Meta’s new video editing app, Instagram Edits, had a much stronger launch than its rival, ByteDance’s CapCut. In its first two days, Edits was downloaded an estimated 702,900 times on iOS alone — roughly 37 times more than CapCut’s iOS downloads during the same timeframe, according to app intelligence firm Appfigures.
By Thursday, Edits had reached 1.2 million iOS downloads and 5.9 million Android downloads, totaling 7.1 million across platforms. For comparison, CapCut saw only 83,500 downloads in its first three days on both iOS and Android combined. Although CapCut initially launched in fewer markets, even doubling or tripling its early numbers wouldn’t put it close to Edits’ debut.
In the U.S., Edits posted 381,000 downloads within its first three days, while CapCut gathered just 3,400 — meaning Edits outpaced it by a factor of 112. Thanks to this momentum, Edits quickly climbed to the No. 1 spot on the U.S. iPhone App Store charts on its first day. It dropped to No. 2 by day two and remained there before settling at No. 3 by Friday.
Since the App Store ranks apps based on download numbers and growth velocity, Edits’ strong start boosted its visibility. After three days, Edits remained ahead of CapCut, which had reached No. 14 Overall and No. 10 among non-game apps on the U.S. App Store at the same point post-launch.
That said, Edits still has significant ground to cover to match CapCut’s total audience. Since its April 2020 launch, CapCut has accumulated 1.22 billion downloads globally (excluding China).
Feedback from creators so far has been mixed. Many users appreciate Edits for its simplicity, integrated analytics, ad-free experience, 4K video support, and lack of watermarks. However, some criticize it for missing features like templates and the extensive transition options that CapCut offers.
While Edits shows strong early promise, future updates — and possibly the addition of paid tiers or ads — will determine if it can truly rival CapCut’s dominance.
