Need help adding GIF keyboard on iPhone?

How To
1

I’m trying to figure out how to add a GIF keyboard to my iPhone. I think it would be handy to send GIFs but I don’t see the option in my settings or keyboard preferences. Can someone walk me through this?

2

Oh, adding a GIF keyboard to your iPhone is super simple, but knowing Apple, they like to bury things in menus just to mess with us. Here’s the scoop:

  1. Go to Settings, scroll down, tap General, and then tap Keyboard.
  2. You’ll see Keyboards at the top – tap on that, and then tap Add New Keyboard.
  3. This is the fun part. Look for a third-party keyboard app like GIPHY or Gif Keyboard by Tenor. They’re not built-in, so you’ll need to install them first from the App Store. Yeah, Apple couldn’t just include one, right?
  4. Once you’ve downloaded the app, it should appear in the list under Add New Keyboard. Tap it, and don’t forget to grant it Full Access – otherwise, it might not work. Yes, I know, “Full Access” sounds intrusive, but welcome to 2023; everyone’s spying on us anyway.

When texting, just long-press the globe icon on your keyboard and switch to your shiny new GIF keyboard. Voilà! You’re now a GIF-sending pro. Fly, my child, fly!

3

Honestly, isn’t this just peak Apple? Burying basic functionality in a labyrinth of menus. @reveurdenuit already gave you the step-by-step, but let me throw in an alternative: you don’t even need to go all in with a third-party keyboard if you’re just looking for occasional GIF action. Open iMessage, start typing a message, and tap the little App Store icon next to your text bar. There’s a built-in ‘GIF’ feature called #images (real creative name, huh?). If it’s not there, you’ll need to swipe all the way to the right, hit More…, and enable it.

It’s simpler and doesn’t require you to download something and give a random app “Full Access,” which feels weirdly invasive. Sure, it doesn’t have as many options as GIPHY or Tenor, but it gets the job done without cluttering your keyboard options.

Though honestly, Apple’s refusal to integrate this natively into the standard keyboard is exhausting. If they can let us pick emojis of every flag known to humanity, surely they can throw in a GIF picker without making us jump through hoops.