Earlier this week, Google released a new app called Motion Stills, designed to turn Live Photos captured with the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE into GIFs or videos. Over the past couple of days, we spent some hands-on time with Motion Stills, and have been really impressed with the way it transforms Live Photos into a more useful, shareable medium.

Motion Stills isn't just an app that converts a Live Photo to a GIF. As seen in the video below, it uses Google's video stabilization technology to smooth out jittery images and freeze backgrounds with some impressive-looking results.


In addition to serving as a tool to convert Live Photos into GIFs and videos that can be quickly shared on social networks, Motion Stills is also useful simply as a tool to view Live Photos. In Apple's Photos app, there's no dedicated folder for Live Photos, so they can get lost among other images.

Live Photos are viewable on Apple devices running iOS 9 or later or OS X 10.11 or later, and Apple has made an API available for developers to build Live Photos support into their apps, but there are no built-in tools for editing Live Photos or converting them to other formats.

With no native tools available, Motion Stills fills a major Live Photos void. The app isn't perfect, has a few bugs, and works better with certain types of subjects, but overall, it's well worth checking out if you have a device capable of capturing Live Photos.

Motion Stills can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

macbeta Avatar
98 months ago
there is only one way to say g-i-f
http://imgur.com/gallery/DzDATp9
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
98 months ago
Yet another way for google to data mine your photos
Then don't download it...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jclo Avatar
98 months ago
Haha....
That guy pronounced GIF with the g sound, not the j sound.
What a casual.
He's since been informed that our official MacRumors GIF pronunciation is with a "J" sound and not a hard G. :p
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tycho24 Avatar
98 months ago
Haha....
That guy pronounced GIF with the g sound, not the j sound.
What a casual.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Norbs12 Avatar
98 months ago
Haha....
That guy pronounced GIF with the g sound, not the j sound.
What a casual.
Jraphics.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Norbs12 Avatar
98 months ago
No.
No you really do NOT.
Flying in the face of fact & evidence, you stubbornly & childishly continue to pronounce it incorrectly.
You are welcome to do anything you wish, but I certainly won't co-sign it, lol.
It sounds a lot more like it comes down to vanity, not wanting to admit you were wrong.
Hey, I for some reason read chipotle as chipolte for years. Lol, I did NOT expect everyone else to bow to me (though it's apparently commonly mispronounced as well).
I put my big boy pants on & started saying it right! =0)

Edit:
I didn't mean for this to sound so "condemning"; I know a lot of people choose to say things their own way & as long as the meaning is clear- what's the harm??
Briefly though- the sound of the word replaced has NO bearing on the pronunciation of the acronym. Let's take SCUBA (pronounced "scooba") for example, the U stands for Underwater, so if you were correct in thinking acronyms sounds match the replaced words; it would need to be pronounced "sc-uh-ba". There are NOT steadfast rules established with acronyms and pronunciation; the creator really does decide.
Fair point with the scuba thing. So I guess you're saying that we've all been saying scuba wrong too!! :p (jkjk)

I mean I guess it's partly vanity but I've heard the news about how the creator came out to explain it was pronounced "JIF" a while ago still refuse to use it.

If the JPEG creator came out tomorrow and said it's not 'jaypeg', it's 'peg' with a silent 'j', I'd say he can f himself too.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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