Quick fix first. If Edits crashes or will not open, do this in order: force-close the app, restart your phone, and make sure at least 2 GB of storage is free. Then update Edits from the official store. Those four steps fix most crashes, and they cost you nothing — no reinstall, no lost drafts. If the app still will not open, work through the fixes below in order; reinstall is the last step, not the first, because it usually deletes your drafts.
Nothing kills a posting plan faster than an editor that will not stay open. This guide covers every common form of the problem: Edits closing the moment you tap its icon, freezing on the logo screen, crashing in the middle of an edit, and crashing only when you open one particular project. The fixes are ordered from quickest and safest to deepest, and each one tells you what it actually does, so you can stop the moment something works.
Edits Guide is an independent, unofficial guide. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Meta Platforms, Inc. or Instagram. We cannot see your account or your device, and we do not invent error codes or official statements. Where the real cause is a bad app update or a server-side problem, this guide says so plainly — and points you to the updates page to check.
The symptom, precisely
“Crashing” covers several different failures, and the fix depends on which one you have. A crash on launch — the app closes within seconds of opening, or never gets past its logo — usually points to corrupt app data, a bad update, or a phone that is out of storage and memory. A crash mid-edit, especially on a long timeline with effects, more often points to memory pressure or a damaged clip. A crash that happens only with one project points at that project, not at the app. Note which pattern matches yours before you start, because it tells you where in the fix order to pay attention.
Likely causes, ranked
- Corrupt cache or app data. Temporary files Edits relies on get damaged — most often after a crash during a save or an interrupted update. This is the single most common cause, and clearing the cache is safe: it does not touch your drafts.
- Low storage or memory. Video editing needs working room. A phone with almost no free storage, or with many apps running, starves Edits of the memory it needs to open a timeline and closes it.
- A bad or half-installed update. An update that downloaded over a weak connection can install incompletely, leaving an app that opens and then dies. This also explains crashes that start the day after an update.
- An outdated operating system. Edits expects a reasonably current Android or iOS. A phone several versions behind can run into features the app now assumes exist.
- A damaged project or clip. One corrupt video file, or one project saved in a bad state, can crash Edits every time that project loads — while the app otherwise works fine.
- An older or overheating phone. Long edits heat phones up, and a hot phone throttles itself; on older hardware that throttle is enough to close a demanding app.
- A server-side or rollout problem. Rare for crashes, but a broken feature flag or a bad server response can close the app for many people at once. The test is simple: if friends report the same crash at the same time, it is probably not your phone.
Fixes in order, quickest first
Work down this list and test after each step. Stop as soon as Edits stays open — there is no prize for finishing the list.
1. Force-close Edits and reopen it. Swipe the app away from your recent apps, wait a few seconds, and open it again. This clears a stuck session without touching any data, and it resolves a surprising number of one-off crashes, especially after the phone has been on for days.
2. Restart your phone. A full restart frees memory, ends background processes that are fighting Edits for resources, and clears temporary system states. If you have not restarted in a week, do this before anything deeper. It is the single most underrated fix in this guide.
3. Free up storage. Check your free space in Settings. If you have under 2 GB free, delete or move large videos, clear downloads, and empty the trash in your gallery app. Video editing writes large temporary files, and a nearly full phone is a classic crash cause. The storage guide walks through freeing space without touching your Edits drafts.
4. Update Edits from the official store. Open the official Google Play or App Store listing and install any available update. If the crash started right after an update, this still matters: follow-up fixes often land within days, and the store is the only safe source. Never install a “fixed” copy from a website — the APK safety guide explains why those files are dangerous.
5. Clear the cache (Android) or offload (iPhone). On Android, go to Settings, then Apps, then Edits, then Storage, and tap Clear Cache — not Clear Data, which is far more destructive. On iPhone, there is no per-app cache button; instead, use Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage, then Offload App, which removes the app while keeping its data, then reinstall from the App Store. Clearing cache removes the damaged temporary files from cause number one while leaving your projects alone.
6. Test with a brand-new project. If Edits opens but crashes when you load a particular project, create a fresh project with one short clip. If the fresh project works, the old project or one of its clips is the problem, and the next section covers that. If even a fresh project crashes, the app install itself is the suspect, and you can move on to step seven.
7. Update your phone’s operating system. In Settings, check for system updates and install them. This matters most on phones that have skipped several versions, because Edits may rely on media features your old system lacks. Charge the phone and use Wi-Fi for the update, since an interrupted system update creates bigger problems than the one you are solving.
8. Reinstall — only after backing up. First export any finished work, and accept that drafts stored on the phone may be lost: uninstalling normally deletes them. Then uninstall Edits, restart the phone, and reinstall from the official store only. If a fresh install still crashes on launch, you have strong evidence the cause is your device or a server-side problem, not your data — and reinstalling a second time will not change that.
When the crash is tied to one project
If Edits runs fine until you open a specific project, stop reinstalling the app — the project is the problem, and reinstalling will not fix it. The usual culprits are a clip recorded in an unusual format, a very long timeline with many effects stacked, or a project that was being saved when the app last crashed. Start by duplicating the project if Edits lets you, then work on the copy: remove the most recently added clip, then the most recent effect, testing after each removal. If the project is too damaged to open at all, rebuild it from its source clips — painful, but faster than repeating a reinstall that never worked. For the future, export a finished draft early and often; a finished export is the only copy of your work that survives a project going bad.
How to tell when it is a rollout or a server problem
Crashes caused by Instagram’s side have a signature: they start suddenly for many people at the same time, often right after an update, and they survive every fix on your phone — restart, cache, reinstall, all of it. Check the pattern before you blame your device: ask a friend with Edits whether they are crashing too, and check the updates page for anything confirmed. If the crash is widespread, the genuine fix is patience: a corrected update or a server-side rollback has to come from Instagram, and repeated reinstalls in the meantime only risk your drafts. What you can do while waiting is export anything important from projects that still open, and keep your phone’s system and the app updated so the fix reaches you as soon as it ships.
Keeping crashes from coming back
Most repeat crashes come from the same three habits: editing with almost no free storage, stacking effects on very long timelines, and letting the phone run for weeks without a restart. Keep a few gigabytes free, close heavy apps before a long edit, and restart the phone weekly. If you edit on an older phone, split long videos into shorter projects and join the exports afterward — smaller timelines are dramatically kinder to limited memory. And if a particular clip format keeps crashing Edits, convert it before importing rather than fighting it on the timeline.
Frequently asked questions
Edits crashes every time I open it. Is my phone too old?
Not necessarily. Start with the fix order: restart, free storage, update the app, and clear the cache. Those steps resolve most launch crashes on phones of any age. Age only becomes the likely cause when a fresh install on a phone with plenty of free storage still crashes, and the phone is several operating-system versions behind with no update available. At that point the honest answer is that the hardware can no longer keep up with the current app — but check the not-available guide first, because device compatibility and rollout limits can look identical to a hardware problem.
Will clearing the cache delete my drafts?
No. Clearing the cache removes temporary files only; your projects stay untouched. The destructive option is Clear Data on Android, which resets the app and can remove drafts — do not tap it unless you have already exported everything you care about. On iPhone, Offload App keeps your data while removing the app itself, which is why it is the safe equivalent of clearing cache. The distinction matters, and it is the reason this guide names the exact button to press.
Why does Edits crash only when I export?
Export is the most memory-hungry thing Edits does: it renders every clip, effect, and audio track into one file. A project that edits fine can still fail at export if storage runs out mid-render or memory runs short on a long timeline. The export-failed guide covers this in depth, including how to shorten the timeline or lower export settings to get a render through. If the crash happens at the same percentage every time, suspect one specific clip near that point in the timeline.
Should I install an older version of Edits to stop the crashes?
No. Older versions come from unofficial websites, and those downloads are a well-known route to malware and stolen Instagram credentials — the APK safety guide explains the risks. An older version also misses security fixes and may stop working with Instagram’s servers anyway. The safe path is the official store: install the latest version, and if a new release introduced the crash, wait for the follow-up fix while using the workarounds in this guide.
The app worked yesterday and crashes today, and I changed nothing. What happened?
Something changed even if you did not touch a setting: an automatic app update, an overnight system update, or a server-side change from Instagram can all flip a working app into a crashing one. Check whether Edits updated recently in the store, whether your phone updated overnight, and whether other creators report the same crash. If the timing lines up with an update or with widespread reports, the cause is almost certainly outside your control — and the fix is the next update, not another reinstall.
Get Edits on Google Play Get Edits on the App Store
Next: Export Failed → · All help guides →