# iMovie

8 Hacker News commenters recommended iMovie and 12 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free Apple video editor that people point to for its simple interface and as a first step toward Final Cut. Critics call it basic and say it requires an Apple Account.

## What people warn about

- Crashes or fails to launch (2 comments): "the original iMovie that used to work earlier, just stopped launching" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47068100)) "It would hang everytime and I had to restart it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49229582))
- Basic, missing features like text overlays (2 comments): "much more capable than basic editors like iMovie" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47815642)) "I can't believe iMovie doesn't have text overlays" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48886804))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Kdenlive](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kdenlive.md): 56 recommend
- [Final Cut Pro](https://hackerapproved.com/p/final-cut-pro.md): 25 recommend
- [Mosaic agentic video editing](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mosaic-agentic-video-editing.md): 25 recommend
- [OpenShot Video Editor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openshot.md): 25 recommend
- [Cardboard video editor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cardboard-agentic-video-editor.md): 22 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "iMovie", https://hackerapproved.com/p/imovie/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).