Instagram just released a new app to join their ever-expanding empire of imagery, including Hyperlapse, Layout and of course their signature filter-y photo app. However, their newest app has the potential to hugely change the way we document our lives through our phones.

Boomerang, the mobile photo-sharing social network's newest addition to their app family, was just announced through their blog and is already available for download.

"It’s not a photo. It’s not a GIF. It’s a Boomerang," the Instagram blog states. "Boomerang takes a burst of photos and stitches them together into a high-quality mini video that plays forward and backward. Shoot in portrait or landscape."

Boomerang automatically saves your creations to your camera roll, and you can export them right into Instagram from the app. The one downside is that Boomerang isn't part of Instagram proper, since you have to download a separate app.

If you're skeptical of ~yet another~ image format or think this new app just makes short GIFs that move forward and backward, think of it this way: a Boomerang is closer to a Vine than a GIF based on the possibilities for comedy alone.

Also, the time a Boomerang plays is so short (about seven frames) that it's close to a still image, too. The truth is, the restriction of it's format means that there's going to be so many opportunities for creative brains to make Boomerangs that are unlike any images we've ever seen. And that's pretty exciting.

Check out their introduction video below.