Add hook text to a TikTok video on iPhone (AI-written, burned in)

You know you need to add hook text to a TikTok video: the line on screen in the first second that tells someone scrolling with the sound off why this clip is worth the next ten. Knowing it and doing it are different jobs. Every clip means staring at the footage, deciding what the promise is, squeezing it into six words, then typing it into TikTok’s text tool, and doing it again in Instagram’s editor for the Reel and again for the Short. The typing is tedious. The writing is the hard part, and it’s the part that decides whether the clip gets watched.

This guide covers doing that on iPhone with Clipolette: its Post Kit writes an on-screen hook, a title, a caption and hashtags for each clip, you burn the hook onto the video once, and the same file carries it to TikTok, Reels and Shorts. It also covers when TikTok’s own text tool is the better choice, and how to judge a hook whoever wrote it.

In this guide10 sections

Hook text, captions, title, post caption: four different jobs

These get confused constantly, and the confusion is why clips go out with captions and no hook, or a hook and no captions:

Captions are the spoken words, burned into the picture in time with the audio. They make the clip work muted.
Hook text is a short headline on screen at the start. It’s not what’s being said; it’s the promise of what’s coming, and it has to land before the thumb moves on.
The title matters most on YouTube Shorts, where it’s shown with the video and in search.
The post caption and hashtags go in the text box under the video on TikTok and Instagram.

A clip that’s ready to post needs all four. Captions come from the audio, so a caption tool handles them. The other three have to be written, and that’s the job Post Kit does.

Two ways to put hook text on a TikTok

TikTok’s text tool. Add text in the TikTok editor before you post. It’s quick for a single post and you get TikTok’s fonts. The limit is that the text belongs to that TikTok post: when you post the same clip as a Reel or a Short, you type it again in each app, and match the styling by eye.

Burned in before upload. The hook becomes part of the video picture, like burned-in captions. Upload the same MP4 anywhere and the hook is there. The trade is that you can’t change it inside TikTok afterward; to change it, you export again.

If you post only to TikTok and like its text styles, the built-in tool is fine. If the same clip goes to TikTok, Reels and Shorts, and for most creators cutting clips from long videos it does, burn the hook in once.

How Clipolette writes and burns in the hook on iPhone

Post Kit sits at the end of Clipolette’s clip workflow, so the steps start with the long video:

Add your video from Photos or Files. One video per project: a podcast episode, a stream VOD, a vlog, a webinar recording.
Find the clips. Pick a target length (15, 30, 60 or 90 seconds; the options adapt to the video’s length) and tap Find Best Moments. Picks appear best first, each with the reason it was picked, its opening line and an honest rating: Strong, Good or Worth a look. Keep Clipolette open while it works; on iPhone, locking the phone can stop the work.
Add captions and fix them. The listing’s order is “add captions, then let Clipolette write your packaging,” so captions come first. Rewrite any misheard caption, or fix a word across every caption at once; a misspelled guest or product name is the last thing you want next to a headline.
Open Post Kit. It writes an on-screen hook, a title, a caption and hashtags for the clip.
Show the hook on the video. Switch it on and the hook is burned into the clip when you export. If you’d rather write your own in TikTok, leave it off and take the rest of the kit.
Check it against Safe zones. Turn on Safe zones to see where TikTok, Reels and Shorts put their buttons, so neither the hook nor the captions sit under them.
Export. The clip exports as a 1080×1920 vertical H.264 MP4 with the captions, and the hook if you showed it, burned in, through the share sheet to Photos, Files or the app you post from. Keep the app open until it finishes.
Paste the rest. Copy the caption and hashtags together into TikTok or Instagram, and the title into the Shorts upload.

What it needs. The app installs on iOS 18 or later, but Post Kit’s written text needs iOS 26 (iPadOS 26 on iPad, macOS 26 on Mac). There’s no fallback writer on earlier versions. Find Best Moments needs Apple Intelligence on iOS 26 on a supported iPhone (iPhone 15 Pro or later) and a video with sound; without it, Clipolette finds scene changes in the picture and you keep scenes by hand. Captions, framing, trimming and export all work from iOS 18.

Post Kit runs on the phone like the rest of the clip work: no account, and nothing is uploaded. Every editing tool is free with no subscription, and a one-time $24.99 purchase removes the export watermark. Get Clipolette on the App Store.

What makes hook text work

Whether you use Post Kit’s hook or write your own, treat the first draft as a draft. Five tests a hook should pass:

It states the payoff, not the topic. “Episode 42: pricing” is a label. “We doubled the price and lost no one” is a reason to stay. The hook tells the viewer what they get by watching to the end.

It reads in one glance. Two short lines at most. The viewer decides in about a second, often muted, often mid-scroll. If you have to read it twice, it’s too long.

It’s specific. Numbers, names and stakes beat adjectives. “The one question that ended the interview” beats “a crazy moment.”

It doesn’t repeat the first caption. The captions already show what’s being said. If the clip opens with “We doubled our price,” a hook that says the same thing wastes the space. Clipolette shows each pick’s opening line, so you can check the hook and the first words against each other before you export.

It doesn’t overpromise. A hook the clip can’t pay off buys one second and costs the rest. If the moment is rated Worth a look rather than Strong, the hook should be modest too.

A few patterns that come up again and again in clips cut from long videos:

Result first: say the outcome, let the clip show how. “He sold the company in the parking lot.”
The contradiction: “Everyone says post daily. Here’s why we stopped.”
The question the clip answers: “Why do streamers stop at 2 a.m.?”
The stakes: “One bad pull away from a wipe.”

Streamers and gamers get their own conventions, like naming the game and the play; the Twitch VOD to TikTok guide has examples.

When to skip Post Kit’s hook

Post Kit gives you a starting point, not a verdict. Skip or replace the hook when:

You have a house style. If your channel always uses the same font, color and position for hooks, keep doing that in your editor or in TikTok. Consistency across your feed is worth more than saving thirty seconds.
The clip speaks for itself. Some clips open on a line so strong that a hook on top of it just competes. Captions alone can be enough.
You’re on iOS 18 to 25. There’s no written text from Post Kit there. Write the hook in TikTok’s text tool, and keep the burned-in captions from Clipolette.

Hook text on Reels and Shorts

Because the hook is part of the picture, the same MP4 carries it to Instagram and YouTube. Two platform differences are worth a minute:

Buttons sit in different places. Each app overlays its own buttons, username and caption on the video. Safe zones shows you where they fall for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, so you can check that the hook and captions clear all three before you export.
The title field matters on Shorts. YouTube shows the title with the Short and uses it in search, so paste Post Kit’s title there instead of leaving the default. Instagram and TikTok lean on the post caption and hashtags instead.

The Instagram Reels guide and the YouTube Shorts guide cover the rest of each platform’s posting flow from iPhone.

Hook text on Mac and iPad

On Mac, Post Kit is a panel: the hook shown on the video, then the title, the caption and the hashtags, each with its own Copy button. It needs macOS 26. Export Clip (⌘E) saves the clip through a save panel, and Share sends it to your phone when you post from there. The Mac also opens several videos at once, each in its own window, which helps when a week of recordings all need clips and hooks. Find Best Moments needs macOS 26 on an Apple Silicon Mac.

On iPad, it’s the iPhone workflow on a bigger screen, which makes it easier to read the hook against the picture and the safe zones. Post Kit’s written text needs iPadOS 26. The app opens in a single window.

One $24.99 purchase removes the watermark on all three, across the same Apple Account.

What Post Kit doesn’t do

Stated as scope, so you can pick the right tool:

No template library. Post Kit writes the words. It isn’t a text-animation or title-pack designer; for animated text effects, use your editor or TikTok’s.
No auto-posting or scheduling. You export, open the platform app and paste. Nothing posts for you.
No virality scores. Each clip gets an honest rating (Strong, Good, Worth a look) and a reason. Nobody can predict views, and Clipolette doesn’t pretend to.
One clip at a time. Each clip exports on its own; there’s no “export all.”

The bottom line

Adding hook text to a TikTok video is two jobs: writing a line worth stopping for, and getting it onto every platform the clip goes to. TikTok’s text tool handles the second job for TikTok alone. Clipolette’s Post Kit, on iOS 26, drafts the hook with the title, caption and hashtags, and burning it in means one file works on TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Read every hook against the five tests above before you post, and replace it when it fails. If you’re cutting clips from long videos anyway, the long video to TikTok guide covers the whole pipeline, and the vlog to Shorts guide covers the footage where a hook helps most. Download Clipolette, free with every editing tool, and put one clip through Post Kit.

FAQ

Is hook text the same as captions on TikTok? No. Captions show the words being spoken, in time with the audio. Hook text is a short headline on screen at the start that tells a muted viewer why to keep watching. A good clip carries both, and the post caption under the video is a third, separate piece of text.

Does Post Kit write hooks on iOS 18? No. Post Kit’s written text (hook, title, caption and hashtags) needs iOS 26, iPadOS 26 or macOS 26, and there is no fallback writer on earlier versions. Captions, framing, trimming and export still work from iOS 18, so on an older version you write the hook yourself in TikTok’s text tool.

Will burned-in hook text show on Reels and YouTube Shorts too? Yes. A burned-in hook is part of the video picture, so it appears wherever you upload the 1080×1920 MP4. Text added in TikTok’s editor exists only in that TikTok post. Turn on Safe zones before exporting to check that the buttons on each app don’t cover your text.