You've got the perfect clip. Maybe it’s a golden hour sunset at Laguna Beach or just your cat doing something predictably chaotic. But the background noise? It's terrible. Wind whistling into the microphone or your own heavy breathing ruins the vibe. You need music. Knowing how to add a song to video on iPhone is basically a modern survival skill if you plan on posting anything to the internet that doesn't feel like a shaky home movie from 1994.
Honestly, Apple doesn't make this as obvious as they should.
There isn’t a giant "Add Music" button staring at you in the Photos app. It’s tucked away. You have to know which tool fits the specific "vibe" of your edit. Some people just want a quick Instagram story beat, while others are trying to cut a cinematic masterpiece for YouTube. The path you take depends entirely on where that song is coming from—is it in your Apple Music library, a file on your phone, or something you found on a royalty-free site?
The Native Way: Using Clips and iMovie
Most people overlook the Clips app. It’s actually pre-installed on most iPhones, and if it isn't, it’s a free download from the App Store. It’s arguably the fastest way to slap a soundtrack onto a video without getting bogged down in a complex timeline. When you open Clips, you just tap the music icon in the top right. Apple gives you a surprisingly decent library of "Soundtracks" that automatically adjust to the length of your video. This is huge. No manual fading is required.
But what if you want more control?
That's where iMovie comes in. It’s the old reliable. To start, open iMovie and tap "Movie" under the Start New Project heading. Pick your video. Once it’s on the timeline, tap the plus (+) button. From here, you can select "Audio." You’ll see options for Soundtracks, My Music, or Sound Effects.
Here is the catch: Apple Music DRM.
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I see this mistake constantly. You find a killer track on Apple Music, you try to add it to your iMovie project, and it’s greyed out. Why? Digital Rights Management. You can’t use subscription-based streaming tracks in a video project because you don't "own" the file; you're just renting the right to listen to it. To use a specific song in iMovie, you generally need the actual AAC or MP3 file saved to your device or purchased through iTunes.
How to Add a Song to Video on iPhone Using Files
Let’s say you downloaded a sick lo-fi beat from a site like Uppbeat or Epidemic Sound. It’s sitting in your "Downloads" folder in the Files app. This is actually the most "professional" way to handle things because it avoids all the copyright headaches that come with using Top 40 hits.
- Open your video in iMovie.
- Tap the + sign.
- Select "Files."
- Navigate to your iCloud Drive or "On My iPhone" folder.
- Tap the song.
The audio track will appear as a green bar under your video. You can long-press it to move it around. You can tap it to split it, change the volume, or add fades. If the original video has too much background noise, tap the video clip itself and slide the volume down to zero. Boom. Instant professional feel.
The Secret "Screen Record" Hack
Sometimes you have a very specific sound in mind—maybe a niche TikTok sound or a quote from a movie—and you don't have the file. You're stuck. Or are you? Many creators use the screen recording trick.
Basically, you find the video with the audio you want, turn on your iPhone’s Screen Recording feature (swipe down from the top right for Control Center), and play the clip. Once it’s saved to your Photos, go back to iMovie. When you hit the + button to add media, select "Video" instead of "Audio." Find your screen recording, tap the three dots (...), and select "Audio Only." It pulls the sound right out of the recording and drops it onto your timeline. It’s a bit of a "dirty" fix, but it works flawlessly when you're in a pinch.
Third-Party Apps: When iMovie Isn't Enough
iMovie is great, but it’s a bit rigid. If you want to sync your music to the beat perfectly, or if you want those trendy "auto-velocity" edits, you’re going to want something like CapCut or InShot.
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CapCut is the heavyweight champion here for a reason. It’s owned by ByteDance (the TikTok people), so the integration with trending music is unparalleled. In CapCut, adding a song is just a matter of tapping "Audio" and then "Sounds." You can even link your TikTok account to pull in your "Favorites" list.
The interface in these apps is much more intuitive for vertical video. While iMovie still feels like a desktop program shrunk down for a phone, CapCut feels native to the "scroll" era. You can "Extract" audio from any video in your library with one tap, which is way faster than the iMovie process I mentioned earlier.
Dealing with Copyright and Social Media
You’ve figured out how to add a song to video on iPhone, you’ve spent three hours perfectly timing the drops, and then... you upload it to YouTube or Instagram and it gets muted immediately.
It’s heartbreaking.
To avoid this, you have to understand how platforms scan for ID. If you’re posting to Instagram or TikTok, it is almost always better to add the music inside their app's interface. Use their licensed library. If you "burn" the music into the video file using iMovie and then upload it, the copyright bots might flag it as an unauthorized upload.
However, if you're a serious creator, you should be looking at Creative Commons or royalty-free subscriptions. Sites like Artlist or Soundstripe give you a license that stays valid even if you cancel the subscription later. You download the file to your iPhone, import it via the Files app, and you’re legally bulletproof.
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Precision Editing Tips
Don't just let the song play from the beginning. That’s a rookie move.
Most songs have an intro that’s too slow for a social media clip. You want to "scrub" the audio file until you find the "drop" or the most energetic part of the chorus. In iMovie, you do this by dragging the edges of the green audio bar.
Also, please, use the Fade tool.
Nothing screams "amateur" like a video that ends and the music just... cuts off mid-word. In iMovie, tap the audio clip, tap the "Audio" icon (the speaker), and hit "Fade." You’ll see yellow triangles appear on the clip. Drag them to create a smooth exit. Your viewers’ ears will thank you.
Summary of Actionable Steps
If you want to get this done right now, follow this sequence:
- For the quickest result: Use the Clips app and select one of Apple's built-in "Soundtracks." They are royalty-free and auto-adjusting.
- For custom music you own: Open iMovie, start a project, tap the plus sign, and select "Files" to bring in an MP3 or WAV from your storage.
- For social media creators: Avoid "burning" copyrighted music into your video file. Instead, edit your video in silence or with a placeholder, then use the "Add Music" feature inside TikTok or Instagram to ensure the algorithm doesn't shadowban your post.
- For the "Audio Only" trick: Screen record a sound, then use iMovie's "Audio Only" import feature by tapping the three dots on the video clip in the import menu.
- Always check your levels: Ensure your background audio (if you’re keeping it) is around 20% and your music is high, or vice versa if you’re speaking.
The best way to master this is to stop overthinking the software. Pick one—iMovie if you want simple, CapCut if you want trendy—and learn where the "Split" and "Fade" buttons are. Once you have those down, the rest is just creative flair.