Lumafusion 2 adds 6-track video and external monitor support

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LumaFusion 2 works with external screens.
LumaFusion 2 works with external screens.
Photo: Luma Touch

LumaFusion is probably the best video-editing app on the iPad. It’s so capable that you can use it to edit movies at a professional level, and plenty of people do. And now you can buy LumaFusion 2, an updated version with more power, and some great new features, including support for working on an external screen, and six tracks of 4K video.

LumaFusion 2

LumaFusion gets a new interface along with its new capabilities.
LumaFusion gets a new interface along with its new capabilities.
Photo: Luma Touch

iMovie is fine for most of us, but if you want a desktop-class video editing app on the iPad, you want LumaFusion. The new version lets you edit up to 12 tracks. That is, you can have six video tracks (with their own audio), plus an additional six audio tracks (music, voiceover, etc.). If you have a speedy new iPad Pro, all those video tracks can be 4K video.

There’s also a whole new UI, with a bigger preview for the video panel, and a simplified layout that also works better on small screens.

Speaking of screen size, you can now hook up your iPad to an external display, and use that as the main viewing window. The iPad then displays the timeline and the library, making use of the extra space allowed by putting the video on a bigger screen. This alone will be worth the update for many people. And according to LumaFusion’s video, it should even work with the iPhone.

Pro features

The LumaFusion upgrade also brings some neat pro-level touches. For instance, any media that is a part of the project is locked by LumaFusion, so iOS can’t delete it. (iOS likes to remove local copies of big files that are also on iCloud, which can be disastrous for huge video clips, especially if you’re on location, working on cellular.)

The LumaFusion app still supports drag-and-drop from anywhere. In iOS 13 and iPadOS, this will mean you can drag video and audio in from external USB storage hooked up to your iPad, or even from SMB network shares mounted in the Files app.

2019 really is shaping up to be the year that puts the “pro” in iPad Pro. Between iPadOS, and apps like LumaFusion, Pixelmator Photo and (hopefully) Photoshop, professionals can totally switch to the iPad for “real” work.

LumaFusion 2 is a free upgrade for existing users.

LumaFusion

Price: $14.99

Download: LumaFusion from the App Store (iOS)

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