How to make a GIF on iOS: Shortcuts in under 3 minutes [Video]

Sharing my first “Shortcuts in under 3 minutes” video, plus some improvements that I could make. Please excuse the lack of blinking :)
How to make a GIF on iOS: Shortcuts in under 3 minutes [Video]

On Friday, I published a shorter video demonstrating how to build a custom shortcut in the Shortcuts app in just under 3 minutes:

For the topic, I picked “how to make a GIF” because it’s not that easy on iOS, and everyone has a library full of bursts and Live Photos that are stuck in the camera roll.

With just a few actions, you can put together an animated loop of your bursts, Live Photos, or sets of photos, and easily share it with people.

Get the shortcut here if you want to make your own.

I could have made some improvements to the shortcut. Since I filmed this without a script, I didn’t add in Save to Photo Album at the end so that every GIF you made would be saved automatically – this is important because most people run shortcuts from the main library view, but you can only see the GIF in my version if you open the shortcut editor.1

I’m working on some new shorter videos, along with a longer main video each week – working out the process now, but I should be able to ramp up to get more videos out for all of you.

In the meantime, let me know if there’s anything particular you’d like to see from my channel2.

And, as always, linking to the video or retweeting it goes a long way – thank you to everyone who’s been supporting me so far.


  1. It also could have all been built using Find Photos to give you more control; getting into that level of detail, however, definitely takes more than 3 minutes, so I’ll have to work sharing the best examples with the least compromises. ↩
  2. People left more comments that I’m still a robot who doesn’t blink – even though I totally did once! It’s apparently difficult for me to blink naturally with a bright light in my face while trying to communicate the intricacies of this app on the fly. ↩

Posts You Might Like

New in the Shortcuts Library: Amazon app shortcuts
New in the Shortcuts Library: Amazon app shortcuts
Amazon updated their iOS and iPadOS apps with App Shortcuts support – I made the set available online so you can add any of them to your widget.
Apple Shortcuts: The Bicycle for the Mind is Back, but it’s Electric
"To me, whether Jobs intended it this way or not, the “bicycle for the mind” is the tool that empowers you to repurpose it for your specific needs, not just to consume things with it, or use it in the same way as everyone else. "
This Thursday: Siri AI Automators meetup in Portland
This Thursday: Siri AI Automators meetup in Portland
Join me in downtown Portland this Thursday, July 23, for another Siri AI Automators meetup about Siri, App Intents, Shortcuts, and practical automation.
Take Control Of The TV App With These 10 Shortcuts
Take Control Of The TV App With These 10 Shortcuts
Access each and every part of Apple's TV app with these shortcuts built of the web URL counterparts for each section.