Wondering how to create animated Instagram Stories?
Adding animation to Instagram Stories is a great way to create super eye-catching content, and animation is a hot trend right now!
Fortunately, you don’t need an expensive camera, crew, or design team to create animated Instagram Stories to wow your audience.
There’s a ton of new apps for Instagram Stories that make it easier than ever to add animation to stories in just a few clicks!
We’re showing you how to create animated Instagram Stories that will keep your followers coming back for more + a list of our favorite apps to help make it easy:
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 8 animation apps for Instagram:
Animation Apps #1: 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 and 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).
Free download: iOS
Instagram Stories Animation App #2: Create Animated 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 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.
This Instagram Stories app is totally free to use, and will have you creating high-quality, animated Instagram Stories in just minutes!
Free download: iOS & Android
Looking for more ways to grow your brand with Instagram Stories?
Ready to grow your business with Instagram Stories? Sign up below to get access to our FREE Instagram Stories for Business Course today:
Instagram Stories Animation App #3: Add Motion to Your 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!
Free download: iOS
Apps for Animated Instagram Stories #4: Create Seamless Instagram Stories with StoryBoost
Grab your audience’s attention on Instagram by transforming your photos and footage into eye-catching videos with StoryBoost’s animated story page templates.
With over a thousand story page templates and custom transitions, StoryBoost gives users the flexibility to seamlessly share their Instagram Stories content. As stories viewers tap forward, it’s clear they are viewing a single, connected story – encouraging them to continue watching.
The app also comes packed with stickers, GIFs and fonts to help you fully customize your slides before exporting. Once you’ve finished, use StoryBoost’s preview feature to tap through the templates to see exactly how they will flow through your story.
Download: iOS
Apps for Animated Instagram Stories #5: Create 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 here 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!
Free download: iOS & Android
Instagram Stories Animation App #6: Add Animation to Your Instagram Stories Templates with Over
Whether you’re sharing tips, inspirational quotes, or want to add a creative twist to your campaign, Over is a great app for Instagram Stories that lets you overlay text and graphics onto your photos and videos!
Over is packed with photos, fonts, graphics, templates and tools to help you create high-quality, animated Instagram 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. Over’s stock video library has tons of different animations you can choose to bring some life to your creation:
Their loyal community even has a #bestofover hashtag to help you find inspiration from other creators if you’re ever feeling stuck!
Free download: iOS & Android
Instagram Stories Animation App #7: Create Custom, Attention-Grabbing Graphics with InStories
Looking to add some life to your Instagram Stories? Try creating animated text graphics for Instagram Stories 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:
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
App for Animated Instagram Stories #8: Add Animation to Your Vertical Videos with InShot
Vertical video is everywhere on Instagram these days! That means now is the time to learn how to create and edit vertical video that will stand out from the crowd and really ‘wow’ your audience.
InShot Video Editor 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?
The lesser-known in-app editing features let you add stickers, loop animations, glitch transitions, and more to your video content:
This year, it’s more important than ever to take the plunge into video content, and InShot is the perfect app to help you get started!
Free download: iOS & Android
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!
