Instagram introduces GIF Stickers for Stories

Instagram today announced the addition of GIF stickers to stories. The library of animated GIFs, supported by GIPHY, will inspire even more creativity for users, no matter how little or how much is going on.

Users can add as many stickers as they'd like from a growing library, and will have hand-curated recommendations to turn even their seemingly mundane moments into fun, expressive and artistic moments to share.

When you tap to add a sticker to a photo or video in stories, you’ll now see a new GIF option. Tap it to open a library full of hundreds of thousands of moving stickers powered by GIPHY. You can browse what's currently trending on GIPHY or search their extensive library to find a sticker for just about anything. From bouncing letters and twirling hearts to dancing cats and pizza in space, these animated stickers help you make any photo or video funny, interesting or creative.

To learn more about GIF stickers, check out the Instagram Help Center.

GIF stickers are available today as part of Instagram version 29 on iOS and Android. Improvements to Stories uploads will be available in the coming weeks.

Tips for finding the best GIF stickers for any moment:

• Searching 'Accessories' will return results for anything that can be layered over faces. Example searches in this category are sunglasses, hats, eyes, lips, ears etc.
• Searching 'Effects' will return results for all stickers that can be used to add ambiance to a scene. Example searches include sparkles, fire, confetti, glitter, explosion etc.
• Searching 'Peekers' will return all results for stickers that pop up and disappear. These are especially fun for adding to landscapes, and in settings where they can pop up behind a screen or out from a wall.
• Searching 'Word Art' will return all text-based stickers. Example searches for word art are happy birthday, LOL, OMG, bye etc.
• Searching 'Emoji' will return results for specialized emoji sets, which tend to be very popular.
• Themes like 'happy birthday' and 'congratulations' have great content that helps users animate their stories to celebrate big events.

Additionally, over the next few weeks Instagram is rolling out the ability to upload photos and videos of any size to your story — so you never have to lose part of a photo or cut a friend out of a group video. When you upload a photo or video, pinch to share it in its original dimensions, whether it's square, portrait or landscape. Any extra room will be filled with a custom color gradient that matches what you've shared.