The Social Media Scene Is Getting Lively! WeChat Embraces Live Photos as Smartphone Makers Vie for New Battlegrounds

The Social Media Scene Is Getting Lively! WeChat Embraces Live Photos as Smartphone Makers Vie for New BattlegroundsRecently, there was controversy surrounding whether the iPhone 16 series would support WeChat. However, the drama ended with Apple's approval of the WeChat iOS 8

The Social Media Scene Is Getting Lively! WeChat Embraces Live Photos as Smartphone Makers Vie for New Battlegrounds

Recently, there was controversy surrounding whether the iPhone 16 series would support WeChat. However, the drama ended with Apple's approval of the WeChat iOS 8.0.51 version update. Though the WeChat team remained nonchalant, stating they "fixed some known issues" in their update log, they actually had a big surprise in store for iOS users. On September 19th, the WeChat Pai WeChat Official Account published an article officially announcing that Moments now supports Live Photos.

This feature is being gradually rolled out to iOS 8.0.51 and above, and users who cannot yet view or send them will have to wait for a hot update. As of this writing, WeChat has pushed out the iOS 8.0.52 version, but some users are still unable to post or view Live Photos.

While Live Photos are not a new feature, they have become one of the hottest topics this year. For example, the OPPO Reno 12 series became a popular new phone because it was the first to support posting Live Photos on Xiaohongshu. Vivo and Honor have also announced their first models that support Live Photo posting. This shows that securing the Live Photo feature on social media platforms has become a battleground for smartphone manufacturers.

Why Are Moments Photos Now Dynamic?

iOS users are no strangers to Live Photos. Live Photo, launched with the iPhone 6S in 2015, captures approximately a 3-second video simultaneously with a still photo. Users can activate Live Photos in their photo library using 3D Touch, and the static photo will automatically play the video with accompanying sound.

Functionally, Live Photos are inherently designed for social sharing, offering quick recording, ease of use, and convenient sharing. In 2016, the well-known social media platform Tumblr became one of the first apps to support posting and viewing Live Photos, followed by Instagram a few months later. In China, the most proactive social media platform has been Weibo. Even before Tumblr, Weibo rolled out an update in its final public beta version towards the end of 2015 to support Live Photo posting and viewing, but it was temporarily removed due to technical issues and reinstated in 2019.

Although Apple laid the groundwork for the Live Photo ecosystem nine years ago, not many social media platforms have actively supported it. Currently, only mainstream platforms like Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Facebook (Meta), X, and Instagram support it. With the recent update, WeChat has finally joined the "Live Photo Family" by allowing users to post and view Live Photos in Moments.

According to the official announcement, the update will be rolled out gradually, meaning even if your app version is 8.0.51, you'll need to wait for official adaptation. I only just received the hot update today, enabling me to post and view Live Photos. However, after using it, I feel there's still room for improvement. For instance, Moments Live Photos cannot disable original sound, and there's a chance the photo might be flipped when posting Live Photos.

Furthermore, this feature is currently only available for iOS, and Android users may need to wait for a subsequent update. WeChat official data shows that, as of the end of 2023, Moments has 900 million views and 300 million posts, meaning at least half of all WeChat users check Moments almost daily. It's no exaggeration to say that Moments is one of the hottest social features today. WeChat joining the "Live Photo Family" is bound to spark a Live Photo wave.

OPPO Takes the Lead, Android Phones Embrace Live Photos

Live Photos haven't been a secret for the past few years. After Apple, HTC, Samsung, and Xiaomi have also launched their own animated photo modes, utilizing similar principles. Currently, almost all phone brands support capturing animated photos, but they vary in format and presentation, lacking a standardized approach.

OPPO was the first brand to break the barrier of Android platforms being unable to share Live Photos on social media. With the Reno 12 series released earlier this year, OPPO announced that these models support posting and viewing Live Photos on Xiaohongshu. While this feature is currently exclusive to the Reno 12 series, it is rumoured that the Find X8 series will also be among the first to support it.

Ultimately, whether or not to support Live Photos comes down to a game between platforms and manufacturers. As mentioned earlier, Live Photos essentially capture a still image and a three-second video simultaneously. On iOS, Apple has designed a dedicated recognition mechanism that allows developers to directly utilize corresponding code to identify Live Photos. However, Android lacks a unified standard. If developers need to recognize their own solutions, platforms will need to proactively adapt.

Xiaohongshu has been the most efficient in this regard, currently supporting posting and viewing from models from Vivo, iQOO, and Honor, and is expected to integrate more brands in the future.

Following Xiaohongshu, Weibo has also added the ability to view Live Photos in a recent update to its Android client, but posting is not yet supported. The previous lack of enthusiasm from phone manufacturers towards Live Photo adaptation was partly due to imaging technology. As mentioned earlier, Live Photos are essentially a video. Early Android manufacturers did not pay much attention to video recording until recently, when they gradually matured in hardware and algorithms, with models like OPPO Find X7 Ultra and vivo X100 Ultra making video recording a core selling point.

On the other hand, mobile imaging has reached a technical peak. Regardless of which brand's imaging flagship you choose, it's hard to differentiate. Especially with hardware becoming relatively standardized, manufacturers are seeking more user-friendly ways to engage users. For example, this year's imaging flagships have focused on concert situations. On the one hand, concerts are indeed challenging scenarios with lighting, stages, and long distances, highlighting the imaging capabilities. On the other hand, capturing concert experiences to share on Moments, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, etc., is a popular social practice among young people.

Ultimately, phone manufacturers are targeting Live Photos for two reasons: 1) To continue exploring the fun features of mobile imaging by partnering with social media platforms to showcase their brand's uniqueness and increase user engagement; and 2) To compete with Apple and acquire users. The trend in the second half of this year's smartphone market is to weaken the differentiation of the iOS ecosystem. Android manufacturers are also implementing features like Live Photos and AirDrop, and even aiming to do them better.

Live Photos = "Light Videos," The Video Trend is Unstoppable

Earlier, a Douyin topic titled "Live Photos Make Those Dynamics Traceable" went viral, with many users sharing their "unexpected" photos captured using the Live Photo feature, which was quite enjoyable. Live Photos' popularity can be attributed to their difference from static images. Live Photos can display a few seconds of dynamic footage with a light tap, not only freezing the shooting moment but also adding more emotion and detail. This unique presentation makes photos more than just still images, offering a dynamic, lifelike experience. Sharing Live Photos is more likely to resonate with friends and followers because these dynamic snippets tend to convey more stories and emotions than static images.

Why do people prefer "photos that can move" over "short videos" or "GIFs"? This might be related to the rise of short video culture. In recent years, the emergence of short video platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou has fostered a user preference for dynamic content. Live Photos, in a way, combine the advantages of static photos and short videos, maintaining the simplicity of images while adding the fun and interactivity of short videos. This lightweight way of expressing video content doesn't require complex editing and offers a similar social sharing experience to short videos, aligning with modern users' fast-paced and concise content consumption habits.

From a smartphone manufacturer's perspective, in a market where mobile imaging is almost saturated, returning to the basics might be a better approach. Stimulating user demand by adding ways to share photography work, exploring a new track. Therefore, I speculate that in the not-too-distant future, whether on iOS, Android, or the upcoming HarmonyOS NEXT, Live Photos will become one of the most important photography sharing methods.