Snapchat is an instant messaging app that allows you to share your pictures and videos with your family members, friends, and colleagues. In addition, you can even create your stories in the form of movie clips and share them on the app. These stories remain available for the next 24 hours, after which they are automatically removed from the platform.
While sharing the videos, you can apply several filters that are already present in the app, and Slow Motion is one of them. You may want to learn how to slow down a video on Snapchat when you want to emphasize and draw viewers’ attention toward the scene, or wish to make the audience see your actions closely and in detail.
That said, in the following sections, you will see how to slow down videos on Snapchat, and what other methods you can use to reduce the playback speed more professionally.
Part 1: How to Add Slow Motion Effects to Video Using the Snapchat App
Snapchat has a built-in Slow Motion filter that reduces the playback speed of a video when applied. You can learn how to slow down on Snapchat by following the instructions that are given below:
Step 1: Record a Video
Launch Snapchat on your smartphone (iPhone 13 Pro Max is used here for illustrations), make sure that the Camera section is selected from the bottom, tap and hold down the Capture button that is present at the lower part of the interface, and let go of it when you are done recording.
Step 2: Apply the Slow Motion Filter
Once the video is recorded, swipe the screen from left to right. Repeat this process until you see the Snail (Slow Motion) icon on the screen. This will reduce the playback speed of the clip.
Step 3: Decorate the Video (Optional)
Use the options present on the upper-right area of the screen to further decorate the video and/or add annotations to it.
Step 4: Share or Publish the Video
Once everything is done, tap Send To from the bottom-right corner to share the video with your family, friends, and colleagues, or publish it as a story that remains available for the next 24 hours.
Related: How to Record Slo-Mo videos on iPhone.
Part 2: How to Record a Slo-Mo Video and Upload to Snapchat
With Snapchat, even though you don’t require any third-party tool to reduce the playback speed of a video, the app has certain limitations. For example, it doesn’t allow you to set a zoom level, you are stuck with the framerate that the app has to offer, etc.
Because of this, many people prefer to use different methods to record a video in slow motion with their preferences, and then upload it to Snapchat. This approach also eliminates the need to swipe the screen several times merely to use a single slow-motion filter.
Fortunately, iPhone has a built-in SLO-MO mode in its Camera app that allows you to capture the videos in slow motion. To learn how to do slow mo on Snapchat with the iPhone’s Camera app, you can follow the instructions that are given below:
Step 1: Get to the iPhone’s SLO-MO Mode
Launch the Camera app on your iPhone (iPhone 13 Pro Max is used here for illustrations), and swipe the screen from left to right until you get to the SLO-MO mode.
Step 2: Set Recording Preferences
Tap the number that is present at the top-right corner (240 here) to toggle between different framerates, tap 1x from the lower-center area, swipe slightly up, and then use the wheel that appears next to define your preferred zoom level.
Step 3: Start and Stop the Recording
Tap the Record button to start the recording, and tap Stop when you’re done.
Note: Make sure that the duration of the recorded video doesn’t exceed 60 seconds.
Step 4: Upload the Slow-Motion Video to Snapchat
After the video is recorded in slow motion, close the Camera app, launch Snapchat, and tap the Gallery icon from the left side of the Capture button on the Camera section. From the Memories screen, go to the Camera Roll tab, and tap to select the video that you recorded in the previous step.
Next, optionally, tap the Edit icon from the bottom-left corner to decorate the video and/or add annotations to it, and follow the process as explained in the previous section to share the clip with your family, friends, or colleagues, or publish it as your story.
Part 3: How to Make Flash and Smooth Slo Mo Video for Snapchat
Although iPhone has the built-in SLO-MO mode that even enables you to set your preferred framerate and zoom level before recording, it still doesn’t allow you to slow down different parts of a video in different speed at your convenience. You can either record the entire video in slow motion or at a normal speed.
This is where a third-party app comes into play. While there are several video editing programs available online, the one of the best slow motion apps that helps you slow down the portions of a video with precision is CapCut.
Downloading and installing CapCut on your iPhone or Android phone is simple, and once it is done, you can follow the process given below to learn how to slow things down on Snapchat:
With CapCut, you can either slow down the whole clip or manage the speed for different segments. This section explains both methods.
Method 1: Slow Down the Whole Clip with CapCut
Step 1: Get to the Speed Panel
Launch CapCut, import the video that you want to slow down, and tap the imported media in the Timeline. Next, tap Speed from the bottom of the interface to get to the next window.
Step 2: Reduce the Speed of the Video
Tap Normal from the bottom of the screen that appears next, and drag the Speed slider to the left to reduce the playback speed. Tap OK from the bottom-right corner to save the changes.
Step 3: Upload the Video to Snapchat
Back on the previous interface, optionally tap Volume from the bottom and reduce the slider to 0 to mute the audio of the footage as it may get distorted due to the reduction in the speed.
Next, tap Share from the top-right corner to save the video on your iPhone, and then use the method explained in the previous section to access the clip from the Gallery within Snapchat for uploading.
Method 2: Reduce the Playback Speed of Different Parts of a Video
Step 1: Get to the Speed Panel
Use the process described in the previous method to get to the Speed panel.
Step 2: Reduce the Speed of Different Parts of the Video
Tap Curve from the bottom of the interface. On the next screen, tap Custom from the lower area, and then tap Edit. From the next panel, drag the beat points down to reduce the speed (or drag them above the line to increase).
Notice that each beat point represents a particular section of the video, and dragging it down reduces the playback speed of that segment. You can even tap anywhere on the line to add a new beat point and drag it down as needed for more precise speed management. Once done, tap OK from the bottom-right corner to save the modifications.
Optionally, you can also tap any of the available presets on the Curve screen to reduce the playback speed of the video accordingly.
Step 3: Upload the Video to Snapchat
Use the method explained in the previous method to export the video, upload it to Snapchat, and share the clip with your family, friends, and colleagues, or publish it as your story.
Part 4: FAQs about Slowing Down Snapchat Video
1. Can I record a slow mo video in Snapchat?
Technically speaking, no, you cannot. However, once you have recorded a video at a normal speed in Snapchat, you can apply the built-in Slow Motion filter to it by swiping the screen from left to right until you see the Snail icon at the center. The Snail icon represents the Slow Motion filter that reduces the playback speed when applied.
2. Besides slow-motion, which speed filters does Snapchat have?
In addition to slow motion Snapchat also has Forward and Fast Forward filters that increase the playback speed. While the Forward filter increases the speed slightly, the Fast Forward one enhances it drastically.
Conclusion
When using an iPhone, even though the SLO-MO mode enables you to record footage in slow motion, you don’t get many options. Therefore, it would be safe to say that it is easy to slow down the speed of a video if you have a dedicated third-party post-production app. However, if you want to go for a convenient method, learning how to slow down a video on Snapchat is an extremely simple and straightforward process.