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How to make animated instagram posts


11 Apps To Make It Easy

Animated Instagram Stories are the hottest new trend to take over our feeds — they’re dynamic, engaging, and definitely scroll-stopping.

And the good news is that you don’t need an expensive camera, software, or design team to create animated Instagram Stories to wow your audience.

There are tons of new apps for Instagram Stories that make it super-simple to add animations to stories in just a few clicks.

Plus, we’re showing you how to “app smash” (the art of combining multiple apps to create killer animated content!) with real examples from Later’s Instagram account:

Why You Should Create Animated Instagram Stories

Creating animated Instagram Stories is a great way to grab your audience’s attention and stop them from swiping past your story.

While a lot of people tend to speed-tap their way through Instagram Stories, viewers are much more likely to stop and watch when a flashy, moving animation catches their eye.

Luckily, it’s now easier than ever to create high-quality animated Instagram Stories content right from your phone with these 11 animation apps for Instagram. Watch the video or continue reading this blog post.

Animated Instagram Stories App #1: Add Animated Graphics to Your Stories with Over

When it comes to designing Instagram Stories, Over is packed with tools, templates, and animated graphics to help you create high-quality stories content.

Using Instagram Stories templates is one of the easiest ways to upgrade your stories, and Over makes it easy to add a little movement to your perfectly on-brand content.

Plus, Over’s stock video library has tons of different animations to bring some life to your creation. No original footage or graphics required:

Looking for animated inspiration? Over’s loyal community has a #madewithover hashtag to help you find design inspo from other creators if you’re ever feeling stuck.

Download: iOS & Android

Want to make your Instagram Stories look better? Find out How to Design Instagram Stories That Captivate Your Audience in this free video workshop with Over and Later!

Animated Instagram Stories App #2: Design Cool Animated Templates with Mojo

If you’re looking to take your Instagram Stories up a notch, Mojo is a great place to start.

This app has everything you need to create stunning stories, with hundreds of beautifully animated templates for whatever type of content you’re posting.

Mojo’s templates are totally customizable too — making it easy to trim, crop, add effects, titles, animation, change speeds, colors, and more.

You can even add custom fonts to your Mojo designs, so you can seamlessly align all your creative assets for Instagram Stories in one place.

Using Mojo’s animated templates are particularly useful if you want to showcase a blog post and encourage more “swipe ups” from your stories.

At Later, we use Mojo to make it look like our Instagram Stories are jumping upwards, mirroring the effect of a “swipe up”.

Download: iOS and Android

Animated Instagram Stories App #3: Make Motion Graphics On-The-Go with Adobe Spark

While Adobe is most-commonly known for its professional editing software, Adobe Spark makes it easy for anyone to create animated graphics on-the-go — no design experience needed.

Whether you’re adding a touch of animation to your text or a subtle movement to your graphics, Adobe Spark is perfect for making your stories more eye-catching:

The free app also comes pre-loaded with thousands of templates to choose from, including millions of free stock photos, filters, and fonts to help you create customized Instagram Stories content that perfectly aligns with your brand.

Download: iOS & Android

Did you know? You can now send content from Adobe Spark straight to your Later Media Library with the Later Chrome Extension on desktop.

The Chrome extension allows you to share images from Adobe Spark to Later in a matter of clicks!

So from creating to publishing, you can easily transfer your Instagram Stories designs from Adobe Spark to Later — no downloads, or file sharing links required, making teamwork a dream.

Start seamlessly designing and scheduling your content with Adobe and Later today!

Animated Instagram Stories App #4: Create Stop-Motion Stories with Life Lapse

If you’re looking to step up your Instagram Stories content this year, you’ll definitely want to check out Life Lapse. The app makes it easy to create high-quality stop motion videos right from your mobile device, and their handy tutorial guides you through every step of the process.

According to Life Lapse, you can create stop motion videos “10x faster than with $15K+ worth of cameras, computers & pro editing software.” All you need to create stop-motion videos is your camera, good lighting, and a tripod.

But Life Lapse is more than just a stop motion creator. The app is also packed with editing tools, including a variety of different speeds, filters, stock music, and an interval timer to help you get the timing of your video just right.

Life Lapse is a great app for creating unique, eye-catching content that will give your Instagram Stories a high-production look (without the high-cost).

Download: iOS and Android

Animated Instagram Stories App #5: Add Motion to Images with Enlight Pixaloop

Developed by the award-winning app developer Lightricks, Pixaloop quite literally “brings your photos to life” by adding movement to your static images. This is a great way to add an element of surprise to your Instagram Stories and stop your viewers in their tracks.

To animate a photo, place arrows to define motion within the image.

Next, add anchors to gradually reduce the speed in the animated area:

Pixaloop editing tools give you precise animation control so you can perfect your masterpiece. This app definitely takes some practice — if you’re not sure where to get started, head over to their feed to check out some of their users’ creations.

Download: iOS and Android

Animated Instagram Stories App #6: Create Cool Transitions with Seen (Formerly Known as StoryBoost)

Seen is one of the best apps for adding cool dynamic transitions between each slide in your Instagram Stories.

With over a thousand templates and transitions to choose from, Seen gives users the flexibility to create one seamless Instagram Stories post. Think of it as stitching your 15-second clips together to create one captivating and tap-forward-proof post.

As stories viewers watch your stories, it’s clear they are viewing a single, connected story — encouraging them to continue watching right through till the end.

The app also comes packed with stickers, GIFs and fonts to help you fully customize your slides before exporting. Once you’ve finished, use Seen’s preview feature to tap through the templates to see exactly how they will flow through your story.

Download: iOS

Animated Instagram Stories App #7: Make GIFs in an Instant with ImgPlay

If you’ve been looking for a way to create your own GIFs for Instagram Stories, look no further. ImgPlay is the easiest way to create GIFs using photos and videos right from your camera roll.

ImgPlay lets you cut portions of your video to create a GIF, or select multiple photos to create a slideshow or GIF. You can also edit existing GIFs from your device using the app.

We use ImgPlay at Later to plug multiple photos together in order to create a GIF-like look:

ImgPlay also allows you to apply a filter, adjust the frame rate, or change the playback direction to create a “Boomerang” effect. Once your creation is complete, just download the GIF or video file to your camera roll and add it to your Later Media Library for scheduling!

Download: iOS & Android

Ready to grow your business with Instagram Stories? Sign up below to get access to our FREE Instagram Stories for Business Course today:

Animated Instagram Stories App #8: Add Fun GIFs with GIPHY

One of the easiest ways to add a pop of animation to your Instagram Stories is by adding a GIF from the GIPHY app.

Instagram already has a built-in library of GIF stickers you can add to stories, but if you’re looking for full frame GIFs, the GIPHY app is the place to go.

The GIPHY app has a huge catalog of GIFs to choose from, all neatly organized in easy-to-navigate categories:

Once you’ve found your perfect GIF, you can select “share to Instagram” to save an optimized mp4 version straight to your Camera Roll — so it’s ready and waiting for your next Instagram Stories design.

At Later, we regularly use GIPHY to find and add iconic pop-culture GIFs to our Instagram Stories:

Adding a GIF to your Instagram Stories is a great way to mix things up and create an entertaining moment for your audience.

TIME-SAVING TIP: Use Instagram’s “Create” mode to quickly browse GIPHY’s huge library of GIFs and create a make-shift Instagram Stories template.

Download: iOS & Android

Animated Instagram Stories App #9: Create Custom, Attention-Grabbing Graphics with InStories

Looking to add some life to your Instagram Stories? Try creating animated text graphics with InStories.

InStories is packed with pre-designed templates, more than 100 fonts (or you can add your own) and tons of icons, stickers, and effects that can help stop your audience in their tracks and keep them from swiping past your story.

In this example from Later’s Instagram Stories, we used InStories to add a custom “text message” pop-up graphic:

To get started, just select a template. From here, you can start customizing colors, fonts, animations, or borders – the options are truly endless. InStories is free to try and offers auto-renewing monthly or annual subscriptions.

Download: iOS (and pre-register for Android here)

Animated Instagram Stories App #10: Add Animation to Your Vertical Videos with InShot

InShot is a photo and video editing app that’s best known for its ability to create content that’s a perfect fit for Instagram Stories (or any other video platform). But did you know the app has expanded its features?

You can now add stickers, loop animations, glitch transitions, music, and more to your video content:

This year, it’s more important than ever to take the plunge into video content on Instagram, and InShot is the perfect app to help you get started.

Download: iOS & Android

Animated Instagram Stories App #11: Make Your Stories Pop with Patternator

Don’t be fooled by the Patternator’s description in the app store — it’s more than just a wallpaper maker.

By pulling out key elements from your photos, like a logo, emoji or on-brand sticker, you can create fun, GIF-style images that will instantly get the attention of your Instagram Stories viewers.

At Later, we use Patternator to create fun animated backgrounds for our Instagram Stories posts:

Patternator is a super easy and fun way to add a pop of animation to your stories. Plus if you have your own branded GIF stickers in the GIPHY library, you can search for and add them to your Patternator design in just one click.

Download: iOS and Android

App Smashing: How to Use Multiple Apps to Create Unique and Captivating Instagram Stories

Once you’ve got to grips with how each app works, the real fun can begin.

Later’s Social Media Strategist, Mel Brittner, shares how using multiple apps together (also known as “app smashing”) can be the best way to create super engaging Instagram Stories.

“Each of these apps are cool in their own way, but the real magic happens when you have a vision for your Instagram Stories, and can hack it together with the use of a couple easy apps. ” Mel explains.

Ready to start app smashing your Instagram Stories? Discover how Mel created these 3 stories examples for Later’s Instagram account using just a few apps and her iPhone (all in 30 mins or less):

App Smash #1: Over and Seen

“These Instagram Stories were created to promote a blog about the top Instagram metrics to track in 2020,” Mel explains.

“We first created some cute dictionary-style definition slides in our brand palette using our branded font, which you can import in the Over app, and then added a few graphics, and our brand colors, which again you can save for easy use every time.”

To make the transitions between each slide more dynamic and interesting, Mel then added the designs to Seen and added a left-to-right sliding transition.

CUSTOM TIP: Create your own template design (rather than one of Seen’s existing templates) by selecting any template and tapping the “+” icon to add a blank slide from the “Minimal” tab. Add your pre-made designs to the blank slides, delete any unwanted slides, and apply your chosen transitions.

The App Smashing Combo:

  1. Over for branded slide designs

  2. Seen for sliding transition effects

App Smash #2: Over, InStories, and Mojo

“We created these Instagram Stories to share the news about Instagram’s new Boomerang effects. We love to feature members of the Later team on our stories, so this also felt like a great opportunity to introduce our newest member, Lindsay,” Mel shares.

Mel used the Over app to create an on-brand template for the video in the first slide.

To create the effect of the video playing on a phone screen, Mel asked our design team to create a quick PNG file of a phone with the screen cut out and then layered this over the video in Over.

Next, Mel used InStories to add the “text message” pop-up graphic in the next slide.

In the final slides (showing each Boomerang effect in action) Mel used Mojo to add animated text overlays.

The App Smashing Combo:

  1. Over for branded slide designs

  2. InStories for pop-up text graphic

  3. Mojo for animated text overlays

App Smash #3: InStories, Mojo, GIPHY, and InShot

“When the FTC released new guidelines for sponsored posts on Instagram, we wanted to share this news on stories in a fun and fresh way. We used a GIF of J.Lo to add some pop-culture relevance, and used InStories and Mojo to add attention-grabbing animated elements,” Mel shares.

To create these stories, Mel used a total of 4 different animation apps. In the first slide, she created the cute little “text message” style pop-up graphics using InStories. The animated title page (with the cursor highlight) was created in Mojo, and the Jennifer Lopez GIF is from the GIPHY app. To add music to this slide, Mel used InShot.

For the final slide, Mel used Mojo (again) to apply a bounce effect that mirrors the action of a “swipe up”.

The App Smashing Combo:

  1. InStories for “text message” pop-up graphics

  2. Mojo for animated title overlay

  3. GIPHY for J.Lo GIF

  4. InShot for adding music

  5. Mojo for “swipe up” animation on the final slide

Schedule Your Animated Instagram Stories Content with Later

Posting regularly on Instagram Stories is key to building an audience and increasing your views, and you can plan your stories just like you would plan other social posts in your content calendar.

Now instead of coming up with new stories daily, you can add your photos and text directly to your Instagram Stories scheduler.

By scheduling your content in advance, you can make sure you’re posting consistently and staying top of mind with your followers.

All you have to do is drag and drop your stories on to the storyboard tool, and then re-arrange them to fit the order and look that you want.

Next, you can add links or captions to your scheduled stories, which will be copied to your phone when it’s time to post.

When it’s time to post, you’ll receive a notification on your phone. And once you open the notification, your stories will be downloaded to your phone and caption or links copied to your clipboard, making it easy to post Instagram Stories in seconds.

Note: Later is free to use, but you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan to schedule your Instagram Stories.

There are so many different editing apps that make it easy to create Instagram Stories animations, so you can really let your creativity flow.

Just remember to create content that is a cohesive fit with your brand aesthetic and Instagram marketing goals while you’re crafting and creating with apps for Instagram Stories.

Ready to share your animated Instagram Stories with your followers? Plan, schedule and post Instagram Stories with Later.

Top 5 apps to animate and bring your Instagram stories to life

With all the constant changes happening on Instagram, finding creative ways to engage with your audience and share your message has become more important than ever before.

Instagram stories provides users with the opportunity to share photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. With the new highlights feature, Instagram users also have the option to add their story to a highlights section under their bio, making it visible until the user decides to delete it.

There's no doubt that Instagram stories have become a powerful way to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Using Instagram stories helps you appear at the very top of the app providing you with additional ways to grow your business with on-brand images and video. With this big opportunity, it's important that you're using Instagram stories to your fullest abilities. This means not just using stories for a token 'new post' update but exploring how you can share an engaging story with your audience.

Instagram stories allow you to post more candidly and share a peek behind-the-scenes of your business. Users love this type of content as it helps them get to know the people and inner workings of your brand. Combining this behind-the-scenes content with some creative flair will have people tuning into your stories every day. So, how do you create captivating stories and stand out? We've listed 5 apps below that are making it easier than ever to make a splash with your Instagram stories.

1. Mojo

Mojo allows you to create polished animated instagram stories that look like commercially produced ads. It is simple to get results that look like a whole team of designers worked on it.

In Mojo you have access to a range of quality templates which are divided into categories: Fashion, Travel, Photography, News, Pop, Marketing and Classic.

The thing we love most about Mojo is the level of control you have over each aspect and animation effect in your design. While some of it's competitors rely on standard animation effects, in Mojo you can customise each unique aspect of your design.

There are more than 100 text effects to pick from. All of them are beautifully animated and fully customisable to suit your design. You can edit fonts, colors, sizes, positions, alignments and apply unique animation effects and timings.

Mojo makes it simple to go from design to publishing and you can open your file straight into Instagram without having to save or export any files.

If you want access to all the templates and custom canvas sizes you'll need to upgrade to Mojo Pro with a yearly subscription costing around AU$45 per year.

Available on Android and iOS

2. Canva Stories

Many people use Canva on their computers but they have since built a dedicated Canva Stories app for mobile which supports video content. Inside this custom app there are countless beautiful templates to use or you can design your own from scratch.

Once you've selected your design you can edit the image, add design elements like lines and shapes, and overlay text. One of the best things about using Canva to create Instagram stories is that you can save your designs to use them as a template for future posts.

The icing on the cake is the animated effects you can add which adds dynamic movement to your entire design in 6 different ways.

You can also create more than one image in each project which means you can create your entire story sequence to download at once and upload them to Instagram without going back and forth between the apps - a big win!

Canva available on Android and Canva Stories on iOS

3. Videoleap

Videoleap is one sophisticated video editor packed into a pocket sized mobile app. As it has many powerful features, using this app may require the average user to watch some online tutorials to find their way around but the professional looking results will be well worth it!

Creating basic designs for Instagram stories is simple and users will find it easy to join video clips together and add nifty transitions. This same technique can be used to join still images together creating a dynamic moving sequence or stop motion effect.

The interface gets a bit more complicated once you start adding layers and effects but the level of control you can have over each element is exceptional. Experienced creators will love being able to add masks and keyframe animations to produce incredible looking clips.

Although there are no templates, Videoleap is an absolute powerhouse for original Instagram story creation with animations and effects that rival professional video editing software.

Available on iOS

4. Adobe Express Instagram Story Maker (formerly known as Adobe Spark)

One of the first apps to combine ready-made templates with animated text effects. Adobe Express Instagram Story Maker documents are easily resized and have dimensions to suit Instagram stories. Select from one of their many templates or build your own design, you can even 'remix' the layout with one click to try a different variation of fonts and colours with your content.

Those with limited design experience should find it pretty simple to use and although the provided templates aren't as sexy as some of the other apps, customising them is simple. We liked the pre-made colour palettes which even added a consistent filter to our image.

If you wish to convert your design into a 4-second video you can animate either the image or the text of your design using their built-in effects with one click. While we like the simplicity of the app these animations felt a bit basic and so did the file export and sharing options.

Available on Android and iOS

5. ImgPlay

ImgPlay enables you to create a short clip or animation by converting videos and live photos into gif-format. It has sophisticated video editing abilities and you can adjust the speed, apply filters and easily create looping videos.

We liked that it would convert live photos into video and enables users to join images together to create stop motion sequences. If you want to remove the watermark, access the stickers or add animated text effects you'll need to upgrade to pro version of the app.

Unlike most of it's competitors, upgrading to pro is an affordable one-time  purchase (AU$7.99) and not a subscription. Although it's worth it for the extra features, we did feel like there was a sharp incline in the learning curve once we started exploring the pro capabilities!

ImgPlay is great for creating original content and users will love the range of saving and export options which covers most file formats and social networks.

Available on Android and iOS

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6 apps for animated Instagram posts and stories

Today, accounts are taking off thanks to videos and GIF animations. Static images have long been relegated to the background. Partly because of the sheer amount of content that makes it harder to stand out…

Not surprisingly, Instagram is slowly taking over animated posts and stories. What now, should everyone urgently become motion designers or hire such specialists? Not at all.

High-quality animations can be done not only with the help of professionals. There are handy apps for that.

You don't have to be a designer. Animated posts and stories are created quickly and easily, text and graphics come to life, and even the simplest materials appear in a new light. Free templates, stock photos, filters and fonts are many and varied.

View this post on Instagram

Posted by Adobe Spark (@adobespark)

2. Hype Type - iOS

Here you can make stylish animated text, so that simple photos and images will take on a new life. The application is easy to use - select the base from the gallery, select the font and color, add text and put it in the right place.

View this post on Instagram

Posted by world of Agnes (@worldofagnes)

3. Life Lapse - iOS

Life Lapse allows you to create stop-motion animations for free. They look original, stylish and expensive.

True, in addition to the application, you will need a camera (on a smartphone), a lit place, a tripod, or other means to secure the phone.

The material can not only be removed, but also edited. Add music in the application, adjust the speed and set filters.

View this post on Instagram

Posted by ????NorZAcMa???? (@norzacma)

This is where we create GIFs. Have you met, probably, all sorts of fortune-telling on instagram? When you take a screenshot and you know from it what you got. These posts are surprisingly popular.

In ImgPlay, you can create a GIF for a story or a post by converting videos and photos to gif format. Change the speed, apply filters, create boomerangs - creativity is limited only by your imagination.

View this post on Instagram

Posted by 蔡秉廷 (@ping_ting_tsai)

5.LumaFusion- iOS

In this application, dynamic, interesting transitions will come in handy, with the help of which a beautiful video will come out of photos. In addition, it is full of other useful features that will help make your account brighter.

View this post on Instagram

Posted by ☁︎ jella (@editorslane)

6 Enlight Pixaloop - iOS

Add some movement to ordinary photos and you will be surprised how much your Instagram will change.

View this post on Instagram

Posted by Katie (@kame.tori)

A little persistence, imagination, and watching the posts of others who are already posting account animations with might and main will help take your Instagram to the next level. Try new things, hook the audience to the quick - and people will reach out to you ;-)

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How to make animated text in Instagram Stories?

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Content

  • 1 Animating text in an Instagram story
  • 2 How to make text animation in an Instagram post
  • 3 Why there is no text animation in Instagram

You can make it loop, pop-up, or dim - there are many options.

You can animate text in the story editor. There are no options on Instagram to upload a picture or video with an animated caption to the feed. Therefore, you will have to turn to third-party applications or online video file editors.

But first, let's figure out how to make the text move in stories using the platform's functionality, and then through video editors.

Animate text in Instagram Stories

A small step-by-step video tutorial for Instagram Stories:

Use the steps below to make this animation on Instagram:

  1. Open Instagram and add a picture or video to your story.
  2. Then type in the text you want to add.
  3. The system itself will offer to tap on the button in the form of the letter Aa with asterisks. If not, find it on the top bar and click.
  4. The text is automatically animated. You can leave the motion as default or select the options as you scroll down the bottom margin to the left.

Captions on video stories can also move, but the animation will appear only at the beginning, then the text will be in the usual mode.

We also recommend reading ➤ how to make an inscription on a photo or video on Instagram.

How to make text animation in an Instagram post

If you want to add a video with an animated caption, use stories. Edit the picture or video story, then save the material to the gallery.

To do this, click on the download arrow on the top panel. Then add content to the feed in the standard way, sign it, add hashtags and publish it.

The best Instagram content creation service ➤ Canva. Free templates for posts and Stories, a library of videos and sounds for free use ➤ Canva service.

If you don't have the animation feature in stories, you'll have to contact the editors. Let's analyze the principle of working with them using the example of Inshot and Text Animation Maker.

How to do it in the Inshot app:

  • Download and install the app on your smartphone. It can be downloaded by both iPhone and Android owners.
  • Open the utility and add a video file. The application does not edit images in this way - you can add a phrase, but you cannot animate it.
  • Then select the T icon and enter the text.
  • In the panel below the video, find the moving circles icon and tap on it.
  • Select the label movement style. Appearance and disappearance from below, above, right and left, blackout, loop are available.
  • You need to download stories to your phone and add them to Instagram. To remove the watermark, you will have to tap on the cross on it in advance, and then see the result.

How to do it in the Text Animation Maker application:

  1. Download the application - it is also adapted for Android and iPhone.
  2. Open the utility and add an image or video file. To do this, you will first have to go to the editor and already fill in the material in it.
  3. Then enter the phrase on the top bar. It automatically becomes animated.
  4. Click the buttons next to the photo to change the animation mode. When you decide, save the file to your phone.
  5. Add animated text to a story or Instagram post and share the file.

This application allows you to place a caption next to a video or picture. To do this, select at the beginning the format is not 1:1, but 16:9.

Other editors you can use to create cool stories are ADOBE SPARK POST, HYPE TEXT, Tomo. Some apps work on iPhone but not on Android.

You can find alternatives by entering this name in the Google Play Market. The system will issue utilities with similar functionality. Read the description and download if you can make animation through them.

If you don't want or can't download the app, animate the caption online. Services like Pixiz will help. You cannot choose the animation style there, but you can write any phrase on the photo.

Why there is no text animation on Instagram

If you don't see the animation icon on Instagram Stories, most likely:

  • Instagram hasn't been updated;
  • did not update the operating system of the phone;
  • The customized update has not been released in your country.

In the first case, go to the AppStore or Google Play Market and download the latest version of Instagram. You can also long-press the Instagram icon on your desktop to bring up a menu with additional options.

Learn more