Twitter now lets you make GIFs out of iOS Live Photos

Rejoice, iOS Live Photos have found yet another purpose!

Twitter announced today that it will allow users to take Live Photos from their iPhone or other iOS device and upload the media as a GIF in their tweet.

To take advantage of this new feature, all you have to do is upload a Live Photo as you would any other still image. Twitter will be able to tell if it’s a Live Photo and will then provide a simple GIF button, which turns the image into a GIF with a simple tap.

For those living under a rock and unfamiliar with what a Live Photo is, Apple provides an option to record 1.5 seconds of 15fps video before and after a user snaps a pic on an iPhone or iPad.

Live Photos are a very cool iOS feature that unfortunately suffers a bit from Apple’s notoriously closed ecosystem. Other than iOS devices and Apple’s own Photo app on Mac, many services do not provide support for Live Photos. 

A note: I personally implore you to review your Live Photo a few times before rushing to upload it to Twitter. There have been numerous occasions of people sending pics to family, friends, and co-workers without realizing they were Live Photos. For example, snapped a pic of her new engagement ring without realizing she was in Live Photo mode and accidentally caught her man’s member in the background.

But wait. There’s more … The microblogging platform will also now preserve the quality of JPEG images uploaded to the site. So, in case you do end up accidentally snapping a pic of your soon-to-be (I assume!) husband’s dick, rest assured it’ll be crystal clear when you upload it.