How to Animate Photos With Your Phone

Do you want to breathe life into your photos to instantly hook your viewers? You can make your favorite graphics move and animate photos in seconds with PhotoDirector, a free professional photo animation app available on iOS and Android. With pro effects like dispersion, this app shows you how to animate a picture without any photo editing experience.

1. Download PhotoDirector — The Best App To Make Moving Pictures
2. Choose the Image You Want To Enhance With Photo Animation
3. Choose Your Desired Photo Animation
4. Get Animated Photos With PhotoDirector
5. What Are the Best Photo Animation Apps?

Step 1. Download PhotoDirector — The Best App To Make Moving Pictures

The PowerDirector app is easy to start using immediately after downloading it for free from the App Store and Google Play Store. You can start exploring the app's unique photo animation features to learn how to animate a picture in seconds.

Step 2. Choose the Image You Want To Enhance With Photo Animation

Once you've downloaded PowerDirector, you should upload an image from your phone's camera roll or choose one from our media gallery powered by Shutterstock, iStock, and Unsplash. It's best to choose a picture with some movement, like a waving flag, water, or a romantic candle. The key to authentic photo animation is first finding something that moves naturally.

Step 3. Choose Your Desired Photo Animation

Finally, you should select the Animation tool and choose from our collection of photo animation features. You should feel free to browse through them to find the effect that best fits the look you want. Below are some of our most popular photo animation examples.

Tap Live To Animate Photos

Animation in Live effects lets you saturate your image with creative animation elements. Whether you want to add movement to water or wave effects to a flag in the wind, this option can do that. Here's how to try this effect:

1. Open PhotoDirector
2. Tap Edit and choose the photo you want to use
3. Select the Live option on the far right corner of the app's tools
4. Tap Animation and draw arrows to set the direction
5. Set the Anchor or apply Freeze to areas you want to keep still
6. Adjust the animation speed
7. Save your edits and export your final product as a GIF or a video

Tap Dispersion To Animate Photos

The dispersion effect is a perfect way to grab attention. Use it to create fantastic animated photos with an out-of-this-world style. Here's how to use this effect to animate photos:

1. Open the app and tap Live
2. Choose an image from your camera roll or stock library
3. Tap Dispersion
4. Use the brush tool to draw areas where you want to add dispersion effects
5. Tap Shape to choose a shape style
6. Save your edits and export your final product as a GIF or a video

With PhotoDirector, you can also edit your dispersion effect to match your style in these ways:

• Shape — pick your dispersion shape, including circles, leaves, and more
• Size — adjust the shape's size and style, from delicate strokes to larger broken pieces
• Direction — change the focus of dispersion and its overall movement
• Mode — adjust how the dispersion spreads out or fades away
• Fade — adjust the intensity of the dispersed elements and how quickly they fade away
• Speed — change how fast the dispersed elements move from the main subject

Add Animated Overlay & Stickers To Animate Photos

Suppose you don't want to animate the whole picture. In that case, you can consider adding overlays and stickers for a touch of creativity that goes a long way. You can choose from cute stickers and wraparound effects for truly unique images. Here's how to animate a picture by just adding stickers:

1. Open PhotoDirector and choose your image from your camera roll or stock library
2. Tap Elements
3. Select your favorite animated sticker from our collections of categories
4. Drag the adjustment bar to set the animation speed
5. Save your edits and export the final product as a GIF

Get Animated Photos With PhotoDirector

Find your new favorite photo animation styles on your new go-to app to make moving pictures. You can experiment with our photo animation effects to bring your creative vision to life and liven up your artwork.

Choose from animated stickers and dispersion effects to give your image movement. Personalize your animation with custom stickers, overlay effects, and much more.

What Are the Best Photo Animation Apps?

Finding the best photo animation app for iPhone or Android isn't easy. We rounded up the three best apps to animate photos on your phone. Each has numerous features to create and share photo animation in seconds. Ready to find your favorite app to make moving pictures? Here are our top three apps to animate photos:

1. PhotoDirector

PhotoDirector is a free app that makes pictures move on iOS and Android devices. It features thousands of templates, overlays, and effects. It also has excellent animated light tools, including sparkle and bokeh effects. PhotoDirector allows you to add movement to your photo animation with stickers and dispersion effects to breathe life into any picture.

2. YouCam Perfect

YouCam Perfect is a selfie editing app to make moving pictures. Available on Android and iOS, it offers tons of features to edit and animate photos. Choose from pre-designed animated effects, including sparkle, love hearts, and artsy effects to turn any image into a vibrant spectacle. YouCam Perfect has all the animation tools you need to bring your photos to life.

3. PicMonkey

PicMonkey is an easy-to-use video design and photo animation app with iOS, Android, and Desktop versions. Users can choose customizable templates, social-ready GIFs, and unique stickers to animate photos. It's a great app to make moving pictures if you want to let your imagination run wild.