I believe a good smart phone is the most valuable tool you can have for sharing your story on a daily basis in real time and connecting with your audience.

I take photos and edit almost everything right on my phone – these are my top five favorite apps for editing and videos for stories, posts and reels!

• SNAPSEED : Snapseed is one of my favorites for editing pictures for Instagram. With 29 unique tools and filters, it gives you the same features as Lightroom– but it’s free! Snapseed is perfect for editing saturation, exposure, white balance, etc. The app is a bit confusing at first, but will elevate your photo content. I especially love the HDR feature to really make a photo pop.

• CUTSTORY : CutStory is the quickest and easiest video-editing app for Instagram reels and stories. It allows you to upload videos of any length and optimize them in 15/30/60 increments to be posted to your story or easy ways to make reels from long videos. I also use it to merge short clips together for one longer video to share on social too.

• UNFOLD: If you are feeling a little lost when it comes to Instagram stories, Unfold will be your best friend. This app offers hundreds of templates, fonts, and edits to make your stories uniform and visually appealing.

• LAPSE IT : LapseIt is my go-to when it comes to editing timelapse videos for Instagram posts and stories. It allows you to edit the length of the videos, individual frames, and timelapse speed. It’s great for making my recipe videos exactly 15 seconds long for posting as an Instagram story! Instead of using the TimeLapse feature on your phone which has limited features, take a full video and use Lapse It to edit it as you like.

• VSCO : VSCO is one of the most popular photo editing apps out there. The app is known for its beautiful, iconic presets which have become an Instagram staple. It allows you to create your own signature editing style, as well as add borders, pre-made presets, and more! For a small monthly fee, you can have access to much more, as well as its video-editing service. I also love Adobe Lightroom for mobile if you are a Creative Suite member!