This little-known Instagram Stories trick is an easier way to turn your iPhone photos into Boomerangs

Toru Hanai/Reuters

Facebook is constantly updating Instagram to help it stay competitive; occasionally, a smaller feature goes unnoticed in the midst of larger app updates.

One of those little-known features is what you can do with Live Photos on your Instagram Story. If you upload a Live Photo the way you would any other picture or video and hold it down, it comes to life and turns into a boomerang - the popular GIF-like video that goes back and forth (and back again).

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It's a useful little trick since Live Photos often unexpectedly turn into better boomerangs than the ones you plan. And while the iOS 11 update does let you do that same thing in the camera roll itself (scroll down from the photo and you'll see an option to convert to "Bounce"), this is a good alternative if you don't want it to be saved that way to your camera roll permanently.

If you're new to Live Photos or Instagram Stories, here's a quick run-through: