Tumblr, the magical land of neverending GIFs and whimsical fandoms, is about to get livelier. The social network dropped a new version of its iPhone app that supports Apple's new Live Photos. Available on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, Live Photos are brief, animated images taken with the phone's camera that capture the second before and after the photo is shot.
This update makes Tumblr the first social network to support Live Photos, beating Facebook and Twitter to the punch. The new app also enables 3D Touch special features, letting you do a quick Tumblr search when you press hard on the app icon, or get a preview of someone's full Tumblr by pressing hard on a name or avatar in your feed.
To share a Live Photo
1. Open the Tumblr app on your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus. Make sure you've already updated to the latest version of the app (your phone should do this automatically, but you can check by looking at Updates in the App Store).
2. Tap the pencil icon at the bottom of the screen.
3. Select Photo
4. Filter your media to show just stills, GIFs or Live photos by tapping one of the labels at the bottom of the screen.
5. Pick the picture you want to post.
6. Tap Next at the top right.
7. Enter a caption if you'd like, then hit Post at the top left.
After your image is uploaded, you'll hold down on the image to watch the animation. As you're browsing your Tumblr feed, Live Photos will be identified with a concentric circle, sun-like icon on the top left of the image. Press down on these images and they'll come to life. You'll have to be running at least iOS 9.1 for the Live Photos feature to work.
The new features make it slightly easier to explore Tumblr on your iPhone 6s, although it will take some learning to remember the new shortcuts. Other 3D Touch features include pressing down on the camera icon to quickly snap a selfie or video, on the Messages app to quickly text your favorite contacts and on the Clock app to set an alarm.
I don't find myself using these shortcuts very often, since I forget they exist, but those who have picked up the habit of using 3D Touch will likely enjoy the new Tumblr enhancements.
