Best Apps to Create Animated Images

To stay competitive and stand out with the content you post on social media, you’ll likely need the help of one or more mobile apps. According to one survey, visual marketing content performed 4.4 times better than text-based content, highlighting the importance of dynamic images and design (Chute & Digiday 2015). Respondents to another survey cited “great production quality” and “compelling image” as the top two factors that make visual content successful when you’re marketing online (Lewis 2016).
In today’s sophisticated and saturated social space, you can’t really get away with posting marketing pieces that look like a 5-year-old made them. Luckily, there are countless apps that allow anyone to produce great-looking graphics and video relatively quickly—no design or video-editing experience necessary.

Apps for Animated Image Creation

Images in motion do a good job of catching the viewer’s eye on social media, where every post is competing for attention. Use the following apps to create moving graphics without having to shoot and edit a video per se.

Boomerang

iOS, Android; free

Brought to you by Instagram, Boomerang creates videos a few seconds long that loop back and forth. Unlike other apps that let you pull images from your phone’s camera roll, Boomerang films them on the spot. You can access Boomerang from within the Instagram app—find it in Stories—or download the app on its own. Save Boomerang to your device so you can post to multiple platforms.

Lumyer

iOS, Android; free with in-app upgrades

Billed as an app that delivers augmented-reality camera effects, Lumyer allows you to add moving parts to a still photo—snow falling, birds flying, clouds drifting, stars twinkling, fireworks exploding, confetti streaming and much more. A handful of effects are free; you’ll have to pay to unlock more.

Adobe Spark

iOS (desktop version also available); free

Pull your own photos into this easy-to-use platform, or choose from thousands of free professional images in the app. Features include layout and design templates, filters and more. Add text and select an animation style for how you want the text to appear (fly in, fade in, pan in, etc.). You can save your creation into your phone as a video or a still image.

For a more detailed discussion of using apps and other tools to create your own marketing material, see “Apps for Business Efficiency” by Ryan Halvorson in the debut issue of IDEA Fit Business Success. To learn more about this brand-new e-newsletter, contact IDEA’s Inspired Service Team at 800-999-4332, ext. 7.