One of the coolest features of the iPhone camera is the Live Photo option. No picture is a bad picture – all you have to do is choose the best frame in the 3-second window shot as a live photo.

But if you want to share your live photos on social media, you can only share them as still photos. There are tons of short clips on your phone for you to use as boomerangs or loops – why not post them to Instagram?

How to Post a Live Photo on Instagram:

1. Switch your live photo to a bounce or loop
2. Convert it to a video
3. Share it on Instagram

Step 1: Switch your live photo to a bounce or loop

While you aren’t able to make video files from your live photos on your iPhone, you do have 1 option to change how they play.

For iOS 14 or older, go to your Photos app, select the live photo you want to use, and swipe up on the photo itself (or scroll down, if you’re on your computer).

For iOS 15, tap on your photo and find the "Live" dropdown menu in the top left-hand side of your photo.

You’ll see 3 options for your live photo: live, bounce, and loop. To make your live photo a video, you’ll need to choose either the loop or bounce option. I recommend going with the bounce style because the loop option truncates your video with a fade effect, although that can have a cool effect for certain videos!

Unfortunately, for both software updates, when the looped or bounced photo is saved in your camera roll, it’s not actually saved as a video. Even if you send it to your computer and export it as a file, it will be saved as a GIF, which can only be uploaded to Instagram as a still image. Instead, you need to select the photo in your Photos app, choose the “Share” button (it looks like a square with an arrow coming out of it), scroll down, and select “Save to Files.”  

Try these popular Instagram tools:

• Free Online Video Resizer
• Online Instagram Video Editor
• Instagram Reels Safe Zones
• Upload YouTube Video to Instagram
• Video Progress Bar Generator

Step 2: Convert to Video

After saving your looped or bounced live photo to your files, you still won't be able to upload it to Instagram as a video. We know, it's annoying 🙄 Apple makes it hard. But there's just one final step to getting the video: convert your new GIF to a video. Open Kapwing's Studio in the Safari browser on your phone. Click "Get Started" or "Start with Studio."

Tap “Click to Upload,” then “Choose Files.” Your saved loop or bounce file should be the most recent one in your file browser. Just select the file you want, and your video will immediately begin uploading to the Kapwing Studio.

Once your file is done uploading to the Studio, you’re ready to process it. Just click “Export Video” at the top of the window. Kapwing will automatically work its magic and your live photo will be ready to download as an MP4 video file in no time. Once Kapwing is done processing, simply click “Download."

If you're not signed into a Kapwing account, sign in or sign up using your Google or Facebook account – once you've signed into a Kapwing account, the watermark in the lower right corner will be removed from your final image.

Step 3: Share it on Instagram

Once your live photo has been saved as a video in your camera roll, it's easy to upload to Instagram! All you need to do is open Instagram and go to the upload tab in the middle of the bottom menu. Choose the "Library" tab for your camera roll to pop up, and your live photo video should be the most recent thing shown. Just select the right video and you'll be ready to share it to your followers.

Remember to tag us @KapwingApp whenever you share your content on social media– we love to see what our creators are passionate about! And be sure to subscribe to the Kapwing Resources library – we’re constantly writing new tutorial and features to help you make the most out of Kapwing.

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