If you’ve been a vivid and faithful WhatsApp user you might have been annoyed to see how all the other just ‘recently’ spawned messaging apps have copied and added tons of features to their respective applications. Now it’s finally WhatsApp’s turn – the messenger introduced GIFs recently! That means that you can send and receive animated images and also allows you to convert short videos into this image format. The only prerequisite: the video must be shorter than 6 seconds.
So, how can you make use of this awesome new WhatsApp feature and annoy friends with your newly created GIFs?
Android
First of all you need the latest WhatsApp version. The GIF option is available starting with version 2.16.310
- In the chat/conversation you want to send the GIF, tap on the attachment icon in the top to the left of options.
- Select the video you want to convert and send as a GIF (duh!).
- In the top right corner you should see the Video icon. If you don’t see it, make sure that the video you selected is no longer than 6 seconds or – if it is – select a 6 second part of the video you wish to send. Tap on it and you should notice that the video icon is now replaced by a GIF one.
- Fine tune your video selection if necessary, add a caption, and you are good to go! Tap on send and voila.
iPhone
- Make sure your app is updated to the latest version here as well. Since the GIF feature for iPhone has been released some time before the Android one, this shouldn’t be an issue.
- Tap on the + symbol in the bottom-left corner. In the following screen, select Photo & Video Library.
- Now you need to select a video in Camera roll. As with the Android version, it shouldn’t be longer than 6 seconds. Select the GIF tab and click on send if you are happy with the result.
You don’t have any GIF or short video clip that can be transformed in a GIF ready? Well, WhatsApp thought about that, too – at least for iOS. Similar to Twitter, you have the option to scroll through and search in Giphy and Tenor for an image to your liking.
This post is also available in: French