Inside iOS 11: Apple's Photos app gains native support for animated GIFs

Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2017
Apple's newly released iOS 11 update adds support for viewing animated GIFs in the native Photos app, and also automatically sorts them into a dedicated folder of animated images, making it even easier to find the pictures you are looking for.




Editor's note: This article was originally published in June following the beta release of iOS 11. It has been updated and republished for the public launch of iOS 11.

iOS 11 leaves GIFs static in thumbnails, but puts them in motion once tapped or previewed. Apple has also introduced an "Animated" folder to Photos, where any similar file should automatically be sorted.

Until now, animated GIFs worked only in messaging and third-party apps, despite Apple's similar Live Photos format, launched alongside iOS 9 and the iPhone 6s in 2015.



Some other iOS 11 changes include a new Control Center, a Files app, person-to-person Apple Pay transfers, and iPad-oriented features such as drag-and-drop, a Mac-style dock, and simpler multitasking.

iOS 11 is now available. It runs on the iPhone 5s and newer.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    All these dedicated folders are a bit tedious. There's favorites, people, places, videos, selfies, panoramas, screenshots, recently deleted and now animated?! Personally, I don't need any of them except videos and favorites. Wish we had the ability to turn them off, if desired.
    dysamoriaSpamSandwich
  • Reply 2 of 25
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    mike1 said:
    All these dedicated folders are a bit tedious. There's favorites, people, places, videos, selfies, panoramas, screenshots, recently deleted and now animated?! Personally, I don't need any of them except videos and favorites. Wish we had the ability to turn them off, if desired.
    And in the next thread, someone else will complain that iOS should be able nest folders deeper than Hades. 
    Solismiffy312old4funpscooter63caliwatto_cobranetroxjbdragon
  • Reply 3 of 25
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Which iOS app(s) are most recommended to create one's own GIFs from video or sequential photos in our own Photos library?
    edited June 2017
  • Reply 4 of 25
    nii_abeonii_abeo Posts: 1member
    Rayz2016 said:
    mike1 said:
    All these dedicated folders are a bit tedious. There's favorites, people, places, videos, selfies, panoramas, screenshots, recently deleted and now animated?! Personally, I don't need any of them except videos and favorites. Wish we had the ability to turn them off, if desired.
    And in the next thread, someone else will complain that iOS should be able nest folders deeper than Hades. 

  • Reply 5 of 25
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    mike1 said:
    All these dedicated folders are a bit tedious. There's favorites, people, places, videos, selfies, panoramas, screenshots, recently deleted and now animated?! Personally, I don't need any of them except videos and favorites. Wish we had the ability to turn them off, if desired.
    They only appear if you have photos in the category.
  • Reply 6 of 25
    nhughesnhughes Posts: 770editor
    Which iOS app(s) are most recommended to create one's own GIFs from video or sequential photos in our own Photos library?
    To export a Live Photo as a GIF, I use Lively (it even has a share sheet extension). You can remove the watermark with a cheap in-app purchase.

    For more full-featured GIF creation, check out Giffer Pro. You can create GIFs from videos, photos, Live Photos, whatever. And even edit them (crop, add text) before exporting.

    Prior to iOS 11, I used Giflay to view and sort GIFs outside of the Photos app. I may not need to do that anymore, however.
    almondrocaviclauyycSoli
  • Reply 7 of 25
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    finally!
    watto_cobraspheric
  • Reply 8 of 25
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    Which iOS app(s) are most recommended to create one's own GIFs from video or sequential photos in our own Photos library?
    Tumblr GIF is another one, it's a Messages app.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 25
    FolioFolio Posts: 698member
    So many things in new iOS. Little improvements and big ones. Come fall everyone may realize a sleeping giant has awoken in social media. Glad Apple taking care of its myriad users with new gear, and also trying to capitalize better in services, emphasizing things like less annoyance and more privacy to its distinctive customer base.
    2old4funwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 25
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    nhughes said:
    Which iOS app(s) are most recommended to create one's own GIFs from video or sequential photos in our own Photos library?
    To export a Live Photo as a GIF, I use Lively (it even has a share sheet extension). You can remove the watermark with a cheap in-app purchase.

    For more full-featured GIF creation, check out Giffer Pro. You can create GIFs from videos, photos, Live Photos, whatever. And even edit them (crop, add text) before exporting.

    Prior to iOS 11, I used Giflay to view and sort GIFs outside of the Photos app. I may not need to do that anymore, however.
    Great! I'll look into these.
    nhughes
  • Reply 11 of 25
    FINALLY. This might be the best 11 news ever. I'm not joining. We send a lot of gifs to each other but finding the suckers is the worst. 
    caliwatto_cobraspheric
  • Reply 12 of 25
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Overall, iOS 11 looks pretty good. I'm interested to see how the landmark recognition feature works in Photos. That will be cool if you can search photos by the name of a specific landmark such as Half Dome. I do wish Apple would have added native RAW support within the camera app instead of having to use third party apps. 
  • Reply 13 of 25
    viclauyycviclauyyc Posts: 849member
    Meme meme land
  • Reply 14 of 25
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Finally!!

    I have a live photo of my niece swinging her feet that I had to download an app to convert to gif only to realize I couldn't send it. 
  • Reply 15 of 25
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Folio said:
    So many things in new iOS. Little improvements and big ones. Come fall everyone may realize a sleeping giant has awoken in social media. Glad Apple taking care of its myriad users with new gear, and also trying to capitalize better in services, emphasizing things like less annoyance and more privacy to its distinctive customer base.
    And a bunch of bugs introduced by iOS 7 are still present in iOS 10.3 (most notably in Safari). Apple are not taking care of annoyances. They're adding features to keep pushing new sales of hardware, and ignoring the existing code. In fact, iOS 10 added more annoyances/bugs than present in iOS 9 (calculator app now has a math rounding error and bugs with cutting and pasting to/from Mail, etc).

    The Files app is a welcome facility but the rest of the software is a mess. Why would I expect the Files app not to be a mess?
  • Reply 16 of 25
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    When is the photos app going to get proper RAW photo import and adjustment? I have a "Pro" iPad here that cannot do anything useful with RAW images from my camera.
  • Reply 17 of 25
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    cali said:
    Finally!!

    I have a live photo of my niece swinging her feet that I had to download an app to convert to gif only to realize I couldn't send it. 
    You can send animated gifs in Messages. You just can't view their animation in Photos. 
    watto_cobraspheric
  • Reply 18 of 25
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    dysamoria said:
    Folio said:
    So many things in new iOS. Little improvements and big ones. Come fall everyone may realize a sleeping giant has awoken in social media. Glad Apple taking care of its myriad users with new gear, and also trying to capitalize better in services, emphasizing things like less annoyance and more privacy to its distinctive customer base.
    Apple are not taking care of annoyances. They're adding features to keep pushing new sales of hardware, and ignoring the existing code.
    Nope, that's just your opinion presented as fact. Which it isn't. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 25
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    ireland said:
    mike1 said:
    All these dedicated folders are a bit tedious. There's favorites, people, places, videos, selfies, panoramas, screenshots, recently deleted and now animated?! Personally, I don't need any of them except videos and favorites. Wish we had the ability to turn them off, if desired.
    They only appear if you have photos in the category.
    Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want to sort by people and places, for example. Every photo has a place and most have people, so those are always there unnecessarily.
  • Reply 20 of 25
    Why can't Apple allow us to search for meme's in our pictures? It's ridiculous. Half of everyone that uses the internet saves memes to their phone. I can search my photos for "Menagerie", but not memes? Pretty annoying. It would be the easiest thing for them to do, find pics and gifs with large letters over them.

    Edit/add: feedback submitted, fingers crossed.
    edited September 2017 netrox
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