3 Ways to Share Live Photos to Social Media

2025 Author: Jason Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-23 12:04

This wikiHow teaches you how to share Live Photo content on iPhone across various social media apps. Live Photos are photos that contain a short video before and after the photo is taken. You can share these photos on Facebook, but only people who use the Facebook iOS app can see them. You can also upload a Live Photo taken in the last 24 hours to Instagram by turning it into a Boomerang animation. If you want to share your Live Photo on other social media sites, you'll need to convert it to an animated-g.webp

Step

Method 1 of 3: On Facebook

Step 1. Open the Facebook app

This app is marked with a blue icon with a small white “f”.

Sign in to your account using your email address and password if you haven't already

Step 2. Touch Photo (“Photo”)

It's next to an icon that resembles a pair of images. You can find this button under the bar labeled " What's on your mind? " ("What are you thinking?"). The device gallery window with all the saved photos will be displayed.

Step 3. Select Live Photo

Live Photo content is indicated by the icon of several rings that are getting smaller and smaller.

Step 4. Touch Done

It's in the upper-right corner of the screen. The photo will be selected and placed in the " Update Status " pop-up window (“Status Update”).

Step 5. Touch Live (“Live”)

The icon looks like a few smaller rings at the top of the image. If the icon is crossed out by a single line, the photo will be uploaded as a static photo.

Step 6. Type in a message (optional)

If you want to say something about the uploaded photo, type a message in the " Say something about this photo… " field.

Step 7. Touch Post (“Send”)

The photo will be uploaded to the Facebook page. Only friends who use the iPhone or iPad-only Facebook app can view the photo as Live Photo content. In order to share it with all your friends, you will need to convert the content into an animated-g.webp

Method 2 of 3: On Instagram

Step 1. Open Instagram

The app icon is purple, pink, and orange with a white camera outline inside.

Step 2. Swipe the screen to the right or touch the camera icon

It's in the top-left corner of the screen.

Step 3. Swipe up the screen

A list of all recent photos will be displayed.

Step 4. Select Live Photo content

Touch the content of the Live Photo taken in the last 24 hours to select it.

The photo must be set as a Live Photo in the Photos app on the device, and not the “Loop”, “Bounce” or “Long Exposure” content

Step 5. Touch the screen in three dimensions

Press and hold the center of the screen. You should now see a white circle rotating, followed by the word " Boomerang ". Live Photo has been successfully converted into an animated “Boomerang” that plays over and over again.

Step 6. Upload Live Photo to Instagram

You have several options for uploading it to Instagram:

• Uploading Photos to Stories: Just touch the option “ Your Story ".
• Send it to a friend: Touch option “ Send To ” and select a friend, then touch the button “ Send ” at the bottom of the screen.
• Make it an Instagram post: Touch " Save ”, return to the main Instagram menu, and touch the “ ＋ ” to create a new post. Choose " Library ” and search for the 6 second video you just saved.

Method 3 of 3: Converting Live Photos Into Animated-g.webp" />

Step 1. Open the App Store

App Store apps are marked by a blue icon and a white “A” letter.

Step 2. Touch the Search tab

This tab is marked with a magnifying glass icon in the lower-right corner of the screen.

Step 3. Type Lively into the search bar

This bar is gray with a magnifying glass icon.

Step 4. Touch GET next to the Lively entry

The Lively app is indicated by a green icon with a white rectangle. Installing the app takes a few minutes.

Step 5. Touch OPEN

Once the app is installed, you should see an "Open" button next to the app in the App Store window.

Step 6. Touch Live Photo

All photos displayed in the application are Live Photo content. The app will not display static photos, videos, or animated GIFs.

Step 7. Touch GIF or Movies.

Select “GIF” or “Movie” at the top of the application window, depending on the desired export result.-g.webp

If you want to edit the animation, tap the gear icon at the bottom of the screen. You can find several options to rewind the animation, change the playback speed, and reduce the file size

Step 8. Touch Export GIF/Movie

It's a large button at the bottom of the screen. Wait until the file export process is complete. After that, you'll get the option to share the file on social media.

Step 9. Touch the app you want to use to share the content

You can choose Facebook, Twitter, or any app installed on your device. After that, the application will be opened and the file will be uploaded automatically.

Step 10. Type in a message (optional)

If you want, type a short message about the photo you've uploaded.

Step 11. Touch Post

Select " Post " ("Send"), "Send", or "Tweet", depending on the application used. The Live Photo will be uploaded as an animated-g.webp