GIFs have become the go-to tool for most people on the Internet to communicate their emotions in a jiffy. They're definitely a great way to add a playful twist to your videos. And converting your videos into GIFs is a piece of cake on your iPhone.

The only hurdle? Actually choosing the app you want to use for this task because there are plenty of them. But you don't have to go on the hunt for a third party in the App Store. You already have an app on your iPhone that'll get the job done quickly and efficiently. "Which app is that?" I was getting to it. The Shortcuts app!

The Shortcuts app has a nifty little shortcut for converting Videos to GIFs that you can easily access. It also allows you to trim the video before converting it to a GIF. Just follow these simple steps.

  1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone from the Home Screen or the App Library.
  2. Then, switch to the 'Gallery' tab from the bottom menu.
  3. Go to the search bar.
  1. Type 'Video to GIF'. The shortcut will appear in the results. Tap on it.
  2. Then, tap on 'Add Shortcut'.
  1. Now, go to the 'Shortcuts' tab from the bottom menu.
  2. Tap on the shortcut to run it.
  1. It will open the list of videos in your phone's gallery even if the screen says "Choose Image". Note that it won't show your live photos. Tap on the video to select it.
  2. You can also say "Siri, Video to GIF" to run it. Siri will show your videos; tap on the one you want to convert to GIF.
  1. In the next step, you can trim it. Move the chevrons on either side of the scrubber to trim the video.

    The only caveat with using this shortcut is that even if the video is too long, you can go to the next step without trimming it. You won't get any warning prompts, but the shortcut will fail in the end.
  2. The selected part of the video will be highlighted in yellow. After trimming the video, tap on 'Save' in the top-right corner.
  1. A preview for the GIF will appear. Tapping 'Done' in the top-right corner of the screen will close the GIF, and by default, it is not saved. Tap on the 'Share' icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  2. Then, save the GIF to your gallery or share it using another app.
  1. You can edit the shortcut to save the GIF to your gallery by default. Go to the 'My Shortcuts' tab and tap the 'three-dot' menu icon on the top-right corner of the shortcut thumbnail.
  2. The details for the shortcut will open. Scroll down to the end.
  3. Then, tap 'Save to Photo Album' under 'Next Action Suggestions'.
  4. Tap 'Done' in the top-right corner to close the shortcut. This will modify the shortcut to save the GIF to your Recents album in the Photos app by default.

The Shortcuts app provides an easy way to convert videos to GIFs directly from your iPhone's gallery. With just a few taps, you can trim a video clip and save it as a looping GIF to share with anyone. If you want a more controlled experience, you can install a third-party app from the App Store, such as GIPHY, GIF Maker, IMGPlay, etc.