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Instagram releases new app for mini video loops

Instagram releases new app for mini video loops

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Boomerang is here

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Instagram has launched a new video app called Boomerang, which will produce GIF-style clips at the click of a button. Boomerang takes a one-second burst of five photos to create a mini video loop which can be shared to the main Instagram app and Facebook. Boomerang doesn't require users to be logged in, or to even have an Instagram account, according to TechCrunch. The controls are simplistic, one shutter button when you open the app, and another screen to share the looping video you've just created.

Boomerang is Instagram's third stand-alone app

Instagram has been reluctant to add new creative features directly into its main app, and instead has been building stand-alone apps. Boomerang is the third stand-alone app from Instagram, following Hyperlapse and Layout.

"It was something we built just for fun for us to play with as a team," Boomerang product manager John Barnett told TechCrunch. The app, which was initially built by a group of five people from Instagram's Android team, soon caught on within the company and became a full-fledged product, according to TechCrunch.

Boomerang is currently rolling out on iOS and Android.