edit videos using the automatically generated transcript – in other words, thanks to their text-based editor, you can get rid of all the silences and pauses in your video pretty quickly and effortlessly.
Riverside does have a free version, but it adds a watermark to your edited videos and has some other limitations, so you will probably need to purchase the full version to unlock its full potential.
Watermarkly
As you might have guessed from the name, Watermarkly is an app for watermarking. It’s not a video editor. With its help you can add a watermark to videos, images and PDFs. It can be used in a browser and there’s also a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. It’s super beginner-friendly.
Adding text to a video is incredibly simple in Watermarkly. Just open the app, upload your files, the click on Add text. Enter your text and make the necessary changes to it. In the export settings you can access the Preview & Adjust section where you can view your watermark on each video in the batch and make some more tweaks to it. Finally, start the watermarking process and download your watermarked copies.
Main advantages:
- Batch Processing: Watermarkly’s main advantage over other apps on this list is batch-processing. You can easily use it to watermark a batch of videos within just a couple of minutes. Other apps on this list are video editors, so you will need to make changes to each video separately.
- Efficiency: If you need to add one and the same string of text to a batch of videos within just a couple of minutes, Watermarkly would be the perfect choice for this task!
- Customization Options: ◦ Add any text you want to your videos. ◦ Resize and reposition text for each video in the batch. ◦ Choose from a wide selection of fonts. ◦ Apply solid colors, gradients, and text effects. ◦ Use the Tile feature to fill out the entire frame with repeated watermarks.
Limitations:
- No Video Editing Capabilities: In Watermarkly, you won’t be able to do any changes to the video itself, add effects or merge different clips into one video.
- No Animations or Blending Modes: You won’t be able to add any animations or blending modes, though you can adjust the transparency of your text.
- No Timed Watermarks: Watermarkly adds your text to the entire video, so it’s not possible to pick a specific moment or add your watermark to two different parts of the same video. That said, in most cases, you’d want your watermark to be visible during the entire video – that’s how you can protect it as much as possible.
Watermarkly has a free version, but it automatically adds Watermarkly’s logo, so you will need to purchase the full version to get rid of it.
VEED.IO
Last on our list is an online video editor called VEED. This app allows you not only to edit, but also record and share videos from one and the same platform. On top of that, VEED offers an uncomplicated interface, so even a beginner to video editing will quickly understand what needs to be done. Despite VEED’s simplicity, you will surely be able to create some impactful videos with it.
VEED is perfect for collaborations
For instance, you can easily share a link to the video that you’re working on with your friends and colleagues, receive feedback from them and make the necessary changes to your video right away. It’s also possible to create brand kits with custom templates, which then can be used by your team members who you will provide access to. Brand-kits will make it much easier and quicker to consistent on-brand content.
You will be able to share your edited videos easily
For instance, you can export your videos straight to YouTube, Instagram or other video-sharing platforms. But please note that you absolutely must have a stable internet connection for VEED to operate properly.
Customizable Text & Subtitles
In this app you can pick a text style, adjust its color and choose the necessary font. The selection of styles is not super-diverse, but it’s more than enough to create an aesthetically-pleasing video. VEED allows you to set the necessary transparency as well as make your text come to life by adding animation to it. It can generate subtitles automatically, but in addition to that, you can also enter subtitles manually or upload a text file with your subtitles.
Setting Text Duration
It’s possible to set the text duration in two ways – you can either adjust it right on the timeline or you can enter the exact duration in the Edit Text section. This will give you the chance to be more precise.
You can try VEED for free, but you will probably need to purchase one of their paid plans, since the free version adds a watermark and has some limitations.
Wrapping Up
It’s unbelievably easy to add text to a video, but it can really elevate your content. Your viewers will be able to enjoy your videos no matter if they are watching your video on mute or can’t speak English well.
People will also remember the key points of your video much better! And if you want to promote your brand as well as make your content steal-proof, you should consider adding a watermark to your videos.
All the apps featured in this guide are intuitive, beginner-friendly and have uncomplicated interfaces. They can be used on a variety of devices and designed to cater for different needs and wants. It might be a good idea to determine what exactly you need and what kind of text you want to add to your videos, then make use of the app that can help you achieve your goals.
If you’re not sure what your goals are yet, then give each app in this guide a try to see which one suits you best.