EDIT BY TYPING
You do not have to know where the setting lives.
Every editor charges you a tax for not knowing its vocabulary, and that tax is measured in evenings. Type what you want instead. The Assistant runs the whole chain, finds the fumbled line in the transcript, or looks at the actual frame and tells you your face is off centre. It is free on every tier on both platforms, because charging for the intelligence is the one thing we refuse to do.
Zella for Mac is coming to the Mac App Store, and Zella for iPhone is out now on the App Store. One Pro purchase covers both. See the mobile app →
WHAT CHANGES FOR YOU
- 01
Say it, do not go looking for it
One sentence can run a whole chain: remove the dead air, add captions, make it vertical, export for TikTok. Nothing to find in a menu you have never opened.
- 02
It reads the transcript and sees the frame
Ask it to "cut the part where I fumble the intro" and it finds the moment in the transcript. Ask "is my face centred?" or "is it too dark?" and it checks the frame on-device rather than guessing.
- 03
Free on purpose, and permanently
The Assistant has never been a Pro feature on either platform and will not become one. We gate output, never intelligence. Bring your own key and it stays in the Keychain; Groq, Gemini and Cerebras are free, and Ollama runs locally so nothing leaves at all.
ON BOTH PLATFORMS
What it does on each device.
On Mac
101 editing actions driven by chat, from cutting silence and adding captions to grading, reframing, placing callouts, dropping in one of the 43 sound effects and setting up the export. Auto B-Roll places matching stock clips from your captions with a free Pexels key. Only your typed prompt is ever sent, and your video never is.
Get it on iPhone →On iPhone
The Assistant ships on iPhone with 71 editing actions - cut, caption, grade, reframe, set clip and overlay volume, add zooms, change platform. It runs on your own API key, and only your typed prompt and a short summary of the project - including caption text - ever leave the device; your video never does.
Everything the mobile app does →
Same project either way. Hand it across as a .zella file and the clips, cuts,
captions, titles, callouts and effects come with it.
Mac and iPhone, side by side →
THE PROOF
The specifics behind the promise.
- Plain-English editing - "remove the dead air, add captions, and make it vertical" runs the whole chain for you
- Content-aware cuts - "cut the part where I fumble the intro" finds it in the transcript and removes it
- It can see your video - ask "is my face centered?" or "is it too dark?" and it checks the frame on-device
- Auto B-Roll - "add b-roll" places matching stock clips from your captions automatically (free Pexels key)
- Adds music, built-in sound effects (43 on Mac and iPhone), titles, callouts and logos on command
- 101 editing actions on Mac, 71 on iPhone - the Assistant is free on both, it is never a Pro feature
- Bring your own key (Groq, Gemini, Cerebras and Ollama are free) - keys stay in your device’s Keychain, nothing is uploaded by Zella
WHEN THIS MEETS A PAID CEILING
Never for the Assistant itself. The single place tier comes into it is that asking for a 4K export needs Pro, exactly as it would if you clicked the export button yourself.
Everything else is free forever: the complete editor, all the AI, unlimited recording, and watermark-free export up to 2 minutes at up to 1080p. 1080p is free permanently, and a free export is never stamped. Pro is $89 once and covers Mac and iPhone on a single purchase, and every new install runs the full Pro set for its first 7 days with no card and nothing to cancel. See pricing →
SEE IT DOING A REAL JOB
Who uses this, and for what.
Publish without ever being on camera.
Screen recordings, generated cutaway cards, captions and a music bed carry a video on their own. No face, no studio, no lighting.
Read the workflow → Support & Dev-RelClear how-to videos at support speed.
Blur sensitive keys, add keystroke callouts, and ship on-device captioned tutorials your users can actually follow.
Read the workflow → CreatorsFrom raw take to posted reel before lunch.
Captions, hooks and a colour grade in one app. Reframe to 9:16, bake in viral captions, and export Shorts-ready video without round-tripping through another editor.
Read the workflow →GO DEEPER
The guide to this feature.
Editing by typing
The assistant, the key you bring, and the edits you can ask for in one sentence.
Local. Private. One-time price.
macOS 14 Sonoma+ · iPhone on iOS 18+ · Local-only · No cloud