Vine for Android Has a Key Feature That iOS App Lacks

Twitter’s released its Vine video-recording/sharing app in January, and it quickly went viral. Vine already has about 13 million users, according to Twitter. And it’s become a verb already – as in, “Hey, let’s Vine that!” A Vine film festival can’t be far behind.

Teenagers apparently love Vine. One such teenager recently “broke the code” by posting a three-and-a-half minute Rick Astley music video to Vine servers, where all videos are limited in length to six seconds. The 16-year-old actress who plays Arya Stark on Game of Thrones also recently Vined her reaction to the most recent, and highly bloody, episode of the HBO show.

Hype aside, Vine is an addictive, and creative, new form of social-media expression. If nothing else, it’s worth downloading for some of the Editor’s Choice videos. Many are senseless and self-centered, but there are gems, too.

Until yesterday, Vine was strictly an iPhone phenom. Now Vine is also available for Android. (Version 4.0 and up.) Unfortunately, several features in the iOS app are missing from the Android version. For example:

• You can’t use your Android’s front-facing camera to record a #selfie, and trust me, #selfies are big on Vine;
• You can’t include mentions and hashtags in your Vine description—a big omission;
• There’s no way to search Vines or post Vines to Facebook.

Vine on Android does, however, include one coveted feature Vine for iOS lacks: the ability to zoom in on your videos. You can use your device’s volume control to zoom while you’re recording a video.

Thankfully, Twitter says the iOS and Android apps will soon have comparable feature sets. For now, you can check out Vine on Android, but prepare to either get quickly addicted, quickly annoyed—or a little of both.   

(Screen shot by Twitter)