How to brighten a video on your iPhone before or while recording, or by using a free third-party app after recording

A dark video is hardly enjoyable, but it's often hard to tell in the moment that the footage you're recording is too dimly lit to be easily viewed.

Brightening an iPhone video can make it easier to see the action on screen and will make the video more appealing if you upload it to a social media site or webpage.

Unfortunately, the iPhone's built-in camera app does not allow you to brighten videos after you have created them, so you should always try to brighten a video before you start recording.

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How to brighten an iPhone video before or while recording

1. Open the camera app and swipe left to toggle to video.

2. Tap on the screen so that a box with a sun-shaped icon appears.

Tap your iPhone screen and slide your finger up to brighten the video. Steven John/Business Insider

3. Hold your finger on the iPhone screen and slide it upward to brighten the scene before you start recording. You can also do this while you are recording the video at any time.

How to brighten an iPhone video after recording

The free features of the app InShot allow you to brighten an iPhone video after recording, not to mention adding filters, text, cropping, and many other editorial features.

1. Open the InShot app and tap the icon for "VIDEO," then tap "New."

Create a new video on InShot. Steven John/Business Insider

2. Select the video (or videos if you are merging files) you wish to brighten from your iPhone's library.

3. Tap the green circle with the check mark.

4. On the next screen, tap the word "FILTER."

You can brighten the video with filters. Steven John/Business Insider

5. Tap the "Adjust" tab, then using the "LIGHTNESS" effect, move the slider as far to the right as you want to brighten the video.

You can also use the Adjust tab to manually brighten your video. Steven John/Business Insider

You can also play around with other effects, like "WARMTH" and "SATURATION," as increasing these will make some videos appear brighter.