How to post a live photo on Instagram

Live Photos are a great addition to newer iPhones that combine videos and GIF images to create something more interesting than a still image. Live Photos bring photographs to life! This Apple innovation in photography certainly does more than freeze a moment in time (as all still images do); brings your captures to life.

When Apple launched Live Photos as a feature, major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook decided to start using them. The stumbling block among popular social networks was the photo-centric Instagram.

Considering Instagram’s delay in rolling out this feature, it took a while to figure out how to post a Live Photo on Instagram. It can be done with just a little touch up.

Before we continue with the details of posting a Live Photo on Instagram, make sure you know how to take Live Photos first. Once you do, I doubt you’ll ever go back to using still images.

How to view and take live photos on Instagram

Live Photos lets you get more than just great photography; allows you to capture it with sound and movement. Your iPhone records what happens within 1.5 seconds before and after you click the shutter button, as Apple explains in its Live Photo Help Page. You can take a Live Photo the same way you take a normal photo. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open your iPhone Camera app.
2. Turn on the Live Photos settings by touching the target icon at the top of the screen. a yellow box LIVE appears at the top.
   
3. Frame your shot and hold the device still, then press the white circle button (shutter button) at the bottom once, keeping focus on the subject for at least 1.5 seconds. Audio is also recorded and can be edited/mutated later.

The camera will then take your 1.5 second Live Photo. You should treat Live Photos as if you were recording a video and keep the device as still as possible. Framing your shot ahead of time is another way to ensure you take great Live Photos.

Remember that it records audio and images, so be aware of ambient noise and what’s going on around you unless you decide to mute it later.

Both the front and rear cameras work for taking Live Photos. Since Live Photo lasts 1.5 seconds and is in high resolution, taking too many photos will soon cause you to run out of space. A single Live Photo includes a 3-4MB .mov file and a 2-5MB JPEG, so they’ll quickly eat up your phone’s storage.

For the above reason, you should only leave Live Photos enabled by default if you have a lot of storage space or use iCloud for your photos. Otherwise, it’s best to allow Live Photos to work when you try to take one explicitly.

How to view your Live Photos as animations and edit them

You can view Live Photos as regular photos in the same way you view the rest of your images. You can also view the image in its animated state, but that requires an extra step. You can edit the photo as you see fit and upload it to Instagram.

1. Open the Photos app and find your Live Photos among the rest of your images, displayed as normal photos.
2. For Live Photos, you will see a target symbol what does it say LIVE at the top of the image. Actually, this symbol is not in your photo; It is just a display element.
   
3. To view your Live Photo as an animation, simply long press it and the video/animation will start playing instantly.
4. Swipe up on the photo for options to play it as an animated loop, bounce (aka boomerang), or long exposure. Your iPhone remembers what you chose.
   
5. To edit your Live Photo, tap Edit in the upper right p.
   
6. In addition to the typical image editing options, there is an additional p for Live Photos. Tap on the Diana at the bottom left of the editing screen.
   
7. Once there, you can mute the audio by tapping the yellow button speaker icon in the top left p of your Live Photo.
   
8. To deactivate the live photo feature to make it behave like a still photo, tap the live button in the top center location. It will still be a Live Photo file, but you won’t be able to play it in the Photos app.
   
9. To change the key photo for your Live Photo, choose a thumbnail at the bottom of the still image list, then tap Take key photo.
   

Your Live Photo is now edited and ready to be posted to your Instagram Story. Remember, you can’t upload the Live Photo as an Instagram post directly, but you can post it to IG Stories. Instagram automatically converts it to a “Boomerang” file before posting it to your Story.

How to share a live photo on Instagram

Live Photos is a neat feature added to the iPhone 6 and later models. Instead of taking a snapshot, Live Photos takes a 1.5-second audio and video recording (as mentioned above), making Live Photos more like a video than still photos.

That short recording contains video and audio, which form a Live Photo. Despite what their name implies, Live Photos do not occur in real time and they are not exactly photos either. Instead, they are more like small animations that only show one frame (an image) but can play as an animation if you long press them.

The name evokes a live photo rather than something that happens live. It is a Live Photo because it looks like a photo that comes to life, animating, something like Harry Potter photos.

Despite focusing exclusively on images, Instagram has been slow to adopt the use of Live Photos. At the time of writing, Instagram only supports videos of 3 seconds or longer. Since a Live Photo is only 1.5 seconds long, it won’t work. Uploading a Live Photo from your iPhone to Instagram will only make it look like a still image.

You can post the Live Photo as usual to Instagram, but it will only appear as a still image, which defeats the purpose of it being a Live Photo in the first place.

There is an alternative solution: turn Live Photo into a Boomerang.

Can you turn a live photo into a boomerang?

Turning your Live Photo into a Boomerang will change your Live Photo to 1 second, which is the duration of a Boomerang, reducing the time of your 1.5 second Live Photo by half a second. The good news is that Live Photos often end up being awesome Boomerangs.

Boomerangs are Instagram’s version of short videos. Use your camera’s burst photo mode to take a series of photos that will create a moving image, and you can also use it to turn a Live Photo into a Boomerang.

Those using older versions can still use the method detailed below. If you have a new phone, scroll down to see what options work for your phone.

Turn a Live Photo into an Instagram Boomerang on iPhone 5 or Older

1. Open instagram and select the camera.
   
2. Create a new story by tapping the circular icon at the top right and swipe up to select your Live Photo.
   
3. Load a Live Photo, then press and hold your finger on the screen. This technique uses 3D Touch to create the Boomerang.
   
4. Post the Boomerang to your Story and compose the rest of your post as you wish.

It’s not the most elegant solution, but it gets the job done until Instagram catches up with the present and starts working well with Live Photos.

Turn a Live Photo into an Instagram Boomerang on iPhone 6 and Later

If you no longer have the option to press and hold to post the photo, try this:

1. Open the Camera app on your iPhone and tap Live Photos.
   
2. Tap the Live Photo you want to upload to Instagram.
   
3. Play the share icon in the bottom left corner once the photo is open.
   
4. Scroll down and tap Save as video.
   

Once you’ve saved your live photo as a video, head over to Instagram and upload it as a story, just like you normally do.

Turn your live photos into animated GIFs

If the above solution doesn’t work for you, you can always convert your Live Photos to GIF and upload them to Instagram. Although applications are limited, gift Use videos, stock photos, selfies and live photos to create unique animated GIFs plus videos and new Live Photos.

For this topic, you’re using Giftr to turn your Live Photos into animated GIFs to post to Instagram.

Other applications, such as DynamicIt also works, but gift does the job well.

Can you share live photos on Instagram Stories?

Sharing Live Photos on Instagram follows the same concept as uploading a Live Photo to your Instagram Story. Instagram turns your Live Photos into Boomerangs automatically. You can share your Live Photos (now Boomerangs) with whoever you want.

To upload a Live Photo to Instagram Stories and share it, follow these simple steps:

1. open your instagram app, then tap the camera icon at the top left of the screen.
2. Swipe up to display photos in your phone’s gallery.
3. Select the Live Photo you want to upload to your Story.
4. When your photo loads in the editor, press firmly with one finger to enable 3D Touch on the screen. A loading wheel appears on the screen and the word Boomerang is displayed.
5. Tap Send to and Share.

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Surprisingly, even months after Instagram allowed Live Photos to be uploaded, the app still doesn’t work well with them. Instead, Instagram is sticking to its “Boomerang” feature. However, they at least allow Apple Live Photos to automatically upload and convert to Boomerang files when posting to My Stories. As for regular Instagram posts, you need to convert your Live Photo to an animated GIF or it will become a still image.

If you want to upload a Live Photo to your Instagram post instead of your Story, you must first convert it to an animated GIF.

Instagram Live Photos for Stories FAQ

Do Galaxy phones have Live Photos?

Yes, you have Motion Photos, Samsung’s version of Apple’s Live Photos. They are both unique, but serve the same purpose of making animated photos. You can upload them by following the same steps above. If you can’t save it as a video, save it as a video in Google Photos.

Can I add stickers to my live photos?

Yes, just like you would with any other Instagram post, you can add stickers, dates, times, etc.