Now you can create fancy GIFs app-free with Giphy’s online GIF Maker

By Hillary K. Grigonis July 26, 2017

Giphy GIF maker — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Creating moving pictures no longer requires a dedicated app. Giphy, the online GIF database and search engine, recently launched GIF Maker, a graphics tool that only requires an internet connection and a browser, no app downloads necessary.

Giphy already has a number of dedicated apps for both Android and iOS devices, including an app by the same name to search and download GIFs, Giphy Stickers to make and find animated stickers and Giphy Cam to record your own GIFs with augmented reality features. The new GIF Maker, however, brings several similar tools without requiring an app download, since the program operates directly from a mobile web browser.

To create a GIF on the new web platform, users can upload an image from the device. One uploaded, the tool allows users to add animated text, or, with a drawing tool, sketch an object that will then dance on screen. A sticker option allows users to add animated clip art as well as special effects, like a bit of sparkle or some explosions.

Giphy’s GIF Maker will also create animations from videos that are 20 seconds or less, automatically looping the motion. Users then have access to the same tools available for still photos with text, drawing, and stickers.

The web-based platform even allows users to open the smartphone camera and record a new photo or video to turn into a GIF.

Users can upload the GIF to Giphy, or directly download their creation to the device for sharing.

With Giphy Cam taking up 178 MB of space on a smartphone, the new web-based platform serves as an option for creating that occasional GIF without sacrificing the space.

Along with the apps and now online GIF Maker, Giphy serves as a searchable GIF database, which means there is probably an animation for whatever you want to say. And if nothing quite right already exists, now there is a way to add that GIF to the library without downloading an app.

GIFs recently turned 30, though the file type was not always the animated images as we know them today. Based on the growing number of ways to use GIFs inside social media and different apps, the living pictures are continuing to grow in popularity.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Hillary K. Grigonis

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…

Mobile

You can now move WhatsApp messages between Apple’s iPhones and Google’s Pixels

Google Pixel 6 Pro in Sorta Sunny color.

Switching between iPhones and Android phones has never been easier, with both operating systems offering tools to move your apps and as much data as you can between devices. Now, Google just made the switch even more painless as it now lets you transfer WhatsApp chats between iPhones and Pixels with a new update.

Despite SMS and iMessage's popularity in the U.S., WhatsApp remains a widely used messaging app in every other country. While the service makes moving to new phones in the same ecosystem seamless, it's often been impossible to switch between devices running on different operating systems. A switch between an iPhone 8 to an iPhone 13 might work fine, but trying to move your WhatsApp account to a Pixel 6 would mean leaving all your messages behind.

Computing

The best GIF-maker apps and websites for 2020

gif tenor bad 2017 ads

Peppering a conversion with GIFs can make things more fun and help you express your feelings. GIFs are also great for making online content like blog posts more appealing! But searching for the right GIF can be time-consuming, and there isn’t always a GIF that expresses what you want to say.
Making your own GIFs is fun and opens up alternative possibilities. It’s also now nearly effortless to do thanks to these different GIF-maker apps and websites.
Websites and desktop software
GIFS.com

Let’s look at the extremely clean and useful GIFs.com, a site that makes creating GIFs incredibly easy to do. To get started, paste the URL for the video you’d like to use as the basis for your GIF. The site currently supports YouTube, Instagram, and Vine -- or rather, Vine archive (R.I.P.) -- and users can also upload their own video files.
Once you’ve picked out your source material, you’ll come to a simple editor. Select the frames you’d like to convert into a GIF using the timeline below the video. Then, add a caption, stickers, and a few effects, if desired. There are also experimental features like Ping Pong and other effects to play with.

Smart Home

You can now ask Google Assistant to tie your shoes with expanded app actions

Nike Adapt BB

Google Assistant might be most known for its abilities and functionality within the Google Home and Nest series of devices, but Google is now making it possible to use Google Assistant to perform even more actions within your favorite mobile apps. You can now search and open any apps through Google Assistant on an Android device -- a particularly useful feature if you have more apps installed than you know what to do with. We're not just talking about simple actions like opening apps, but other detailed commands to achieve things like asking Google Assistant to tighten the lace on your sneakers.

If you own a pair of Nike Adapt sneakers, for example, you can ask Google Assistant to tighten the laces for you. Saying "Hey, Google, tighten my shoes with Nike Adapt" will make your shoelaces tighten. If that feels a bit too long to say effectively, you can create voice shortcuts to help streamline the process. The previous command can be shortened to, "Hey, Google, tie my shoes."