Instagram launches new app Boomerang

Users can take the photos in both portrait or landscape and can be saved and shared in Instagram and other websites.

Instagram has launched Boomerang, a video app that lets you create looping videos on iOS and Android. It comes out looking sort of like a gif, but rather than looping, your clip is played in a “boomerang” fashion (get it?), back and forth, over and over again. It is not a Vine either, since it focuses on one particular moment that users want to capture like their friend sneezing or blowing birthday candles. I still believe Instagram is the place to do that (for the most part), with simple videos and photos.

According to Tech Crunch, Boomerang was originally created by five Instagram engineers in a hackathon a few months ago.

Instagram’s opening statement for the app is: “It’s not a photo”. Tap a shutter button to shoot a Bommerang sequence with either the front or back camera.

“Babies are really, really fun with Boomerang”, Barnett said.

It’s essentially a light version Apple’s Live Photos, but its big advantage is that it’s accessible to everyone, not just those with the latest iPhone.

As Instagram is head to head with fellow social media app Snapchat that has features such as animated selfie lenses and geofilters, Boomerang is more likely to improve the user’s Instagram feed more than the usual hotdog legs, elaborate table settings and sunsets. “Maybe future releases could incorporate gif creation”.

You can download Phhhoto from the Google Play Store for free.