Google’s YouTube is rolling out new tools to make YouTube Shorts even more competitive with social-video platform TikTok. The new publishing suite includes an improved video editor, a tool for generating AI stickers, enhanced templates, and a feature that can synchronize content to a musical beat. YouTube says the upgraded editing feature will provide users with the ability to make more precise adjustments, fine-tuning the timing of each clip. Users can “move or remove clips to create a rough version, add music or timed text, and preview their Short to make sure it tells the story the way they want it to,” according to YouTube.

“The new features are designed to make the Shorts editing experience more dynamic and intuitive, particularly for creators who are used to the creative flexibility offered by TikTok,” reports Android Authority, adding that “there’s no exact release timeline yet, and it’s still unclear whether the updates will arrive on both Android and iOS simultaneously.”

The five new tools, outlined in a YouTube blog post, include AI stickers created using text prompts and “image stickers” that can be uploaded “straight from your gallery.”

YouTube notes an improved video editor had been much-requested by Shorts creators. “TikTok is known for having robust editing tools, so it makes sense for YouTube to give its creators access to more of the same tools,” TechCrunch writes, emphasizing the significance of the timing “as Meta is said to be weeks away from releasing an ‘Edits’ app that purportedly rivals [TikTok owner] ByteDance’s CapCut.”

CNBC was not the only outlet to point out that the new Shorts features “come at a time when TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is at risk of an effective ban in the U.S. if it’s not sold to an American owner” by a deadline that was to have been April 5, but was extended by 75 days at that time. However, YouTube has consistently updated its video tools.

CNN explains a deal to transfer control of TikTok from ByteDance to U.S. entities “was finalized on Wednesday and Trump was expected to formally sign off on it in an executive order later this week,” but the deal was derailed by the President’s China tariffs.

Related:
YouTube Adds New Inspiration Elements, Easy Re-Posting of TikToks to Shorts, Social Media Today, 4/1/25
TikTok Quietly Launches a New ‘TikTok for Artists’ Platform, TechCrunch, 4/3/25