Quickly and easily record animated GIFs with Giphy Cam

GiphyCam user interface

Animated GIFs are fun, the only thing is, creating them generally requires a computer and either some fancy GIF-making software, or a website that can convert video files to animated GIFs.

Fortunately, for those of you that spend most of your time mobile, rather than at a computer, the free GiphyCam app from the App Store provides an all-in-one experience for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users.

We’ll talk about GiphyCam in this piece and show you how you can use it to record your own animated GIFs right from your mobile device.

How to make an animated GIF on your iPhone

GiphyCam utilizes your device’s cameras to let you record your own animated GIFs. Essentially what happens is instead of recording a video file, GiphyCam records video and converts it to a GIF file for you automatically so you can save it to your Camera Roll or share it with your friends/social media.

From the main interface, shown above, you can switch between front or rear-facing cameras and tap on the record button to record a short looping GIF, or tap and hold on the record button to record a long looping GIF. Either way, you’re going to end up with an animated GIF, like the one below:

how to make animated gif on iPhone

Once you’re finished recording, the app will ask you whether you want to save the GIF or share it to your favorite social networks. There are dedicated buttons for the Messages app, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and Instagram, but there’s also a button that brings up a native iOS share sheet, which will share to any supported app on your device.

It’s worth noting that animated GIFs can’t play from your Camera Roll, but you will be able to see the animations on the computer, or on the social network you upload to. You’ll even be able to see the animated GIF if you send it to someone in an iMessage or SMS message.

Editing effects

That’s the meat and potatoes of Giphy Cam, and it’s super easy to use, but there are some more things to enjoy about the app – editing effects.

GiphyCam Effects Options

As you’ll see when you’re looking at the viewfinder, the bottom of the Giphy Cam app has lots of effects you can choose from to spice up your animated GIFs. Among these are:

  • Filters
  • Overlays
  • Frames
  • Text
  • And more

As you record, these effects take place in real time, and are added to the final animated GIF file that you will save or share later on.

Wrapping up

Giphy Cam is a free download from the App Store and is a great way to instantly create animated GIFs from either your front or rear-facing cameras. Unfortunately, you can’t use it to make animated GIFs from existing video files you’ve already recorded.

You may also be interested in: Converting PDF files to Microsoft Word files right on your iPhone

What kinds of animated GIFs will you be making now that you know you can make them on your iPhone? Share below!