How to Text a GIF for Android and iOS Users

Sending GIFs is an amusing way of expressing emotions without saying a word—except not all of us are fully aware of the art of sending GIFs. Every operating system keyboard comes with its way of sending animated GIFs, and they’re anything but complicated.

When you open your messaging app and type on the keyboard, you’ll notice a GIF option. Once you click on it, you’ll see a selection of GIFs that you can explore and send the one that resonates with you most.

Apart from inbuilt smartphone apps or social media trackers that help you find trending GIFs, there are specialized apps that offer a vast collection of GIFs. Users simply search with keywords to find a GIF that best describes the emotion they’d like to display.

How To Text GIFs on iMessage

To add GIFS to your iPhone texts with the default keyboard feature, follow these steps to send GIFS on the iMessage app:

1. Open the default messaging app to compose a message
2. On the left side, tap the icon with an A on it
3. Search for the app called #images
4. Select the #images app and choose the GIF of your choice

How to Text GIFs on Android

If you are using the Google keyboard by default, follow these steps to send a GIF over a text message on Android phones:

1. Open your default messaging app
2. Tap on the smiley face emoji on the keyboard
3. Tap on the GIF button
4. Tap on the search bar and look for your desired GIF
5. Tap on the GIF to preview and send

How to Add More GIFs to Your Keyboard

If you’re looking for an extensive collection of GIFs, you can download an app that offers more options. This won’t replace the default keyboard on your phone’s messaging apps; it serves as a standalone app. To add a GIF, open the newly downloaded keyboard and select a GIF of your choice to send through your preferred messaging app.

How to Add a GIF Keyboard to an iPhone?

With GIFs becoming universally popular, Apple included the GIF feature as part of the default iMessage in iOS. You may also download GIF apps to work with your messaging app. GIPHY and GIF Keyboard are the two most popular options. Besides using the App Store, you can also download them through iMessage by tapping the + icon on your messaging app.

How To Convert Videos to GIFs on Android

You can also use a video to a GIF converter to send directly from your messaging app.

1. Download the app of your choice and launch it
2. Choose a GIF by either searching or browsing through the collection
3. Select the option that allows you to share the GIF on another app
4. The GIF is now a part of your message content

If you’re sending an SMS message, it will automatically convert to MMS to send multimedia content.