The Galaxy S9 and S9+ may run the same version of Android and Samsung's Experience UX as the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, but being the latest and greatest from the Korean giant, the S9 and S9+ also come with some new functionality that isn't available on the 2017 flagships. Most of this functionality is littered throughout the interface and Samsung's proprietary apps in such a way that if you don't go looking for them, you won't notice they're there. One such instance is the camera app: On the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, the camera app has a new option that lets you decide what holding down the shutter button will do.
Galaxy S9 lets you hold camera button to record GIFs
On devices other than the Galaxy S9, holding the camera shutter button will take a burst shot (multiple photos in quick succession, which you can peruse and pick the best picture from). But on the S9, thanks to a new setting in the camera app, you can record GIFs by long-pressing the shutter button. In fact, this is the only way one can directly record GIFs on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ through the camera app. The dedicated Animated GIF mode that we saw on last year's phones is not available on the Galaxy S9, which seems a bit extreme as many users may not find the necessary camera setting that lets them take GIFs by holding the shutter button.
But that's exactly why this post exists, so let's see how you can switch to taking GIFs in the camera by long-pressing the shutter button.
Step 1: Open the camera app on your Galaxy S9 or S9+.
Step 2: Open the camera settings by tapping the wheel/cog icon on the bottom left of the screen (or the bottom right if you're holding the phone in landscape orientation).
Step 3: Scroll down to the bottom of the settings menu to find the Hold Camera button to option.
Step 4: Tap Hold Camera button to and select Create GIF.
That's it. You can now press and hold the shutter button in the camera to record GIFs. These are saved to your gallery like regular photos and videos and can be shared with others through any app that supports GIFs.
Check out more Galaxy S9 tips, and if you haven't already, take a look at our Galaxy S9 review.
