Chats and texts are now the primary mode of communication for every digital citizen. However, without non-verbal gestures and tone, texts can come off as cold and unfeeling. These days, most of us recognize that texts alone cannot adequately convey our emotions.

To add life to text conversations, we add emojis and GIFs. While there are already a ton of GIFs online, there will still be times when you can't find what you're looking for.

Luckily, if you’re an iPhone user, you can quickly make GIFs from your videos with just a few taps. That's right, there's no app download required. Here's how to do it.

Step 1. Create Your Shortcut

Shortcuts is a built-in iPhone app that allows you to automate processes on your iPhone. You can use it to do lots of things, like monitor your daily water intake or turn your iPhone into a baby monitor.

If you’ve deleted the app, you can simply go to App Store to download Shortcuts again. It’s free. Once you have it, follow these steps:

  1. Open Shortcuts.
  2. Tap the Gallery tab.
  3. Type GIF into the search bar.
  4. Choose Video to GIF > Add Shortcut.

Related: The Best GIF Maker Apps for Your Smartphone

Step 2. Run the Video to GIF Shortcut

You can now proceed to make a GIF from your videos. If you don’t have videos yet, now is the time to take them. Once you have your video ready, follow these steps:

  1. Open Shortcuts and go to My Shortcuts.
  2. Tap the Video to GIF shortcut.
  3. If this is your first time running the shortcut, a prompt will appear, asking for access to your photos. Tap OK.
  4. Choose a video. You can choose a specific clip from the video by moving the sliders on either side of the video timeline. The yellow border surrounding the video timeline indicates the selected portion of your video timeline.
  5. Hit Save. Take note that once you hit Save, you can no longer undo the GIF. If you’re not happy with the result, you have to make a new one by running the shortcut again.
  6. You’ll be shown a preview of your GIF. Tapping Done will allow you to exit the preview, but will not save your GIF.
  7. If you want to save your GIF, tap the Share button. Scroll down and tap Save Image to save it to Photos or Save to Files to keep it in Files. You can also send it directly to your friends through Messages, Mail, and other social media apps.

Modifications and Information About the Shortcut

Based on our trial and error, this shortcut cannot make GIFs from videos with lengths of 20 seconds and more. Since the shortcut doesn’t show the duration, it’s best to check your video’s length beforehand. You’ll find it indicated on the thumbnail on your video in the Photos app.

To make it easier for you to select videos, you can modify the shortcut so that it only suggests videos shorter than 20 seconds. To do this:

  1. Go to Shortcuts > My Shortcuts.
  2. Tap the ellipsis () icon by the Video to GIF shortcut.
  3. On the Find All Photos where action, tap Add Filter. A default Album is Recents option will appear. Tap Album and change it to Duration. Tap is and change it to is shorter than. Lastly, tap anything hours and change it to 20 seconds.
  4. Tap Done.

Related: How to Make GIFs From Your Burst Photos on iPhone

We also mentioned earlier that the shortcut will make your GIF, but it won't automatically save it. That means after you preview the GIF, you'll lose it unless you save it. If you want to keep your GIF in Photos or Files automatically, do the following:

  1. Go back to My Shortcuts.
  2. Tap the ellipsis () icon by the Video to GIF shortcut.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom and tap the plus button (+).
  4. Type Save in the search bar.
  5. Choose Save File to allow Shortcuts to save your GIF to your iCloud Drive or Dropbox or choose Save to Photo Album to add your GIF to Photos.

Turn Your iPhone Into a GIF Machine

GIFs are a terrific way to express yourself or add fun to conversations. With iPhone’s shortcuts, making GIFs is a breeze. You’ll no longer have a hard time finding the GIF that best fits the situation—just make it yourself!