GIFs are funny, beautiful, memorable, stupid, and a lot more things that are hard to describe in words. The only question that remains is how you make one on your Android?
GIF Maker Apps for Android
Like everything else, you can now create GIFs on your Android-powered smartphones. Below are our picks for the best GIF maker apps for Android. All these apps come with a number of features and functionalities that will allow you to share events easily.
1. Motion Stills
Google recently came out with a number of photography apps, and one of them is Motion Stills. Built by the Google Research labs, claimed to be powered by AI, Motion Stills is a decent offering.
There are features like loop, speed, fast forward mode, stabilize, and augmented reality. The last one is a hot topic right now with smartphone makers pushing for it hard and fast. Verdict: Motion Still is an experimental app that lacks several good features that we will see in the next few apps like filters, layers, and frames.
2. Giphy Cam
Giphy Cam is a simple GIF app that comes with its companion app, GIPHY Search Engine, where you can search for hundreds and thousands of GIF images in your free time. Giphy Cam comes with filters, frames, stickers, and text. Recording a new GIF is easy. Just press the big red button to start shooting. There is a burst mode to record up to 5 frames at a time. Also Read: 10 Best Photo Editing Apps for Android
Right now, you can only make GIFs that are 4 seconds long. While most GIFs are short, that is their purpose, some users have complained that they would like to create GIFs that are longer than that. You can share your creation via text or on social media sites. There is an import feature that you can use to add effects downloaded from the web. Verdict: Giphy Cam is a great app that does what it says on the tin, and offers a number of filters and frames to choose from.
3. Animoji/Express
Animoji is the latest trend in the GIF market where people are making animal emojis of themselves, called 3D avatars, doing crazy, stupid things. You begin by creating your online persona. I chose a male avatar with beard and beach-wear. Once done, I can express myself doing a number of things based on different themes like love, hug, travel, happy, angry, drinking, and so on. You can also add text.
The animoji GIFs are a cool way to express what you are feeling that will change the way you interact using GIFs. The app is simple, easy, and free to use. In the pro version ($3.59/6 months), you will get access to even more expressions like playing different sports or turn your avatar into a superhero. Verdict: Animoji, named Expresso after you download and install it, is a cool little GIF maker. It is not entirely free, but there are free ways to unlock packs by sharing with and inviting friends to use the app.
4. Gif Me!
Gif Me is a great app for those who are looking to create cool GIFs of themselves doing things they love. You can create up to 14 seconds long GIFs. Either select images and videos from your library or shoot one. You will be able to rearrange the images and videos however you like.
There are settings are brightness/contrast, control speed, adding text in different colors, some frames, and a limited collection of stickers. Gif Me is great for selfie GIFs where you record yourself individually or in a group. Verdict: Gif Me! is a very popular app because it offers some Instagram style filters as shown in the screenshot above.
5. GIF Camera
GIF Camera’s strength and the reason why it made the list is its large and unusual selection of filters. I haven’t seen any other app offer filters like an underwater, kaleidoscope, glow, tunnel and more. There is a zoom feature which you can apply using multi-touch.
You can control speed, quality of the GIF, set it on repeat or loop mode and play the whole thing in reverse. GIF Camera is easy to use, is ad-supported and offers a different set of filters than what is available on most GIF apps. One more feature that sets it apart is Gravity Lock. This is similar to the 360-degree video recording that you see in some video recording apps. Heads up: there is a feature called bounce which means loop. Not sure why they had to go ahead and invent a new word for something that is understood universally. One feature I really liked is the recovery mode. If you just created and edited a GIF but forgot to save it or accidentally hit the home button, you can reopen the app and pick things up from where you left. Verdict: I like GIF Camera for its intuitive and varied set of filters and the fact that the ads are not at all annoyingly placed unlike in some other GIF apps that I tried. It lacks stickers and frames that we saw in some of the previous apps.
6. DU GIF Maker
It is a free GIF maker, comes with no watermark, and offers a number of features. Not only can you use images and videos to create GIF, but you can also record screen. This means you can record your Android screen to create a GIF. How is it useful? Suppose you saw a cool video or an animation but can’t find any way to download the same. Just play and record the screen. It will create a floating button on the side of the screen.
You can edit and even crop images and videos before using them to create GIFs. It comes with a built-in GIF keyboard which you can use to add text and effects. You can also use the same in other messenger apps. What it lacks are filters, stickers, and frames. Verdict: DU GIF offers some amazing features that are not available in other apps, however, also misses out on some features like frames and filters.
Wrapping Up: Best GIF Maker Apps for Android
There is no one app to rule them all when it comes to GIF images and animations. Each has its own strengths and features. While some apps are rich in filters and frames, others are good for effects and stickers. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve with your GIFs. Which one are you using and why?
