The online home of John Pollard

A Shortcut for sharing Live Photos

Replacing some average iOS apps for converting Live Photos with a simple Shortcut

Here's one I made earlier

I’ve been searching for an easy way to share iOS Live Photos on social media for a while, and have tried a whole bunch of frankly pretty average apps without being very happy with any of them.

Last week Jason Kottke shared on Twitter a shortcut that could convert a Live Photo into a video, which looked close to what I wanted. I’d never considered I could write my own converter before!

Below is a screenshot of my version. This one will convert a Live Photo into a looping animated GIF. A little trick I also learnt was if you use the “Quick Look” block at the end, you get a preview of how the GIF looks, as well as a share button from where you can share or save it as appropriate.

The image of Seljalandsfoss from last year’s trip to Iceland above was made using the script - and I’m very happy with the results!

Live Photos shortcut