Gfycat launches mobile GIF creator for Android

Gfycat is launching Gfycat Loops for Android today to enable people to create simple high-quality animated GIFs.

The company released the Gfycat Loops app for free on the Google Play store. It lets people create GIFs on the go. It can capture images from augmented reality games, such as Pokémon Go, or from screen recordings, gallery video content, and video links, as well as from a smartphone’s cameras.

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“We’ve heard from our users for a while that the ability to create and share content on the go is very important to them, and our Android app meets that need with unrivaled ease of use,” said Gfycat’s CEO Richard Rabbat, in a statement. “We’re focused on providing frictionless GIF creation for everyone from artists to casual users. Our philosophy is that if you give creators good tools, they bring their audiences to your platform.”

The app also provides curated high-quality GIFs organized into reaction categories.

“Gfycat’s decision to enable screen recording GIFs as a feature was driven by recent shifts in mobile gaming towards augmented reality,” said Rabbat. “With the rise of games like Pokémon Go, we’re seeing a growing demand for creating gaming content while on the move. We are witnessing increasingly sophisticated use of AR in mobile gaming, and Gfycat is poised to capture the AR gaming revolution.”

All GIFs, both curated and user created, are stored in the cloud for easy access across mobile and Web. On Android, this allows Gfycat to support Facebook Messenger, SMS, email, and WhatsApp for the first time. Gfycat Loops also extends support for social networks to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Other social networks are supported through simple link sharing or through Android’s easy sharing dialog.

This cross-platform sharing is part of Gfycat’s long-term strategy, said Rabbat.

He said, “Gfycat has always been focused on making it as simple as possible to create beautiful content and share it with your network.”

Gfycat raised a $10 million seed round in September, and it has 18 employees.