Apple is reportedly developing a video sharing and editing application and is testing new related features for the iPhone and iPad. The plans are part of a newly directed focus to integrate social networking applications within Apple’s mobile products, according to Bloomberg's sources.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

The growth of Apple’s hardware business is slowing and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is looking to the company’s services business, such as the App Store and iCloud storage, as a way to generate increased revenue. Apple has failed to successfully launch social-media services in the past. Now as Snapchat and Facebook’s Instagram and Messenger apps grow atop Apple’s iOS mobile operating system, Apple is seeking to create its own features to remain relevant, particularly for younger users.

The company’s upcoming update of its mobile operating system, which will run on recent iPhone and iPad models, will include an overhauled messaging application aimed squarely at Facebook’s Messenger and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat. The updated iMessage, which Apple announced in June, will include new animated effects like balloons and fireworks to illustrate text messages, an App Store with plug-ins for sending animated images and stickers, and tools to draw on top of photos and videos.

The new video sharing app will allows users to record video, apply filters and drawings to the media -- much like Snapchat does -- and send it to contacts or via existing social networks such as Twitter Inc., according to the people familiar with its development.
The software is currently being designed to be used mostly with one hand and with the intention that video could be shot, edited, and uploaded in less than 1 minute, the people said.

The video sharing app is still in the preliminary development stages within Apple, and managers are weighing the app’s list of intended features. Apple is striving for a 2017 release, the people said, adding that the project could be killed if it doesn’t meet the company’s timetable and expectations.