What are Live Photos on Apple’s iPhone 6s and above?
A Live Photo is a combination of a 3 second .mov file and a .jpeg still photo that is taken automatically when you press the shutter button in the camera app IF Live Photos is turned on.
What can you do with Live Photos?
Live Photos have three separate editing effects that you can add to the photo; Loop, Bounce, or Long Exposure. The loop will just replay the 3 seconds over and over again from the beginning. Bounce will play forward, then backwards, then forwards, etc. Long Exposure creates an image where all the images taken within the 3 seconds are overlaid to create a soft look. In my opinion these effects are best used with photos of nature, like waterfalls, flowing rivers, etc. but not as much for people.
To access these effects you will need to open the photo on your iPhone and swipe up. You will see Live is highlighted and you will have Loop, Bounce, or Long Exposure effects to the right. Select the one you want and it will save that effect to your photo. Simply swipe up again to change back to Live or to a different effect.
You can share Live Photos in Facebook within the Facebook app, but not from the link within the Photos app on your phone. Sadly you are not able to share any of the Live effects you might’ve used. Facebook only gives you the option to share it as Live or as a still photo.Instagram doesn’t support Live Photos at this time without the use of a third party app like Lively.
Live Photos are fun but they take up about twice as much space as a regular still photo. They can also cause a grainier looking photo if taking photos in a lower light situation. Unless you are going to take the time to create fun effects, in my opinion, it is best to have Live Photos turned off as your default setting so all your Photos are not Live Photos.
How to turn Live Photos off and preserve your settings.
Go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings
Toggle the Live Photo button to green to keep Live Photos off as your default.

You can also check within the camera app as you are ready to take a photo. This is a quick way to verify your settings or to change from one to the other to take a photo. Just be sure to change back because the camera app will default to your last used setting the next time you take a photo.