We built a video editor with automatic captions + a teleprompter because making short-form videos shouldn’t require 3 different apps

Andrew Ivaniv — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 08:50:56 +0000

Hi,

My name is Andrew. For the last 6 months, we’ve been working on Captions Bro, a video editor for iPhone and iPad built specifically around creating vertical content with automatic captions.

The app is finally live on the App Store, so I wanted to share what we built and get some feedback from people who regularly create TikToks, Reels, Shorts, talking-head videos, UGC, tutorials, etc.

Problem:

Creating a relatively simple talking-head video often involves way more work than it looks like.

You record the video, import it into an editor, generate subtitles, fix the transcription, style the captions, add titles or overlays, remove awkward parts, export it, realize something is wrong, and go back again.

And if you're reading from a script, you may also need a separate teleprompter app before you even get to the editing part.

We wanted to see if we could put that entire workflow into one app without turning it into an overwhelming desktop-style editor.

Solution:

That became Captions Bro.

The basic workflow is:

Record → Caption → Edit → Export

You can record directly inside the app using the built-in teleprompter, or import an existing video from Photos.

Captions Bro then transcribes the speech directly on the device and turns it into editable captions. You can correct the transcription, change the timing, split or merge captions, and apply different caption styles.

But we didn't want to build another app that only puts subtitles over a video.

So underneath the caption workflow is an actual multi-track video editor.

You can trim, split, reorder and duplicate clips, add text/images/video overlays, use transitions, animate elements with keyframes, adjust colors, add effects and sound, and then export the finished video with the captions burned in.

The idea is that for most short-form videos, you shouldn't need to leave the app between recording yourself and publishing the finished video.

Features:

Some of the things currently included:

Automatic on-device speech transcription
Karaoke-style word highlighting
Custom caption fonts, colors, outlines and shadows
Manual caption editing, splitting, merging and retiming
Secondary-language captions
Multi-track video timeline
Trim, split, reorder and duplicate clips
Speed controls, freeze frames and transitions
Keyframe animation for position, scale, rotation and opacity
Text, image and video overlays
Masks and background removal
Color grading, filters and effects
Noise reduction, voiceovers and sound effects
Built-in teleprompter with adjustable scrolling speed
Record directly while reading your script
Export MP4 or MOV with captions burned in 9:16, 4:5 and square formats for different social platforms

One thing that was particularly important to us was keeping transcription on-device. You don't need to upload every recording to a server just to generate subtitles, and a bad internet connection doesn't stop the workflow.

We’re now trying to figure out where we should take the product next.

There are obviously already some very established apps in this space, so we're particularly interested in what creators still find annoying about their current workflow.

If you regularly create short-form video, what part takes you the most time: recording, captions, editing, or something else entirely?

Would love honest feedback.

Captions Bro is available now if anyone wants to try it.

We’ve built a local-first App Store screenshot native Mac tool where the project file is a plain JSON

Andrew Ivaniv — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:28:45 +0000

Hi,

My name is Andrew. For the last few months, we’ve been working on Screenshot Bro, a native Mac app for designing, localizing, and uploading App Store screenshots.

Problem:

App Store screenshots look simple until you actually have to ship them. The moment you support multiple device sizes and locales, the workflow becomes repetitive fast:

Updating the same layout across iPhone + iPad sizes
Keeping 10+ locales visually consistent
Re-exporting everything after every tiny text change
Losing track of screenshot variants and App Store requirements
Manually uploading assets into App Store Connect

Most tools still treat screenshots as separate static images instead of one connected project, so the process turns into a lot of repetitive busywork very quickly.

Solution:

Screenshot Bro is a native Mac app, and we tried to make it different compared to other solutions available on the market in two ways:

1) A continuous canvas for all device sizes and locales. The whole project lives on one large canvas, more like Figma. You can zoom out to see every device size, locale, and screenshot row at once, then zoom back in to edit details. So you see every device size and each locale on one canvas, keep layouts consistent, adjust only once, without losing track of variants, and get the final screenshots ready for App Store Connect without manually babysitting every export.

2) Local-first AI-editable project files that kill screenshots grind. Projects are stored locally as plain JSON, with a public JSON schema on GitHub. The idea is that you own the files, similar to how Obsidian works with Markdown. It also means you can point an AI agent at the schema and project file and ask it to do things like: make the text larger, translate all labels to Spanish, and change the backgrounds to bright gradient colors. Since the format is structured and documented, the agent can make those edits directly instead of trying to manipulate a closed/proprietary file. In practice, it completely kills the app store screenshots grind.

Features:

It also has many other cool features:

Real device frames, including iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iMac, Android-style, and invisible layout frames.
Template gallery with ready-made visual styles to start from quickly.
Multi-row canvas for building complete screenshot sets at once.
Shape tools: text, images, SVGs, rectangles, circles, stars, devices, rotation, clipping, borders, and opacity.
Rich backgrounds: colors, linear/radial/angular gradients, images, and tiled image fills.
Locale workflow with 30 language presets and per-locale text overrides.
Batch import, simulator capture, and export to PNG/JPEG.
App Store Connect upload support with credential storage and validation.
iCloud sync with conflict merging and deleted-project tombstones.
Pro-oriented editing niceties: snapping guides, keyboard shortcuts, custom fonts, Quick Look previews, and undo/redo.

We’re trying to figure out whether the “continuous canvas” and the “local-first + AI-editable project files” angle actually makes sense for this kind of app, or whether we’re overcomplicating something that should just be a straightforward screenshot generator.

Would love honest feedback from people who ship apps. Is this useful, or is it solving a problem you don’t really have?

Screenshot Bro is available on the App Store if anyone wants to try it.

DEV Community: Andrew Ivaniv

We built a video editor with automatic captions + a teleprompter because making short-form videos shouldn’t require 3 different apps

Problem:

Solution:

Features:

We’ve built a local-first App Store screenshot native Mac tool where the project file is a plain JSON

Problem:

Solution:

Features: