How to make a lyric video on your phone: iPhone and Android
You don't need a computer to make a lyric video. On an iPhone or an Android phone there are three routes: start from the song link in your browser and let the lyrics sync themselves, place every line by hand in a video app, or use Instagram's lyrics for a quick story. Here is which one to pick for each case, step by step, and how to get the finished video into your gallery.
Which route to pick
| Route | Best for | Lyrics sync | Time per song |
|---|---|---|---|
| From the song link in the browser | Release-day lyric videos and vertical snippets of your own songs | Automatic (synced lyrics or transcribed singing) | Minutes |
| Video app (CapCut and similar) | Designing every frame by hand | Auto captions you fix, or each line by hand | From half an hour to hours |
| Instagram lyrics (Stories and Reels) | A quick story or post with a song from Instagram's library | Done by the app, only for songs that have lyrics there | Seconds, with little design control |
If the lyric video is for your own release, the first route gets you a finished video fastest. If you want a fully custom animation, use a video app. For a quick story with a fragment of the song, Instagram's lyrics are enough.
Before you start
- The song link: in the Spotify app, open the song, tap ⋯ → Share → Copy link. In the YouTube app, Share → Copy link. If the song is not out yet, have the audio file on your phone (MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, AAC or OGG) and the cover image.
- The official lyrics in a note, to fix any word the transcription gets wrong.
- Wi-Fi if you are going to upload a long file; a link uses almost no data.
- The shape: vertical 9:16 for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, horizontal 16:9 for YouTube. All the sizes are in video sizes for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
From the song link, in your browser
The TONTRIA lyric video maker works in the phone's browser, Safari or Chrome, with no app to install:
- Open clips.tontria.com and create a free account (email and password, no card).
- Paste the link of the song from Spotify or YouTube, or upload the audio and the cover.
- Wait for the lyrics: if the song has synced lyrics they are used; if not, the singing is transcribed and each line is timed to the vocals.
- Check the lines against the official lyrics. Tap a line to fix a word or its timing, or paste the full lyrics.
- Pick the look: the cover as a spinning vinyl, a CD or a floating cover, or the lyrics over the music video. For animated styles like karaoke, kinetic or a music-app lyrics list, see the lyric video templates.
- Export vertical or horizontal and download it.
A 3½-minute song uses about 4 credits, and changing the design and exporting again costs nothing. If you want the words to light up as they are sung over a video you already filmed, use the karaoke video editor.
In a video app, line by line
General video apps let you design each frame. In CapCut, look for Auto lyrics under Captions or Text, or start from a lyric template and replace the words; the full steps, and what to fix before exporting, are in how to make a lyric video in CapCut. In apps without automatic lyrics, you add each line as a text layer and drag it until it matches the singing: full control, but on a small screen it takes a long time for a whole song.
Two things to watch: use your own song (music from an app's library is often licensed only for use inside that app or for non-commercial use), and keep the text away from the bottom and the right side, where TikTok and Reels put their buttons and caption.
With Instagram's lyrics
Instagram can show the lyrics of a song from its music library on a Story or a Reel while it plays, with no editing. It is the quickest option for a story, but it only works with songs that have lyrics in Instagram's library, with the styles Instagram offers, and the lyrics stay inside Instagram. The steps are in how to add lyrics to Instagram Stories and Reels. TikTok has no lyrics button: there you add the words with the Text tool or Captions, as explained in how to put lyrics on a TikTok video.
Save it to your gallery and post it
- iPhone: Safari saves the download in the Downloads folder of the Files app. Open the video, tap share and choose Save Video to put it in Photos.
- Android: Chrome saves it in Downloads; the gallery or Google Photos shows it in the Download folder.
- Post it: the vertical version goes to Reels, TikTok and Shorts; the horizontal one to YouTube, with the lyrics and credits in the description. To get more out of release week, see how to promote a song on TikTok.