Still photos are great, but there's no doubt that a GIF is way better for capturing a memorable scene or someone's emotions. But until today, creating and sharing GIFs took a varying amount of effort, especially when you wanted to take one of your iPhone 6s Live Photos and turn it into a sharable GIF.
Thanks to Google's new Motion Stills app, launched yesterday on the App Store, you can turn any Live Photo into an instantly shareable GIF in seconds.
To take a Live Photo, iPhone 6s owners just snap a photo like normal — as long as the circular icon at the top of the screen is highlighted in yellow (if not, tap to switch it on), the phone will record a couple seconds before and after you tap the shutter button. Then, in your Camera Roll, you hold your finger on that photo and it moves like a GIF.
The problem, though, is that as cool as Live Photos are, you can't edit them or easily share them as GIFs on Instagram, on their own. But Motion Stills makes it incredibly easy to export that Live Photo as a GIF, to anyone.
The app doesn't only let you share the "motion" of your Live Photos on Instagram, Facebook, and other social networks; it also works like a camera tripod to stabilise the scene so that there's no shaky camera motion. The result is a GIF that looks like it was shot using a professional, high-tech camera. You also have the option to combine multiple Live Photos into a short video clip.
Click through to check out some cool examples of Motion Stills in action.
Go to the mountains for the hike, come away with one hell of an incredible GIF to Instagram. Here, Motion Stills takes the shakiness out of the original video.
Photo: Courtesy Google.
When shaky fields become gloriously smooth countryside.
Photo: Courtesy Google.
Looking to pass some time during your flight? Take a Live Photo above the clouds and share when you land.
Photo: Courtesy Google.
Note: Gorgeous roads are to be captured from the passenger side, only.
Photo: Courtesy Google.
Sundress? Check. Beautiful ocean view? Check. Hair blowing in the wind? Check. This is the perfect summer Instagram.
Photo: Courtesy Google.
Combine multiple Live Photos of your nieces and nephews to capture their cuteness in action.
Photo: Courtesy Google.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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