iMovie for iOS updated with 4K video editing on iPhone 6s and much more

iPhone 6s Plus video

At its ‘Hey Siri’ media event last week, Apple demonstrated how the all-new ‘A9’ microchip ticking inside the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus has enough oomph to edit 4K video by showing off native 4K video editing on both new iPhones and the iPad Pro with iMovie.

Today, iMovie for iOS receives a timely refresh in the App Store to bring this feature to the latest devices along with more than a dozen other enhancements for older iDevices.

iMovie 2.2 for iOS changelog

  • Create and share films at stunning 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) on compatible iOS devices (available on iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPad Pro)
  • Create and share films with 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second for smoother, more true-to-life action
  • Use Force Touch on iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to quickly start a new film right from the Home Screen
  • Desktop-class performance on iPad Pro with the ability to edit multiple streams of 4K video and use shortcuts with the Smart Keyboard
  • Enhanced interface on iPad Pro with full-height Media Browser and pixel-for-pixel 1080 HD Viewer
  • Connect a keyboard and use simple shortcuts to edit films quickly
  • Option to hide Media Browser while editing a film
  • Option to disable Ken Burns animation on a photo
  • Redesigned Project Details view lets you watch films and trailers before opening them
  • Redesigned Video view lets you see more of your library while browsing videos and photos on iPad
  • Improved Inspector controls with easy-to-read text labels on iPad
  • Support for Slide Over and Split View when multitasking with the iMovie Extension for Photos
  • Redesigned Audio browser in the iMovie Extension lets you easily browse and hear music
  • Performance and stability improvements
  • Support for Canadian French, Hindi and Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong)

It’s funny that release notes mistakenly mention “Force Touch” instead of “3D Touch” but that doesn’t surprise me. Even Apple’s software boss Craig Federighi at one point in the ‘Hey Siri’ keynote talk mentioned Force Touch before quickly correcting himself.

Availability

iMovie requires an iPhone, iPod touch or Pad with iOS 7.0 or later.

The 646-megabyte download is fully optimized for all iOS device form factors and localized in English, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

iMovie is $4.99 in the App Store.

If you bought a new device on or after September 2014, you can grab iMovie at no charge through the App Store’s Updates tab.