Her flight landed 40 minutes ago.
Text Story Maker · a browser studio
The format the apps
made famous.
The studio it deserved.
A text story is a drama told through a phone: the messages are the script, the phone is the set and the delivery is the acting. The texting story apps made the format a household format. This is where it grows up: 20+ chat skins, AI story writing, real narration, gameplay behind the scenes and a 4K export. In your browser, no install.
Start free. The AI Story Writer costs one credit. Over 20 skins included.
The Last Message
She never got on the plane.
Then who is texting me right now?
3 partskeeps them reading
A story with three moving parts.
People watch text stories for the same reason they watch dialogue scenes: the words do the work. Which means the three things that decide whether your story lands are the script, the set and the acting. Everything on this page is one of those three.
The script
The messages are the writing. A hook that opens cold, escalation in short lines, a turn the viewer did not expect and a landing that pays the setup. The AI Story Writer drafts this from one sentence when you do not have it yet.
The set
The skin is the world: WhatsApp, iMessage, a Nokia 3310 from 2000, AIM from 2001. Behind it, the backdrop: a solid color, a curated pattern, your own image or gameplay footage running under the whole story.
The acting
Delivery is performance: typing that feels human (false starts, typos, burst sends), a pause before the line that matters, a message left unsent, a thought the viewer reads but the character never sends.
Every story outgrows its app.
The texting story apps are a genuinely great on-ramp: install, type, export, post. Then you hit the ceiling. One skin. A watermark. No voices. Nothing between the lines. The story stays the same; the format stops being enough for it. Here is the honest spread.
The texting story apps
- One look, the app own skin
- Phone only: film the screen or export small
- Watermarks unless you pay
- Text and nothing else
- A voice? Buy a separate app and hope it syncs
The browser studio
- Over 20 skins, retro included, plus full control of colors and fonts
- A real render pipeline: 480p, 1080p, 4K, MP4, GIF or WebM
- Paid plans export clean, no watermark
- Images, GIFs, video, audio and cinematic cards between the lines
- Narration built in or your own voice per message
The upgrade path keeps everything: your story imports as text, picks up a skin, gains a voice and grows backdrops. Nothing is rewritten, nothing restarts.
Silence is a choice, not a limit.
The app version of a text story is mute text. Here the story can speak three ways: a narrator voice reading it like an audiobook, your own recordings on the messages that need a human or a full phone call switch when the scene escalates past typing. Whichever lane you pick, the voices ride the export in the mix.
- The narrator. One voice for the whole story, per scene or per message.
- Your own voice. Upload a recording per message, up to 1 MB each.
- The call switch. Flip a conversation to As A Call: ring, voices, timer.
Behind every story, a world.
A text story does not have to float on a flat background. Solid colors and curated gradients set a mood in one click. Patterns add texture. Your own image makes it yours. And gameplay footage, the satisfying-scroll look, runs under the whole story when you paste a link. Curated patterns and loops unlock on Lite; your own uploads and pasted links on Creator+.
The drama toolbox.
The devices that separate a story people finish from a screenshot that scrolls past. Each one is a real feature, each one is one click in the studio.
Typing authenticity
every planDeterministic imperfection: false starts, mid-pauses, typos and burst-sends. The same seed always replays the same plan, so the preview is the export.
Unsent messages
Lite+The viewer watches a character type, delete and send something else. The gap between impulse and restraint is the whole scene.
Thought bubbles
Lite+What the sender was thinking, above the message they actually sent. Comedy and confession in one device.
Between-message beats
every planImages, GIFs, video, audio, narrator cards, missed calls and time cards between any two messages, then the story continues exactly where it left off.
Gameplay backdrops
Lite / Creator+Curated loops on Lite, your own footage or a pasted link on Creator+. The satisfying-scroll look under the whole drama.
Voice, either way
Lite+One narrator voice for the story, your own recordings per message or a phone call switch for the scene that needs to escalate.
EP 01
The format, full screen
Story Mode: one message per scene, held until the narration finishes.
EP 02The narrated cut
Paste a story or a Reddit thread, pick a voice and export the vertical video.
EP 03The escalation
Switch the story into a phone call: the ring, the voices, the timer.
EP 04The interruptions
Everything that can land between two messages: media, cards, missed calls.
What is a text story video?
A drama told through a phone: the messages are the script, the phone is the set and the delivery is the acting. The format got famous through the texting story apps and now runs some of the biggest serialized accounts on TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
Do I need to install an app?
No. ChatAnimate runs in the browser. The texting story apps made the format easy on a phone; a studio makes it unlimited: 20+ chat skins, narration, real backdrops and up to 4K export.
Can the story write itself?
The AI Story Writer drafts a complete conversation from a one-line premise: characters, escalation and a landing. It costs one credit and everything it writes stays editable.
Can I add voices?
Yes. Pick a narrator voice for the whole story or flip to your own recordings per message, up to 1 MB each. Voices ride the export, not just the preview.
Can it look like WhatsApp or iMessage?
Both and more: Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, Slack and the retro sets: AIM 2001, MSN 2004, ICQ 1999, the Nokia 3310, BlackBerry BBM and MySpace 2006. Over 20 skins, each with its own typing and sound details.
Is it free to start?
Yes. The free plan exports one video a month at 480p with a watermark. Lite removes the watermark, unlocks 1080p and adds uploads.
Start the story
Every great series starts with episode one.