Between Messages
Add images, GIFs, videos, audio and cinematic transitions between the messages of your chat story. Interrupt the conversation with the evidence photo, a looping reaction, a voicemail, a missed call or a time card, then continue exactly where it left off.
Available Where Narration is Enabled. Video and audio up to 15 seconds each.
Why interrupt
The format that works so well on TikTok, Reels and Shorts is still storytelling and stories need scenes. A texting story that stays inside the bubbles can only describe the world. The moment you flash the screenshot the argument is about, cut to the gameplay they mention or let a narrator set the mood, the story breathes. The viewer stops reading a chat and starts watching a video.
Most chat video tools give you exactly two gears: the conversation or a canned intro on the front. ChatAnimate treats the space between your messages as part of the timeline: one bold Action button in the composer with nine kinds of beat. The conversation picks up right where it left off.
The catalog
Every beat anchors after a message you pick. It shows as a slim row in the message list you can drag anywhere. On the timeline you can stretch its window.
A fullscreen photo, screenshot or product shot with optional zoom and pan motion and a caption. The Document preset frames it as a paper card for emails, receipts and webpage screenshots. The Social Post preset wraps it as an Instagram or X-style post.
Fullscreen video between conversation sections. Upload or paste a link, up to 15 seconds, fill or fit, with sound or muted. There are never any player controls: the video is a beat, not a player.
A short looping reaction. Upload a file, paste a link or search the GIF library from the picker.
An audio clip with a configurable visual: voicemail, podcast, radio or a minimal waveform. Upload or paste a link, up to 15 seconds, with volume control.
A cinematic narrator card that speaks your line with a voice you pick. Click the orange preview button to hear a voice before you choose it. The line is read aloud with its own voice, independent of the per-message narration.
The same card builder the opening uses: location cards, chapters, hook cards and title cards, now placed between any two messages. The next morning. 3 weeks earlier.
A controlled hold on black with optional text. For suspense: silence, then the conversation resumes.
The phone rings, nobody picks up, the missed-call card lands. Pick the caller, the ringtone and its volume. The window always fits at least one full ring.
An OS notification banner mid-conversation: app name, sender, preview text, the app icon and any notification sound or none.
Every beat rides along in every export, presentation and replay unchanged. Available in chat mode, thought mode and unsent drafts, on every plan including free. Each beat counts toward your plan's message cap.
Placement
The screen cuts away from the chat. The photo, video or card plays alone, the conversation continues after it. The classic cut.
Images, GIFs and audio can ride over the running conversation instead: five placements, three sizes. The story never stops typing.
Story grammar
Switch the whole context to a phone call: the ring, the voices, the timer, then back to chat.
Run gameplay or any footage behind the entire conversation, not just one beat.
Story mode builds the conversation as full-screen scenes with narration.
Transparent WebM and chroma green exports for the conversation layer inside a film.
Questions
In chat mode, click the bold Action button beside the composer, pick Image, upload or paste your photo and choose where it anchors. Pick "Place after" to anchor it between two specific messages or drag the row anywhere later.
Yes. Images, GIFs and audio get an overlay choice: a full screen beat that interrupts and hands the story back or an overlay that pops over the running conversation in one of five placements and three sizes.
Video and audio beats run up to 15 seconds. Visual beats hold between half a second and six seconds. A narrator card fits its voice automatically.
Yes. The intro and title card beat places location cards, chapters and time jumps between any two messages: The next morning, 3 weeks earlier, a chapter title or a hook card.
Yes. The missed call beat rings the phone, drops the missed-call card and hands the story back. You pick the caller, the ringtone and the volume. The window always fits at least one full ring.
The beats are available on every plan, including free. Each beat counts toward your plan message cap.
Write the conversation, drop the beats where they hit hardest, export the video. The first export is free.