How to Turn Live Photos into Animated GIFs on Your iPhone

I’m a pretty big fan of Apple’s Live Photos that combine an image, video, and audio into a single file. Unfortunately, it can be a little awkward to share the full experience with anyone who doesn’t have an Apple device.

You’ve always been able to convert them to still photos, but now, you can also turn them into animated GIFs to share anywhere.

To do so, first take a Live Photo or find one you already have. I’m using this stunning selfie.

Find it in the Photos app and then swipe up.

Beneath the image, you’ll see four Effects thumbnails: Live, Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure.

Live is a standard Live Photo, Loop is a GIF that runs is a loop, Bounce is a GIF that runs through forwards then backwards repeatedly, and Long Exposure blends the entire Live Photo into a still photo imitating a photo taken with a slow shutter speed. Select the thumbnail for the effect you want.

Here’s the Loop GIF.

Here’s the Bounce GIF.

And here’s the (very blurry) Long Exposure.

Once you convert a Live Photo to a GIF, it will be added to the Animated Album in your Camera Roll. You can also convert it back to a Live Photo at any time by reversing the process.

Now you’re free to send your GIF to your friends however you want.