One of the features of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is the ability to capture Live Photos. For those unfamiliar with the feature, basically it captures a photo a few seconds before and after you press the shutter button. The end result is an animated photo with audio that gives the viewer a bit more context as to what is going on.That being said, it seems that Google has taken Apple’s Live Photos and ran with it, resulting in an app called Motion Stills. Basically what this app does is takes the Live Photos and turns them into animated GIFs that you can share with your friends. If you think that this is merely a file converter, think again.
This app actually has the ability to stabilize the background of your image, meaning that instead of a shaky animated GIF, you’ll end up with an image that’s animated buttery smooth. According to Google, “We pioneered this technology by stabilizing hundreds of millions of videos and creating GIF animations from photo bursts. Our algorithm uses linear programming to compute a virtual camera path that is optimized to recast videos and bursts as if they were filmed using stabilization equipment, yielding a still background or creating cinematic pans to remove shakiness.”
If you’d like to get your hands on it, you will be able to find the app as a free download from the iTunes App Store.