Disclosure: we make Dora, one of the apps below. Saga Labs, the studio that runs this site, builds and sells it. We have described the other apps the way their own App Store pages describe them, and we say plainly where they beat us. Ratings and in-app purchases are from the US App Store on 7 October 2026. We list how each app charges, not prices, because prices change by country and by week.
Every app here does some version of the same thing: you give it a photo or a few words, and a few minutes later you get back a short video clip. They differ in which models they run, how much editing they let you do afterwards, and how they charge.
The eight apps at a glance
| Strongest at | How it charges | Rating (US) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runway | Many top models in one app, an agent that builds a whole video | Free to start; subscriptions and credit packs | 4.5 · 16,768 |
| Kling AI | Longer clips, 1080p or 4K, extension up to 3 minutes | Credit packs and plans, weekly or monthly | 4.7 · 31,559 |
| Pika | Playful effects: swap, add or melt things in your clips | Subscriptions, weekly, monthly or yearly | 4.7 · 4,185 |
| PixVerse Lite | Trending templates, AI dance, lip sync, Motion Control | Plans, weekly or yearly, and credit packs | 4.3 · 1,228 |
| Luma Dream Machine | Consistent characters from one face photo; edit by describing | Subscriptions, plus credit packs | 4.5 · 1,795 |
| invideo | A full multitrack editor plus 200+ models, team editing | Plans and add-on packs | 4.5 · 27,821 |
| CapCut | Editing: timeline, captions, effects, 4K export | Free editor; monthly or yearly subscriptions | 4.6 · 1,123,165 |
| Dora (ours) | Many short vertical clips from photos; works inside Claude and ChatGPT | Paid plans only, no free generations | 4.3 · 15 |
All eight are free to download from the App Store and charge through in-app purchases. Ratings are from Apple's public lookup API on 7 October 2026.
Runway: the most models in one place
Runway's app puts several of the best known video and image models side by side (its page lists Seedance 2.5, Kling 3 Pro, its own Gen-4.5, Nano Banana Pro and Nano Banana 2) and does text to video, image to video and video to video. Its Runway Agent takes a plain description, plans the shots, generates them and assembles the finished video. Characters, objects and places can be kept the same across shots, and work syncs with Runway on a computer. It is free to start, with subscriptions and credit packs for more. Best for people who want to pick the model for each job and may finish the work on a laptop.
Kling AI: longer, sharper clips
Kling AI runs its own Kling models. Its page says it generates up to 15 seconds in native 1080p or 4K, and that Video Extension takes a clip up to three minutes. It also generates images in 4K, and has a community feed where you can clone a piece you like and try the idea yourself. It charges with credit packs and plans, including a weekly one. Best for people who care most about motion and image quality, or who need a clip longer than a few seconds.
Pika: effects first
Pika is built for fun, shareable clips. Pikaffects melt, squish, explode or levitate a photo; Pikaswaps replace anything in a video with something from your photos or a prompt; Pikadditions drop new objects or people into a video you already have while keeping its sound. It also does plain image to video and text to video. It charges with subscriptions, weekly, monthly or yearly. Best for social posts and memes where the effect is the point.
PixVerse Lite: templates and trends
PixVerse Lite is the current iPhone app from PixVerse, running its own V6 model and several outside models. Its strength is the template library: AI dance, transformations, beauty and miniature styles, ready to apply to a photo. It also has Motion Control (a character photo plus a reference motion video), lip sync for talking avatars, video upscaling to 4K and a video extension tool. It charges with weekly or yearly plans and credit packs. Best for people who follow trends and want a result in a couple of taps.
Luma Dream Machine: talk to it like a creative partner
Dream Machine is Luma's app for images and video. Instead of prompt syntax, you ask for what you want and use Modify to change an image or video by describing the change. Reference lets you guide it with up to four images, and a single photo of a face is enough to keep a person consistent across many images and videos. It charges with subscriptions plus credit packs. Best for people exploring an idea or a look across many variations.
invideo: when you also need to edit
invideo combines generation and editing. Its agent, Agent Two, turns a plain description into a video and keeps changing it as you direct; every AI edit stays editable on a professional multitrack timeline. It offers more than 200 models for image, video, voice, sound and music, and real time collaboration with a team. It charges with plans and add-on packs. Best for ads, explainers and YouTube videos that need more than one clip.
CapCut: the editor most people already have
CapCut is first of all a video editor, and an excellent free one: multitrack timeline, keyframes, auto captions, text to speech, background removal, millions of music clips and 4K export at 60 fps. Its App Store page does not describe generating video from a prompt. CapCut's own site says ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 video model is rolling out to CapCut for subscriber accounts in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America. The editor is free, with monthly or yearly subscriptions for more. Best for finishing clips made anywhere, including in every other app on this list.
Dora: ours, and narrower on purpose
Dora turns a photo or a text description into a short video or an image, vertical, horizontal or square. It is an iPhone app, DORA · AI Video Generator, and a website, doravideo.com, with the same account and balance on both. A video takes about two minutes and an image about a minute (measured medians: 115 seconds and 48 seconds). There are 22 models in the app to choose from. Motion Control copies the moves of a dance video onto the person in a photo.
Dora also works inside Claude and ChatGPT through an MCP connector, so you can ask the assistant for a video in the middle of a conversation and it uses your Dora account; the setup steps are here. Dora has paid plans only, with no free generations.
Where others beat it: Dora is not an editor. It has no timeline, does not cut clips together and does not publish to social networks; you get the file and take it to CapCut, invideo or wherever you edit. It has no community feed or agent that assembles a whole video, and it has far fewer ratings than any other app here.
Left out, and why
Hailuo, from MiniMax, and Higgsfield are both popular for AI video. On 7 October 2026 we could not find an official app from either in the US App Store, while several apps with similar names were listed by other developers. If you want either one, start from the company's own website rather than an App Store search.
How to choose
- Pick the model yourself, finish on a computer: Runway.
- Quality and longer clips: Kling AI.
- Effects for social posts and memes: Pika.
- Trends and ready templates: PixVerse Lite.
- Explore a character or a look across many versions: Luma Dream Machine.
- A finished ad or explainer with editing and a team: invideo.
- Editing what you already made: CapCut.
- Many short vertical clips from photos, or video from inside Claude or ChatGPT: Dora.
Questions people ask
What is the best AI video generator app for iPhone?
It depends on the job. Runway and Kling AI are strong all-rounders for cinematic clips. Pika and PixVerse are built around effects and templates. invideo and CapCut are the ones with a full timeline editor. Dora fits people who want many short vertical clips from photos, or who work inside Claude or ChatGPT. It is made by Saga Labs, who wrote this page.
Can I turn a photo into a video on iPhone?
Yes. Runway, Pika, Kling AI, PixVerse Lite, invideo and Dora all say on their App Store pages that they turn a still photo into a moving video. Luma Dream Machine works from reference images, up to four at a time.
How long does an AI video take to generate?
Usually minutes, not seconds. Runway's App Store page says a first generation takes about two minutes. In Dora the measured median is 115 seconds for a video and 48 seconds for an image. Longer, higher resolution clips take longer in every app.
Which apps can copy a dance onto the person in my photo?
PixVerse Lite and Dora both have a feature called Motion Control: you give it a photo of a person and a reference video, and the person in the photo makes the moves from the video.
Can I make AI videos from inside ChatGPT or Claude?
Dora works inside Claude and ChatGPT through an MCP connector, using the same account and balance as the app; the setup steps are at doravideo.com/connectors. We did not check whether the other apps here offer the same, so look at their own sites.
Are these apps free?
All of them are free to download, and all of them charge through in-app purchases: subscriptions, credit packs or both. Runway says it is free to start. Dora has paid plans only and no free generations.