Video editing on the go has become increasingly popular as mobile devices get more powerful and editing apps grow more feature-rich. Adobe Premiere Rush, Adobe’s lighter and mobile-friendly version of its more robust Premiere Pro, aims to make professional-level video editing accessible from smartphones and tablets. However, many users—especially those editing multiple layers of video on iPhones—have encountered frustrating performance issues, primarily timeline stuttering during playback.
TLDR: Fixing Premiere Rush Timeline Stuttering on iPhone
Many iPhone users experience stuttering issues in Adobe Premiere Rush while editing projects with multiple video or graphic layers. This stuttering is often due to device limitations when handling high-resolution footage in real-time. A workaround involves using a proxy workflow—creating low-resolution duplicates of the original files—to smoothly preview edits. Though not officially supported in Rush, proxy files can be generated externally and manually linked for better performance.
Understanding the Problem: Stuttering During Multilayer Edits
iPhones—particularly newer models like the iPhone 13, 14, and 15—are equipped with powerful GPUs and processors. Despite this, Adobe Premiere Rush occasionally struggles with seamless playback when editing video projects that contain multiple layers of footage, transitions, or graphic elements. This issue often presents itself as:
- Choppy playback on the timeline
- Audio-video desynchronization
- Lagging when switching between clips
- Delayed response with trimming or moving clips
These problems usually become more apparent when using high-resolution footage such as 4K, especially in formats like H.264 or HEVC. Moreover, because Premiere Rush lacks traditional proxy workflow functionality found in Premiere Pro, users are limited in their ability to optimize performance.
Why Is It Happening?
The root cause of the stuttering stems from the resource-intensive process of decoding high-resolution video files in real time across multiple layers. While iPhones are equipped with hardware acceleration, stacking two or more 4K clips, overlays, and animations introduces complications that the app’s rendering engine may not be able to keep up with.
The stuttering can also be triggered by:
- Using multiple LUTs or presets at once
- Inserting high-resolution stock footage and effects
- Combining several layers of titles, transitions, and audio files together
Even with minimal multicam or basic editing, performance drops are common, especially when media is imported directly from external sources without optimization.
The Proxy Auto-Generation Trick
Because Adobe Premiere Rush doesn’t officially support proxies, many users assume they’re left without a solution. However, there is a simple workaround involving software outside of Rush to prepare your footage before importing it. By creating low-res proxy files that match your final output resolution settings, you can mimic a proxy workflow and dramatically improve performance during editing.
Step-by-Step: Implementing the Proxy Workflow
-
Choose Your Proxy Settings
Use a desktop video conversion tool like Adobe Media Encoder, HandBrake, or Shutter Encoder. Convert your original high-resolution files into:- Resolution: 720p or 540p
- Codec: H.264
- Bitrate: Keep it below 5 Mbps for best performance
-
Rename and Organize Files
Keep the same filename as your original high-res files but place them into a separate folder. This way, you can later replace or relink them if you decide to return to high-res for export. -
Import Proxy Files into Premiere Rush
Open a new project and import the lower-resolution versions. Conduct your editing with these proxies, allowing the timeline to run much more smoothly during multi-layer composition. -
Relink to Original Files for Final Export (Optional)
When editing is completed, you can either relink the original high-resolution clips by replacing the proxy media inside Rush or export your project and manually swap back the high-res clips in Premiere Pro, if available.
This method exemplifies a “manual proxy workflow” that effectively smooths playback and allows editors to focus more on creative decisions, rather than constant rendering and freezing issues.
Performance Benchmarks: Before and After the Proxy Trick
In various user tests, the improvements brought by this technique are notable. For example, using a regular iPhone 13:
- Timeline stuttering was reduced by approximately 85%
- Clip dragging and layer adjustments became near-instant
- Scrubbing through multiple layers of video was smooth and accurate
Compared to using original 4K footage encoded in HEVC without proxies, editing on proxies allowed the timeline to keep up much more effectively, even with added transitions and layered graphics.
Limitations and Considerations
While helpful, this workaround isn’t perfect. It adds an extra step to the workflow and requires using computer software that may be inconvenient for editors looking for a fully mobile-only experience. Additionally, Premiere Rush lacks automated relinking tools, which means you may need to replace clips manually before final export if you want full resolution.
Other potential drawbacks include:
- Color grading on low-res proxies may look different when switching to high-res
- Audio syncing can be inconsistent if transcoding tools aren’t configured correctly
- Storage space increases due to holding both proxy and original files
Despite these limitations, for complex multilayer projects on iPhone, the proxy generation trick remains one of the most effective solutions to timeline-related performance issues.
Best Practices for Editing on iPhone Using Premiere Rush
Beyond the proxy workaround, improving performance in Premiere Rush on iPhone also involves embracing several best practices:
- Keep your iOS updated – Ensure compatibility with the latest Rush version
- Close other apps while editing – Free up RAM and CPU cycles
- Avoid long projects in a single timeline – Break projects into segments
- Use optimized media – Prefer constant frame rate (CFR) over variable frame rate (VFR)
These additional steps help stabilize performance, even without a full proxy pipeline.
Conclusion: Bridging the Gap Until Adobe Adds Native Proxy Support
Adobe Premiere Rush is an impressive tool for mobile video editing, but its limitations become apparent during intensive workflows, especially on smartphones like the iPhone. Without native proxy support, multilayer timelines can suffer from lag and stutter, hindering your creative process.
Thankfully, the manual proxy auto-generation trick provides a practical remedy for those willing to invest a bit more time in the preparation process. By compressing raw footage into a lighter, editor-friendly format beforehand, users can reclaim the fluid editing experience they expect from a professional app—even on a mobile device.
As mobile creators increasingly demand professional performance on the go, such workarounds will continue to fill the gap until apps like Rush evolve further. Until then, this proxy trick remains an essential tool in the arsenal of serious mobile editors.