A report published on TechCrunch details a new iOS app called Reelful, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically turn photos and video clips from a device's camera roll into polished videos for social media, mirroring the style of popular videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels. The app is designed for people who want to create social content but find traditional video editing tools too complex or time-consuming. The launch of Reelful reflects a broader shift in video creation, as AI allows users to move beyond traditional creative tools toward AI agents capable of automating content creation. Reelful joins a growing wave of AI startups reshaping content creation, including Opus Clip and Captions.
App Development under a16z's Speedrun Program
Reelful, which is currently participating in venture capital firm a16z’s Speedrun program, was founded by Kate Deyneka, a former machine learning engineer at Snapchat who helped develop video and image models. Deyneka left the social media giant to build an agentic video editor that helps users create short-form videos automatically, thereby eliminating the need to spend time selecting clips, adding effects, recording voiceovers, and fine-tuning edits.
Deyneka explained in an interview with TechCrunch that the idea was born out of her personal need as an early-stage founder: "I want to post more on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, but video editing takes a lot of time, so much time that I do not even want to spend it because I have a lot of things going on in my life, especially now as an early-stage founder." She added that her fellow founders share this difficulty: "I have a lot of events, I meet a lot of interesting people, and this is what I see for all my founder friends: they have a very active life, especially right now when AI is booming, but we do not have time to edit. I see Reelful as a tool that can help people build their online presence and their personal brand."
App Workflow and Image Animation
The app works by asking users to enter a prompt describing the story they want to tell, such as a travel recap, product demo, or event highlight. Users then create a voice clone by recording a 30-second sample and selecting photos and videos from their camera roll. At this stage, Reelful plans the video, writes the script, adds an AI-based voiceover, and assembles the final edit, complete with captions, music, and sound effects.
In addition, Reelful is capable of turning static photos into AI-generated animated video clips. For example, if a user uploads a photo of someone cutting a mango, Reelful can animate the image into a short video showing the person slicing the fruit. The generated videos feature a watermark to inform viewers that they were produced with AI. After the complete video is generated, users can continue editing it further by chatting with the app to perform actions such as swapping the soundtrack, updating the script, or adjusting other aspects of the video.
Focus on Founders and Business Owners
Deyneka notes that Reelful's target audience, at least for now, is founders and business owners who need to consistently produce content to build their online presence, personal brand, or company brand. For example, a beauty salon in the San Francisco Bay Area may possess plenty of raw material showing its services and customer transformations, but lacks the time or resources to turn those materials into polished social media videos.
The founder emphasizes that the aspiration is to make content sharing effortless: "My target use case is that you went to an event or you met some cool people, and you recorded a short interview with them and while you are driving back home you just uploaded everything to the app, and by the time you're home, the video is ready. So I want to make it very effortless for people to share their life, their content, their expertise without actively editing or setting up the things on their laptop."
Pricing Plans and Platform Availability
Reelful offers both one-time purchases and monthly subscription plans. Users can purchase credit bundles as follows: a bundle of 5 videos for $15, a bundle of 15 videos for $43, or a bundle of 33 videos for $90. Subscription plans include the "Creator" subscription at $25 per month for 10 videos; the "Pro" plan offering 25 videos per month for $50; and the "Studio" plan which includes 60 videos per month for $100. Currently, the app is only available on iOS, but Deyneka plans to launch Android and web versions in the future.