Add and adjust titles on iPhone and iPad
Adding text on iOS and iPadOS requires selecting an individual clip and opening the inspection bar.
According to Apple Support’s guide “Add text to your iMovie project” (updated May 4, 2026), begin by tapping the target video clip in the timeline. Tap the Titles button, represented by a T icon, in the inspector tray at the bottom of the display. Select your preferred style from the horizontal carousel to apply it over the footage.
Mobile devices provide tactile controls for sizing and layout:
- Tap the text box directly within the viewer to enter your words using the virtual keyboard.
- Drag the text box across the preview screen to move it into position.
- Pinch inward or outward on the text inside the viewer to adjust scale, as outlined by Apple Support.
- Tap the Font or Color button in the inspector to adjust appearance, or select the More button for extended typographic options.
- Tap None in the title selector menu if you decide to delete the text overlay entirely.
According to Apple Support’s “iMovie User Guide for iOS”, editors working within Magic Movie or storyboard projects follow a slightly altered path. In those modes, tap an individual clip, tap the right arrow, and select the Titles or Text button to assign layouts.
What text customization limits does iMovie have?
iMovie restricts freeform text placement, multi-track title stacking, and manual keyframe animation.
Unlike professional non-linear editors, iMovie locks users into rigid title templates. Many styles force predetermined motion effects, such as dramatic zooms or directional slides, that cannot be disabled through simple checkboxes. When creating clean presentations, these automatic behaviors force editors to look for workarounds or accept motion they did not request.
Some title templates force all letters into uppercase characters regardless of user input. You cannot freely add multiple independent text boxes to the same frame simultaneously because iMovie supports only one attached title track above the primary storyline.
Those building complex title packages often look to text to video AI tools or advanced suites when iMovie’s single-layer text constraint limits production speed.
Create dedicated title cards and scrolling end credits
You create dedicated title cards by inserting text over solid color backgrounds instead of video footage.
According to Apple Support’s guide “Add text to your iMovie project” (updated May 4, 2026), users can generate standalone opening sequences or end credits over any background clip.
To build an opening card, move to the Backgrounds tab in the media library and drag an asset—such as a solid black, gradient, or patterned card—directly into the main timeline track. Drag your preferred title template directly over this background block.
End credits follow an identical setup:
- Drag a background asset to the conclusion of your project timeline.
- Select the Scrolling Credits template from the Titles menu.
- Paste your cast and crew roster into the viewer text fields, separating entries with paragraph returns.
- Adjust the playback speed of the scrolling sequence by dragging the right edge of the credit block to extend its run time.
Increasing the clip duration slows the scroll speed, giving viewers adequate time to read names. Leaving the block short forces the engine to roll through lines rapidly.
Mac Video Magic’s guide to bullet-point layouts in iMovie
Creator Mac Video Magic shows how to build presentation-style layouts with bullet points directly inside iMovie.
The demonstration pairs a talking head clip with a dedicated graphic area using native overlay features. The creator drops an Industrial background into the timeline above the spoken footage and changes the overlay setting from Cutaway to Split Screen.
In the video, Mac Video Magic inputs a transition value of .3 to create a slide-in effect, producing a clean two-panel interface.
To construct the text list, Mac Video Magic drags the Upper template onto the timeline as the most workable layout for multi-line copy. The template defaults to a font size of 91 points in Gill Sans Bold with an outline applied. The creator disables the outline, opens the macOS system font picker, and switches the typography to Roboto Bold.
Building the actual bullets requires system-level tools because iMovie lacks native bullet formatting controls. Mac Video Magic triggers the macOS Character Viewer using the shortcut Control-Command-Spacebar to insert a bullet character manually. The creator decreases the font size from 91 to 58 points before typing in a custom value of 64 points for the body copy.
As Mac Video Magic observes, “obviously you can’t do a ton of sort of text here, like multiple sentences.” Because the template introduces motion, the creator aligns the start of the title block to the exact frame where the .3-second background slide completes.
