How to Combine Multiple 360 Videos in the Insta360 App Without Desktop Software

Coming back from a full day of shooting with 20 or 30 different 360 clips can feel overwhelming. For years, the conventional wisdom said you needed to fire up desktop software to stitch together a cohesive edit from multiple clips. That’s no longer true. The Insta360 app has quietly become a legitimate editing powerhouse, and most users are barely scratching the surface of what it can do right from a smartphone or tablet.

Today I want to walk you through a workflow that has saved me countless hours: combining multiple 360 videos into a single timeline, trimming them up, and even mixing in footage from your drone, action camera, or smartphone. All of this happens inside the Insta360 app without ever touching a computer.

The Frame Cut Tool Changes Everything

The real magic here is a feature called Frame Cut that most tutorials completely skip over. Here’s the scenario: you’ve got a 10-minute 360 clip from your Insta360 X5 or X4, but there are only three or four segments within that clip worth keeping. The traditional approach would be to export the whole thing and cut it down in post. Frame Cut lets you extract multiple segments from a single source clip and add them directly to a multi-clip timeline.

Launch the Insta360 app and navigate to Album. Select your clip and you’ll see options for custom framing versus AI framing. Custom framing gives you manual control over perspective, while AI framing lets the algorithm pick what it thinks are the best angles. I prefer custom for this workflow because I want to make deliberate choices about what goes into my final edit.

Tap on Editor, and you’ll see the trimming interface with your keyframing tools available. But instead of just trimming the beginning and end of the clip, look for the Frame Cut option in the toolbar at the bottom. This is where the workflow gets interesting.

Building a Multi-Clip Timeline From a Single Recording

Navigate to the first moment in your clip you want to keep. Tap Frame Cut, then drag your playhead forward to define the endpoint of that segment. You’ll see a yellow overlay indicating your selection, with a duration counter showing exactly how long that clip is. Hit Confirm Clip and it gets added to your timeline.

Here’s what trips people up: after confirming, you can immediately continue scrubbing through the same source video to find your next segment. The app keeps track of everything you’ve selected. If you look at the Edit and Export button, you’ll see a counter showing how many clips you’ve added. Go through your entire 10-minute recording, pulling out the three or four best moments, and they all stack up in your timeline ready for final assembly.

Each clip gets handles for fine-tuning after the fact. If you grabbed slightly too much or too little footage, you can drag those handles to adjust without starting over. And you can delete any segment that isn’t working without losing the others.

Mixing 360 Footage With Traditional Video Sources

The capability that really elevates this workflow is importing footage from other devices. Most people treat their 360 camera as an isolated tool, but the Insta360 app doesn’t force that limitation. Once you’re in the timeline editor with your 360 clips assembled, tap the plus button to add more content.

You’ll see two source options: the Insta360 gallery containing your 360 footage, and your device’s photo library containing everything else. Select from the iPhone or Android gallery and you can pull in drone footage, action camera clips, or smartphone video. These get added to the same timeline as your 360 content.

This opens up creative possibilities that used to require desktop software. Imagine cutting between a 360 POV shot from your bike ride and an aerial drone shot showing the trail from above. Or intercutting your 360 hiking footage with smartphone clips of the friends you were with. The timeline handles all of it, and each clip retains its native editing capabilities.

Finishing Touches That Make Mobile Edits Look Professional

Once your clips are assembled, the real polish happens in the details. Tap any individual clip to access speed adjustments, color correction, and additional trimming. The pencil icon opens up effects that can add visual interest, and you can introduce keyframed movement within 360 clips so the perspective shifts as the video plays.

Transitions between clips are handled through the white boxes that appear at each cut point. Tap one and you get access to movement-based transitions and special effects. These aren’t just cross-dissolves; some of them create dynamic camera movements that take advantage of the spherical nature of 360 footage. The difference between a jarring cut and a smooth transition can make amateur footage feel cinematic.

Before exporting, you can set your aspect ratio. This is critical if you’re creating content for different platforms. Vertical for Instagram Reels or TikTok, widescreen for YouTube, or square for certain social feeds. The app handles the reframing automatically based on your perspective choices throughout the edit.

Why This Workflow Matters for 360 Creators

The 360 camera market has become increasingly competitive, with DJI and GoPro both releasing compelling alternatives. But Insta360’s software remains a genuine differentiator. The company has spent years refining their mobile editing tools, and it shows in features like Frame Cut that competitors haven’t matched.

For creators who want to turn around content quickly, whether that’s posting from a trip while still traveling or delivering client work without hauling a laptop, this workflow eliminates the traditional bottleneck of 360 editing. You capture, you trim, you combine, you export. All from the same device you use to scroll social media.

The Insta360 app is a genuinely handy tool that goes far beyond basic clip management. Whether you’re combining multiple 360 videos from a day of shooting or mixing in footage from drones and action cameras, everything happens in one place. If you’ve been treating it as just a file transfer utility, you’re missing out on a full-featured mobile editor that rivals what many creators do on desktop.

Editorial Note: This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI to ensure technical accuracy and archive retrieval. All insights, industry analysis, and perspectives were provided exclusively by Haye Kesteloo and our other DroneXL authors, editors, and Youtube partners to ensure the “Human-First” perspective our readers expect.