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Best 10 Free GIF Apps for iPhone and iPad

James Hogan
James Hogan Originally published Dec 16, 24, updated Dec 30, 24

When communicating online, you can use GIFs for sharing a witty response or a funny moment—anything that makes your conversation lighter. But when you can't find the GIF you want to use or perhaps want to create a custom one, it's time to explore the best GIF apps for iPhone.

If searching for one feels overwhelming, we've narrowed it down to the best GIF apps for you, complete with their standout features, pros, and cons.

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In this article
    1. GIFO
    2. Giffer
    3. Gif Me! Camera
    4. GIF Maker by Momento
    5. ImgPlay
    6. GIPHY
    7. GIF Toaster
    8. econdsApp
    9. Gif Maker Funny - Video to Gif
    10. GifLab
    1. Why Use Filmora to Create GIFs

Part 1. Best GIF Apps for iPhone and iPad

GIFs are mainly used in messaging apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, and Messenger. These looping animations usually last 5–10 seconds long. So when choosing the best app for creating GIFs on iPhone, we've made sure these apps offer easy sharing across these platforms and come packed with features to make your GIFs stand out.

Here are our 10 top-pick GIF apps for iPhones:

1. GIFO

With GIFO, you can capture all your fun, memorable moments and turn them into shareable animated GIFs in seconds. With features like collage creation, creative filters, stylish text, and frames, this app lets you add a personal touch to every GIF you make. You can even control the speed of your GIFs for added drama and share them instantly across your favorite apps.

gifo best gif app for iphone

Features:

  • Add unique filters to enhance the look of your GIFs
  • Stylish borders to frame your creations
  • Various font styles for text overlays to personalize your GIFs
  • Adjustable speed for dramatic effects
Pros
  • Compatible with all iPhone and iPad models, including the latest iOS versions
  • Allows you to create GIF collages
Cons
  • Removing the watermark requires a subscription
  • Some advanced features are locked behind a subscription
  • Occasional glitches reported by users, including crashes that may result in losing unsaved GIFs

Rating: 3.8 / 5 (23 ratings)

Pricing: Free with in-app purchases ranging from $0.9.$1.99.

2. Giffer

The next best GIF app for iPhone is Giffer. Giffer combines simplicity with pretty cool features. You can create stop-motion animations, reverse GIFs, time-lapse sequences, text overlays, and more in just a few taps. Sharing your creations is also easy, with options to post directly to Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also send via Messages, Email, or Airdrop.

giffer best gif app for iphone

Features:

  • Crop GIFs to any size ratio
  • Cinemagraph mode with stabilization
  • Adjustable animation speed and individual frame delays
  • Onion skin with adjustable opacity for perfect alignment
Pros
  • Include in-app camera modes, such as single-frame (ideal for stop-motion), burst with adjustable delay, and auto-timer modes for single-frame or burst captures
  • Access over 25 filters to enhance your GIFs with artistic effects.
  • Add text to your GIFs with a variety of font options to suit any style.
  • Flexible export options including Live Photos, videos, and shareable links.
Cons
  • Requires some learning curve for advanced tools like cinemagraph and onion skin.
  • Heavy editing features could be resource-intensive on older devices.

Rating: 4.2 / 5 (67 ratings)

Pricing: $1.99

3. Gif Me! Camera

Gif Me! Camera is a good GIF app for iPhone that you can also use on iPad. You can capture short, memorable moments using the app's camera and quickly transform them into animated GIFs. With a range of creative image filters, you can enhance your GIFs to add a unique touch before sharing them on social networks.

gif me camera app for iphone

Features:

  • Capture frames with the app's camera
  • Apply real-time color filters while capturing video for your GIF
  • Add frames and text to personalize your animated GIFs
  • Share your GIFs on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Pros
  • Allows for the GIF conversion of longer clips
  • Features minimal to no ads with a pretty good output quality
Cons
  • Users reported occasional issues, such as a persistent bug affecting frame timing.
  • Converting longer videos can take a significant amount of time.
  • New users may find it challenging to navigate due to insufficient guidance or tutorials

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (302 ratings)

Pricing: Free; the Pro version costs $1.99.

4. GIF Maker by Momento

GIF Maker by Momento is another good GIF app on iPhone that can transform your photos, live photos, and videos into GIFs. The app is equipped with various creative tools such as stickers, text, frames, AR, music, and even GIFs from GIPHY. You can personalize your GIFs to your heart's content.

gif maker by memento for iphone

Features:

  • Integration with camera roll for easy access to photos and videos
  • Customization options with stickers, text, and music
  • AR capabilities to add interactive elements to GIFs
  • Ability to adjust GIF speed, direction, and size
Pros
  • High user satisfaction and positive reviews for functionality
  • Its interface is noted for being simple and appealing, making it enjoyable to use.
  • Offers extensive sharing options, including TikTok, iMessage, WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, and many more.
Cons
  • Free users can only access limited filters, frames, music, and stickers
  • Watermark on the exported GIF for free users

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (24.9K ratings)

Pricing: Free version available, subscription starts from $9.99 per month or $39.99 per year

5. ImgPlay

As one of the best apps for GIFs on iphone, ImgPlay comprehensive tool for GIF making. You can create, convert, and split GIFs from videos, Live Photos, or burst sequences and personalize each GIF to suit your style. It's also integrated into the iMessage app, so you can send GIFs/videos from Camera Roll without leaving the conversation.

imgplay best gif app for iphone

Features:

  • Multiple ratios like 1:1 (square), 9:16 (Instagram Story), and more
  • Six meme canvas styles with auto-text area
  • View, reorder, and merge frames easily with drag & drop functionality
  • Control over brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth, and sharpness
Pros
  • Offers flexibility in saving and exporting content in various sizes and formats, including APNG and WebP.
  • Includes tools to rotate, crop, flip, and adjust FPS settings for precise editing
Cons
  • Requires a subscription to enjoy all the features in the app
  • It currently exports videos in the HEVC codec, which isn't compatible with some platforms that require H.264 or MPEG-4 codecs.
  • Setting the duration of GIFs or videos with a slider can be imprecise for users who need exact timing

Rating: 4.8 5 (43.1K ratings)

Pricing: Free; Subscription plans start from $2.99/week or $69.99 for a one-time purchase.

6. GIPHY

GIPHY is renowned as one of the best free GIF apps for iPhone, boasting the largest library of free GIFs, clips, and stickers. Designed for speed and simplicity, it has become a favorite platform for searching and sharing short-form content and animated reactions.

giphy best free gif app iphone

Features:

  • Use the in-app camera or upload your own content to create GIFs and stickers.
  • Easily share your stickers and GIFs across all platforms where GIPHY is supported.
  • Access GIPHY directly from iMessage or your keyboard for quick sharing.
  • Copy GIFs to your clipboard or save them to your favorites for easy access later.
Pros
  • There are fun filters when creating GIFs from the in-app camera.
  • Integrates with platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat.
  • You can explore trending and viral moments in real time through curated GIF collections.
Cons
  • It can take long to load the GIFs.
  • Users reported a problem with the app freezing after creating GIFs.

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (560.3K ratings)

Pricing: Free

7. GIF Toaster

GIF Toaster provides a flexible toolset for creating GIFs from your videos or photos. The app also enables you to extract still images from any GIF and personalize your GIFs by cropping them, resizing the canvas, and applying several other editing features to perfect your GIFs.

gif toaster app for iphone

Features:

  • Supports various aspect ratio format
  • Enables adding text overlays, images, and shapes to the GIFs
  • Includes a Range tool to adjust the number of GIF frames
  • Offers a selection of filters to apply to your GIFs
Pros
  • There is no limit on the number of frames per GIF
  • You can change the direction of the GIF playback
Cons
  • The app sometimes muddles colors, particularly noticeable with intricate or layered GIFs
  • Includes ads although it's not annoying
  • Exporting in high resolution requires a subscription

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (648 ratings)

Pricing: Free; the Pro version costs $2.99

8. 5SecondsApp

5SecondsApp is one of the best free GIF apps for iPhone where you can create, edit, and share animated GIFs. You can use photos and videos you already have, or take new ones right in the app. It's simple to use—no need to sign up or join a social network. Plus, you can find tons of cool GIFs to explore on GIPHY. This app also works on iPad and iMessage.

5secondsapp gif app for iphone

Features:

  • Enhance your GIFs with a variety of filters.
  • Rearrange the order of frames to perfect the animation sequence.
  • Personalize each frame with stickers and text
Pros
  • Allows importing GIFs directly from URLs copied to the clipboard
  • Responsive customer support to handle any issues
  • Includes an option for iCloud backup
Cons
  • Users frequently report crashes when using the app
  • The free version limits GIFs to five seconds

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (1.3K ratings)

Pricing: Free; the Pro version (full-upgrade) costs $1.99

9. Gif Maker Funny - Video to Gif

Gif Maker Funny - Video to Gif is another best apps for GIFs on iPhone. It's designed for creating and editing GIFs from photos, videos, burst photos, or live photos. Additionally, the app features a rich GIF library offering a selection of GIFs that you can browse, save, download, and share as you please.

gif maker funny app for iphone

Features:

  • Create GIFs directly from your camera
  • Compress GIFs to save space
  • Adjust the frame speed of your GIFs
Pros
  • You can archive the GIFs you've created within the app.
  • You can search for any GIF from the library, and save or share GIFs you like.
Cons
  • Some users reported occasional crashes at the final step of creating a GIF.
  • The cost is relatively high when compared to other apps that offer similar or better features.

Rating: 2.6 / 5 (14 ratings)

Pricing: Free; Subscription starts from $4.99/week or $14.99/month.

10. GifLab

GifLab - GIF Maker & Editor is an iOS app that simplifies the process of creating GIFs. You can transform videos into GIFs, convert them to videos for sharing on Instagram, adjust GIF quality and speed, and add custom text.

giflab best gif app for iphone

Features:

  • Converts videos into various GIF formats, like loop and reverse
  • High customization of GIF speed and quality
  • Text addition with various font styles
  • Social media integration for easy sharing
Pros
  • Pretty straightforward for converting live images to GIFs.
  • Allows adding text in various colors and a few fonts.
Cons
  • Removing watermarks requires a subscription.
  • Some users have raised concerns about privacy.
  • Crashes often happen when exporting in HD.

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (227 ratings)

Pricing: Free; Subscription to GifLab Studio starts from $0.99/month or $44.99/year

Part 2. Our Recommendation for the Best GIF App for Desktop

The best GIF apps for iPhone we've listed before are perfect for creating and sharing GIFs on the go. But for those who need better control over quality or the ability to handle larger projects, a desktop solution is the way to go.

The top choice for creating GIFs on a desktop is Wondershare Filmora. This software not only supports GIF exports but also offers many intuitive video editing tools. With Filmora, your creativity has no boundaries—you can design and customize GIFs effortlessly, using all the features you need in one platform.

Why Use Filmora to Create GIFs

  • AI-Powered Tools: Filmora's AI-driven features streamline the GIF creation process, helping you produce high-quality GIFs quickly and effortlessly.
  • Feature-Packed Platform: Filmora's versatile interface allows you to effortlessly edit GIF images, customize captions, apply filters, and adjust frame rates, sizes, and resolutions to your preferences.
  • Visually Appealing Designs: With its visually appealing and interactive layout, Filmora caters to both beginners and professionals and gives an enjoyable editing experience for everyone.
  • Handle All File Formats: Supporting over 150 file formats, Filmora makes it easy to work with any media file, offering unmatched flexibility and convenience.

Watch this video for a tutorial on how to create GIFs easily using Filmora:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPJRn02lOUY

Conclusion

Hopefully, our article has helped you choose the best GIF apps for iPhone, whether you opt for a free one like 5SecondsApp and GIPHY or a paid one. Each app on our list brings something unique to the table, so make sure to assess each one to find one that suits your needs.

For those who prefer working on a larger screen, we recommend Filmora as a desktop solution. Its advanced features, intuitive interface, and professional-level tools make it the perfect companion for making high-quality GIFs with ease.

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James Hogan
James Hogan Dec 30, 24
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