Messaging has always been popular. All you have to do is observe the likes of SnapChat, WhatsApp, Yik Yak, Facebook Messenger and iMessage to decipher the dominant form of online communication.
But text doesn’t have to be … text-like. Legend, a new iPhone app by Stupeflix — the makers of Replay and Steady video apps — drops into the scene with a new take on animated messaging. Unlike emoji and stickers, which impart a creative visual display to text messages, Legend is all text, but with a twist.
Creating a Legend is as easy as, well, texting. Just write your text, choose an animation style and a color, filter or background combo, and then you’re all set to share your message as a video or GIF on Instagram, iMessage, WhatsApp or you name it. You can also add a photo or video background from your own Camera Roll, if you wish.
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Note that Legend works intelligently: While there are hundreds of animated text styles and backgrounds built into the app, it only shows you what it deems to be the most appropriate six. “The app chooses the best possible six choices depending on what you type, so it’s always a quick decision,” said Jeff Boudier, Stupeflix’s CEO. “It also tries to understand your text.”
Legend not only suggests the best designs for your specific text, it also generates custom animations for numbers, ratios, distances and durations, and highlights colors, hashtags and user names. Text designs and color combinations are crafted by professional motion designers, so the results are quite pleasing.
Even with photos or videos from your camera roll, the app supplies a generous selection of text animations and color combinations. You can also share videos on Instagram, Twitter, Vine, Facebook and others.
Legend’s performance also partly depends on the status of your network, not surprisingly. Some networks (mine, for example) may experience some lag time so that you may see the animation display first as the message loads, or if you’ve used an image or video as a background, you may see that first before the message flows in.
Legend is localized in 15 languages, and is available for $1.99 on the US App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
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