ImgPlay: GIF Maker & Meme

*updated* I wanted to update my review after the response from the developer. I appreciated them listening to my frustration and I checked the app and the option to max out a file size when saving is back to being a free feature. Thank you for not only listening but also deciding to reverse that paywall. I really missed being able to use this app. I really liked this app and used it frequently but suddenly the feature of choosing the max file size to save the gif as is locked behind a paywall. It's really frustrating. Many times the gifs save in such large file sizes even with low quality selected so that was a great feature. Resize is already locked behind the paywall so why is something so simple as a file size choice suddenly a pay only feature? I'll be trying to find an alternative unless this decision gets reversed which I truly hope you'd consider doing.

I want to preface with saying I am usually not a fan of apps with subscriptions models with no option to buy a lifetime license nor offer a “pay-once” option. *For the developer(s) who is/are reading this*- please understand I can appreciate why subscription models exist to support your business and allow you to continue with keeping bugs at bay & updates active. *For others looking to potentially download this app*- Hopefully my candor with this quick review helps others know that this is not a bot/astroturfed review. That said, I found this app leagues above other video->gif converter apps for a few reasons! (1.) The UX/UI is clean & intuitive. (2.) The fps of the gif is up to the user (lovely!) with a range from 15fps to 30fps. (3.) There is a “weekly” subscription model (as well as the usual monthly & yearly you may see on other apps)…. so while I’m usually not a fan of subscriptions (I’m more of a lifetime-license/buy-it-once fan), I am grateful to the dev for making this “weekly” option available for folks who only want to use their app for once-in-a-while situations

Overall easy to use and nice quality clips result. I like the option to save as a GIF or a short video clip. Only feature I wish it had (or, maybe it does but I can’t find it?) is the ability to condense video clips longer than about 20 seconds. I can go in after the clip has been selected and remove individual frames to condense the movie into less frames, but I can only do that after the 20 second (max) section of the original video has already been selected. If I could remove frames before that point, I could condense longer videos than what I can using this app. Still, even with that limitation, the app has a lot of tools to allow you to manipulate different aspects of the length, speed, contrast, color effects, and to add in text to some or all of the clip. Also, the text options are great, especially the ability to change the background color and opacity where the text is, so that the text is easy to read (some apps don’t have that option). I very much appreciate that this is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription. This makes it a good bargain for a relatively high quality app that is somewhat comparable to some of the subscription-based apps, but a much better investment. There is a small watermark that remains in the GIF images even once you’ve purchased the app, but it is much smaller than the free version. It doesn’t bother me, but some folks might appreciate knowing that purchasing the app results in a much smaller/more discrete watermark, though there still is a symbol present in the lower right corner.