Vine: What is Vine?

Lesson 1: What is Vine?

What is Vine?

Vine is a popular video-sharing app for smartphones, and there are a few things that make it unique. For example, each video on Vine can only be six seconds long. And once a video ends, it will start playing again—that's why Vine is called a looping video app.

Vine was discontinued in January 2017. If you're interested in sharing short videos, we recommend using Twitter.

Why use Vine?

OK, we admit it: Six seconds may not seem long enough for a video, but it's amazing what you can do in such a short time. Think of it as a way to capture the tiniest moments from your day and then share them with your friends. And it's not just about creating and sharing your own stuff. There are a ton of creative, funny, and just plain goofy people on Vine, which makes it easy to discover new videos. Want to see for yourself? Check out a few of our favorite Vines below.

Note that these Vines do have sound, unlike most of the ones we'll use in this tutorial. Just click or tap the sound icon in the top-left corner of the video to hear the sound.

Is Vine appropriate for everyone?

Not all Vine videos are appropriate for everyone, especially children under the age of 13. While there are some clear rules about what kind of videos you can and cannot post, removing a video requires someone from the Vine community to report it as inappropriate. And because Vine does not offer parental controls, there's no specific way to prevent someone with the app from viewing certain videos.

About this tutorial

Rather than use traditional screenshots and videos, we created our own Vine videos to show you how to use the app—you'll find these embedded throughout the tutorial!