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How to use AR stickers in Google’s Motion Stills app on Android

Yesterday Google pushed out a major update to the Motion Stills application. On top of the app’s redesign, Google added an ‘AR Mode’ which allows you to place AR stickers around you. Here’s how to use them…

Steps to using AR stickers in Google’s Motion Stills app

  1. Download Motion Stills
  2. Place AR stickers and capture footage
  3. Edit and share the footage

1. Download Motion Stills

The first step is to download the Motion Stills application from the Google Play Store. If you already have it installed, make sure you’re running version 2.0 of the app.

2. Place AR stickers and capture footage

When you first launch the app, you will see the primary interface that allows you to capture a motion still. To the left, you should see an option for AR Mode. Tap on that and a row of different animated figures should appear.

While Motion Stills typically places one of the AR stickers automatically into the scene, the app will sometimes ask you to select a surface for the object to be placed onto. By default, the green dinosaur will be chosen, but you can scroll through the different options (dinosaur, gingerbread, alien, robot, chicken, and planet) and select which one you want to be displayed.

Unfortunately, it seems as though you’re limited to using only one AR sticker at a time, unlike with the Pixel 2’s AR Mode. Once a sticker is placed, though, you can readjust its height and position by pinching it.

When you’ve got your AR sticker all set up the way you want it, you can tap on the shutter button to start recording. Once you’re finished, tap the button again to save the video.

Use the images below to help if you get lost along the way.

3. Edit and share the footage

With your AR sticker footage captured, it’s time to edit and share it. First, tap on the little gallery box in the lower left corner to see a camera roll of everything captured in the app. Next, select the clip you wish to edit. If you want to share the clip as a video, you have the choice to leave the background sound on or off by tapping on the speaker icon. Don’t worry about this option if you’re sharing it as a GIF.

The icon next to the speaker lets you choose how the clip will be played. By default, it just loops starts to finish. If you select the icon with the two arrows pointing inward, it will loop back and forth. The icon with the two arrows pointing to the right will speed up the footage. You can tap on it multiple times to increase the clip’s playback speed up to 8 times the original speed.

If you want to share the clip now that it’s edited, select the share button on the right side of the screen. After you choose whether you want it sent as a GIF or a video, the app will process the material and then offer you different services that the footage can be shared with.

At any time, if you don’t want to save the footage, you can select the trash can icon in the lower right corner.

If you have any questions, make sure to leave them in the comment section below or hit me up on Twitter.


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Avatar for Justin Duino Justin Duino

I’m a writer for 9to5Google with a background in IT and Android development. Follow me on Twitter to read my ramblings about tech and email me at justin@jaduino.com. Tips are always welcome.