CapCut App Review
CapCut is a video editing app owned by ByteDance, the same company that owns TikTok. These two apps are often integrated, as many TikTok users create videos using CapCut. It is a powerful, easy-to-use, video editing tool. Kids use it often to make funny and creative clips! PYE uses the app version for its social media videos because its caption translation is amazing.
But parents need to know there are no controls or content settings. Explicit music and inappropriate videos are common and easy to find. For kids 16+ with whom you have honest conversations, it should be okay. But there are still some risks.
Apple App Store Rating: 12+ (Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity)
Google Play Store Rating: E for Everyone
How does CapCut work?
Edit videos, create templates, and follow others. It’s video-editing social media. But it has no content controls and you can easily connect with strangers. Users have a few different ways to use CapCut. Most common is through their mobile app, but you can also use the web version (as shown below), or even download the app onto your computer for extra editing tools.
Reusing and Posting Videos
“Templates” can be taken from videos posted online to reuse the same graphics and audio. You can make plenty of small short-form videos with ease, and can even create larger more complex projects. You can also search for specific music and audio clips to use in your videos.
CapCut allows users to connect their accounts on multiple platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Google, and Apple, and you can also link your email. Users can paste links into their bio to go to other apps or websites.
Once you have created a video using CapCut if your TikTok is linked, you can post videos to TikTok, directly from CapCut. Additionally, you can share your video publicly as a template. This allows others to use your video as a template, which mimics a feature from TikTok. Many trends start from people taking an audio clip and using it in different scenarios. CapCut’s templates function similarly.
What do Parents need to Know about CapCut?
CapCut Contains Explicit Music and Content
Explicit songs and templates are easily accessible and there’s no way to control this. Videos using profanity and inappropriate media are prevalent and there aren’t any content settings. Whether logged into CapCut or not, there wasn’t any difference in content.
While CapCut censors most explicit words and phrases, users know how to get around the syntax controls:
As you can see, searching for “se*” or using emojis populated inappropriate phrases in the search bar. No nudity was found in our content testing, but the content was extremely suggestive (but very similar to the content that is easily found on TikTok).
Parents, it’s worth pausing here. If your child has TikTok or watches TikTok content, then CapCut content is the same. This is our way of saying most parents completely underestimate the intensity of TikTok’s content.
Interactions
In the image above, you’ll see that there is a space for interactions on CapCut. This is where you see incoming follow requests, comments, and likes. When viewing a template, you can click on the user’s profile and request to follow them.
Having accounts so closely tied to TikTok and other platforms, it’s very easy to be quickly taken to another app. Parents, please make sure your kid knows what to do if a stranger sends them a friend request: Put it down, and tell you! Then you can ignore, block, and delete.
Reporting content is easy, simply click on the video you want to report, tap on the three dots “…” and select Report. CapCut will then blur the content and send you a notification when they receive your report.
History is Captured but Can Be Erased
You might be wondering, “Can you check their watch history?” Well, if you are signed out, CapCut doesn’t save any of your watch history. Only users who are signed in have access to their watch history, however, they can easily delete their history:
There are Shared Creative Spaces
On the desktop versions, you can invite members to create projects together in your own space. You can email your unique link so others can join in and begin importing content into the shared space. Users can upload images and videos from their devices in this space to be used in the collaborative space.
This could be a great way for students to make a video for a class project, and could also be home to abuse and sharing explicit content without actually posting it on CapCut. Please be careful! Don’t accept any links from people you don’t know.
Bottom Line: Is CapCut Safe?
CapCut has features that can be both amazing and risky. For children, 16+ with whom you’ve had very honest conversations, this app should be okay. Here are some tips to make CapCut safer:
- Talk about their watch history and check it from time to time. If their history is empty, ask if they removed anything, and then just listen.
- Check their followers by going to their profile and tapping “followers.” Look at the names of the accounts tap on a few profiles (if any) and see the kinds of content they post. If you find something off, ask why they are following them – don’t assume the worst!
- Check their interactions to see posts they’ve liked and comments they’ve received.
- Ask them not to share templates publicly. There aren’t any options for who can see your templates, it’s either everyone or no one. We suggest saving videos to the device and not posting them on CapCut.
- Frequently ask them if they have seen anything weird on CapCut or received any friend requests or links to join other spaces. If they have, remind them to tell you when this happens (put it down, and tell me!).
Have these conversations with a calm posture. The goal isn’t to catch our kids doing something wrong and lock their devices away forever – our goal is to protect and prepare our children.
If your child loves making fun videos but you don’t want them to use CapCut, we suggest using InShot as an alternative for easy video editing, without the social features.
What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?
Two actions you can take!
- Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
- Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!
