Instagram launches Boomerang app to record 1 second video loops

Instagram has launched a new app today, that lets you create one-second video loops.

Boomerang, as the app is called, has a bare bones interface; a button to switch between rear and selfie camera and a record button. Once you hit the shutter button, the app records a video just one second long, but that's not all it plays. What it does is play the video, play it once more in reverse, and then loop entirely a second time. That's a total of four seconds in which you can capture the sort of inifinite loop GIF you're probably familiar with. But it's actually neither a standard video, nor a GIF. What the app does is record a burst of still photos in quick succession and then stitch them together in mp4 format.. 

You can then post the video to Instagram or Facebook with quick-share buttons on the app, or click through a menu to share it another way. Boomerang is available on both iOS and Android, and it's a small enough package to even warrant downloading just to try out.