Turn still photos into moving art with GIFx

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I secretly love GIFs. Well, maybe it is not such a secret since my best friend regularly sends me links to funny ones. Snort-level laughter usually follows. You may not always want to create funny micro movies with your camera, though. Sometimes, you may just want to liven up a still shot.

GIFx is a photo-editing app that adds GIF backgrounds to your pictures and videos. Now, you can make moving photographs without having to actually create a GIF first.

The app is packed with about 100 background GIFs that you can layer right on top of any photo or video in your photo library. Or, you could shoot a video or take a snapshot right within the app. It comes with 30 backgrounds for free, and you can purchase additional packs for $0.99 each. The Mixed Pack, which features 50 additional background GIFs can be unlocked simply by rating the app in the App Store.

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In addition to about a hundred background GIFs, you can mask the photo so that the background only appears in certain areas. The app comes with 15 free mask shapes (like circles, triangles, rectangles, hearts, and stars). You can unlock additional masking packs for $0.99 each.

You can adjust the opacity of the GIF to be solid or transparent. You can also invert the mask shape. For example, instead of having a circle GIF in the center of the picture, you can invert it so that the center shows the photo inside the circle while the edges feature the moving GIF.

You can move the mask around in order to fit it within the specific parameters of your subject. You can also increase or decrease the size of the mask and rotate it.

Once you’ve selected a GIF and masked it, you can save it to your camera roll. The app will save a low quality movie up to 15 seconds for free. However, you can purchase the high resolution save for $0.99, which also allows you to turn the entire thing into a GIF instead of a movie.

All moving pictures created with this app will have a GIFx watermark in the lower right corner. You can remove the watermark with an in-app purchase of $0.99.

If you like the many premium features available, you can unlock everything for $3.99, which is a huge savings over purchasing each pack individually.

GIFx is available for free. You can download it in the App Store today.

What do you think of this instant GIF maker? Let us know in the comments below.