How to make your profile picture a video on Facebook: Who can do it?
Not everyone will be able to make their profile picture a video on Facebook just yet. It’s currently limited to iPhone and iPad users, and even then it’s only people in the UK and California who’ve got access to the update at the moment. Facebook is slowly rolling out the feature so keep an eye out for its availability in your area in the near future.
How to make your profile picture a video on Facebook: What does it look like and who will see it?
Your timeline isn’t about to become full of moving profile pictures, don’t worry. It’s only when you visit someone’s profile that you’ll discover whether they’ve added a video as their profile picture or not.
If they have, you’ll find that it’ll be just a few seconds long, a bit like Apple’s new Live Photos feature or the ever-popular GIFs.
If you fit into the selection of people currently able to use the new profiles, follow the instructions in the rest of this article to add a video as your Facebook profile picture.
How to make your profile picture a video on Facebook: Capture a video
The first think you’ll need to do is open the Facebook app on your iPhone or iPad and navigate to your profile by clicking More at the bottom right of the app, and then choosing your name. Alternatively, you can tap your current profile picture, which appears at the top left of the screen.
Once you’ve arrived on your profile, you should notice that your profile picture, situated in the middle of the screen, has a flashing camera/video camera icon. You can now choose to ‘Take a New Profile Video’ or ‘Upload a Video or Photo.’
How to make your profile picture a video on Facebook: Preview your video
If you choose to take a new profile video, you’ll be taken to the camera app on your iPhone. Tapping the red button will start the recording, which’ll capture whatever’s on screen for seven seconds after an initial three-second countdown. That video will then play on a loop so you can preview what it’ll look like on your home page.
If you’re happy, tap next.
How to make your profile picture a video on Facebook: Choose a thumbnail
You’ll now be able to choose a thumbnail that’ll be used as the profile picture displayed on the Timeline and News Feed. We’ve gone for a light-up rubber duck as our profile video, so we’ll pick a thumbnail of the duck when it’s at its brightest.
Tap save, and your video will be your new profile picture. Any time someone visits your profile on their iOS device or on their computer, they’ll see your profile video.
How to make your profile picture a video on Facebook: Upload a clip
If you want to upload a video that you’ve already created as your Facebook profile it’ll need to be less than seven seconds long in order to work, so annoyingly you’ll need to edit it first. We hope this is a feature Facebook will be working on fixing soon.
The new Facebook features are currently available for iOS in limited regions, but will be coming to Android and other countries and locations shortly.
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Ashleigh is Tech Advisor’s Head of Affiliate. Providing expert buying advice you can trust is her forte, helping you to find the most reputable consumer tech products and services, and ensuring you don’t spend a penny more than you should.
