Apple says goodbye to the Clips app

Apple appears to be winding down support of Clips, with the company removing Clips from the App Store and saying it will no longer be making any updates.

In a support page on the Apple website, the company says that as of October 10, Clips is no longer available for new users to download, but existing users can continue to use the app on current or earlier versions of iOS and iPadOS. Existing users can also re-download the app from their Apple account if needed.

Without updates, it will probably become more difficult to use Clips over time, so Apple is encouraging users to download their Clips videos (with or without added effects) to their photo library, so they can watch and edit the videos using other apps.

Launched in 2017, Clips appeared to be Apple’s answer to Snapchat and Instagram Stories — it wasn’t a social network, but it allowed users to stitch together photos and videos with filters, emojis, and music.

Early on, TechCrunch’s Brian Heater described Clips’ video editing capabilities as simple to a fault and suggested that the app could allow Apple to showcase its hardware and software capabilities while offering users a path out of then on-the-rise social ecosystems.

MacRumors reports that while Apple upgraded Clips with new features after launch, updates in recent years have been limited to bug fixes.

Apple fans on Reddit seemed unsurprised by the news, saying they’d only tried the app years ago or never heard of it at all. Plus, an app like Clips — built around real footage shot by real people — might feel a bit old-fashioned when compared to Sora, OpenAI’s generative AI video app that recently hit 1 million downloads.