Instagram is reportedly experimenting with a new feature for Stories called Stop Motion, which supposedly allows you to take a sequence of photos and have the app combine the images into a single GIF. According to a new report, the photo-sharing service has confirmed that it has kicked off testing for the feature that can be found inside the camera section of the mobile app dedicated to Instagram Stories. It is not immediately clear whether or not Instagram plans to roll out the feature globally or if its future has yet to be decided. The creative tool itself was designed to expand the options Instagram users already have to enhance their photographs before sharing them.
Keep in mind that while you can shoot a long series of photos with the Stop Motion feature, it does not allow you to modify or edit each picture you have taken with the tool, nor can you add captions to individual photos which turn into frames. That means only the final GIF file customizable, being able to accept stickers or captions. The Stop Motion feature follows the recent rollout of the Superzoom tool which started a few days ago. Superzoom is a creative camera tool that the Facebook-owned photo-sharing service designed in preparation for Halloween, along with some scary filters and stickers made for the occasion. Unlike the other tools that Instagram added recently to its app, the Stop Motion feature marks one of the app’s very own experimental tools which weren’t clearly inspired by any other platform like Snapchat. If the feature is to be distributed globally, it will probably be rolled out in a gradual manner, as is the case with most other additions to the social media network.
Instagram most recently introduced the ability to add guests to live videos as part of a broader effort to expand the selection of features with the goal of improving user engagement rates. It remains to be seen whether the Stop Motion camera tool will spark more interest for the already widely popular app that presently boasts over 800 million users around the planet and is still growing in a steady manner.