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.

Download for Mac - Free All features

Zella for Mac is out now on 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

  1. 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.

  2. 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. Ask it to "blur the access token" and it reads the text on screen, finds the secret and blurs it for as long as it shows.

  3. 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

104 editing actions driven by chat, from cutting silence and adding captions to grading, reframing, placing callouts, dropping in one of the 101 sound effects and setting up the export. It reads the screen too: "blur the access token" finds tokens, API keys, passwords and emails and blurs each one in a single undo step. Auto B-Roll places a cutaway for the most visual word in each caption line: designed keyword cards with no key and no network, or stock clips with a free Pexels key. Only your typed prompt and a short project summary are sent, and your video never is.

Download for Mac →

On iPhone

The Assistant ships on iPhone with 74 editing actions - cut, caption, grade, reframe, set clip and overlay volume, add zooms, change platform, and blur the passwords and keys it reads on screen. 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 on both. Hand it from iPhone to the Mac 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
  • It reads the screen and blurs secrets - "blur the access token" finds API keys, tokens, passwords, emails and card numbers on screen and blurs each one for as long as it shows, in one undo step
  • Auto B-Roll - "add b-roll" places a cutaway from your captions: designed keyword cards with no key, or stock clips with a free Pexels key
  • Adds music, built-in sound effects (101 on Mac and iPhone), titles, callouts and logos on command
  • 104 editing actions on Mac, 74 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.

Faceless channels

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-Rel

Clear 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 → Creators

From 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 →

All 32 use cases →

GO DEEPER

The guide to this feature.

READ THE MANUAL

Every control, documented.

Local. Private. One-time price.

macOS 14 Sonoma+ · iPhone on iOS 18+ · Local-only · No cloud

Download for Mac - Free Next: Pro Editor →