All the way back in 2007 when the first iPhone was released with an “impressive” 2MP camera, the competition for mobile camera begin heating up. Fast-forward a decade later and today Android smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Sony Xperia XZ2 are capable of shooting high-definition slow-motion video footage at 960FPS. However, there are certain software features that Apple reinvented before Android, and Live Photos is one of them.
If you don’t know what the Live Photos feature is, it’s a feature that loops together multiple photos creating GIF-style media. While there are plenty of apps to create GIF images easily, they can only be converted from videos (not images), and seem to compress the quality of the video far too much. While Google has already brought this feature to the Pixel devices through Motion Shoot, the company has also created the Motion Stills app which brings Live Photos and much more to any Android device.
Related: How to find and download GIF images on Android mobile phones
How to capture Live Photos on Android
Let’s see the best Android app for the purpose, and also some additional alternative apps for the purpose.
Click Live Photos with Google Motion Stills app
- Download and install the Google Motions Stills app from the Play Store.
- Open the app and tap on the Motion Still feature to select.
- Position your phone to capture a moving scene and press the Shutter button in the center to begin.
- The app will capture a short 5-second video and store it in the preview gallery on the bottom-left corner.
- Tap on the Gallery to open it and then select the Video clip to view it.
- You’ll see a bunch of options at the bottom for the Stabilizer, the option to Mute the video, ability to put the Video on a Loop, and even Fast Forward the video up to 8X.
- Once you’re happy with the video, tap on the Share button on the right side and select GIF to create a silent Live Photo and share it.
Additional tips and features
Apart from creating Live Photos, there’s a lot more that the Motion Stills app by Google is capable of. For instance, you can use the same app to create a Fast Forward video all the way up to 8 times its original playback speed.
- From the main screen, tap on the Fast Forward menu and capture your video (maximum 60 seconds in length).
- Tap on the Gallery icon to preview your recorded video and use the Fast Forward icon to increase the playback speed by 2X, 4X or even 8X.
That’s not all, cause the Google Motion Stills app also brings the coolness of AR Stickers to your Android device.
- On the main screen, tap on the AR Mode menu and select from any of the available 11 different AR Stickers.
- Tap anywhere on the screen to place the AR Sticker and use the pinch gesture to enlarge or minimize the size of the AR Sticker.
- Press the Capture button to record the video with AR Stickers and then edit and share it the way you want!
Additionally, you can change the quality of the GIF and even add a Watermark to your creations from the Settings.
- Tap on the Gear icon on the top right corner to open the Settings
- Select GIF quality and set it to Low (320 x 240), Medium (480 x 360), or High (640 x 480).
- Press the toggle switch next to Watermark to add personalization to your created media.
Related: 13 Best AR Android Apps you should try!
Alternative Android apps for Live Photos
The brilliance of the Google Play Store has allowed developers to introduce even more ways to bring Live Photos to Android and then some more. We’ve shortlisted some of the most innovative apps we could find for creating Live Photos on Android.
1. CameraMX
In our books, the CameraMX app scores almost just as many points as Google Motion Stills app if not more, and that’s all because of the sheer number of features that it offers. Despite being a free app, you get zero ads to cloud your user experience and to unlock the prized Live Shot feature (Live Photos), all you need to do is sign up. But what makes CameraFX better than all others in a way is that you can capture Live Photos in higher resolution than Motion Stills.
Moreover, you also get the ability to easily edit the duration of the Live Shot right away from the app itself. CameraMX also comes with a Shoot-The-Past feature that subconsciously records shots even before you hit the Capture button, so you never miss the perfect shot. Apart from these essential features, you get a massive bunch of other cool stuff such as the Fx button to add dozens of filters directly, Kaleidoscope capture feature to get trippy images, and tons of cool Effects to try out as well.
2. Fyuse
If you thought Live Photos were cool, wait until you get a load of what the Fyuse app with its 3D Photos has to offer! Unlike the other Live Photos apps on the list, Fyuse is a social media platform in itself for sharing awesome 3D Photos which anybody can create using their mobile app. Unlike Live Photos which are essentially high-quality GIFs, 3D Photos created using Fyuse allow you to view a single image from different angles.
https://youtu.be/UfqNL4F_qX4
The app collectively combines the gyroscope, the accelerometer, and the gravity sensors on your Android device to help you capture videos in panoramic form, but stitches them together to create a live-action 3D Photo. But apart from creating your very own 3D Photos, the Fyuse platform with its thousands of users offers you some of the coolest 3D Photos that you’re to find nowhere else.
3. Loopsie
Since Google Motion Still and CameraMX already do a great job of creating Live Photos, we’ve chosen Loopsie as an addition to this list because it adds more creativity. The app is designed to help you take a quick and short video and start processing it right away. However, unlike other apps that create a Live Video of everything you capture, Loopsie allows you to choose parts of the captured image that you would like to animate.
For instance, if you take a selfie of you sitting on the beach, Loopsie allows you animate just the back waves and the sky, while keeping your face and everything else in the picture frozen. It’s hard to explain exactly what Loopsie does in words, so we do recommend that you check out the video above to get an idea of how this app helps you create Live Photos that are different from the rest.
Are you ready to break the internet with the coolest Live Photos ever? Vote down below in the comments to highlight your favorite way of bringing Live Photos to Android.
