Giphy launches An IOS Keyboard With Quick Access To GIFs
GIFs are all over we look, including on Facebook, Slack, Twitter, email, and even in our text messages. But the process for distribution these images isn’t just a uniform one, which is why Giphy launched a keyboard app for iOS devices today.
Called Giphy Keys, it’s a combination search engine and keyboard. User are still able to type out messages normally, but if we think that a GIF is needed, we can simply tap on a button in that keyboard — no longer do we have to jump to another tool — and quickly insert the image. Among the features Giphy Keys includes are the ability to search by emotion, keyword, subject, decade, or for the ones we have used most frequently.
Giphy's one and only reason for existing is delivering user GIFs, and now it's reaching a new peak in convenience by placing GIF access right on the iPhone's keyboard.
The problem with Giphy Keys is mainly the problem with all other iOS keyboards: it still doesn't feel as natural as the default keyboard.
The benefit of Giphy Keys is that any individual who always explored through multiple keyboards to type messages and search for GIFs can now do both in one place. The top of the keyboard has a search functionality to find a GIF associated to a specific topic, but Giphy also offers various types related to moods or trends whenever user don't have a specific GIF in mind.
“We’re not a keyboard company, but it’s a place to be if we’re trying to serve up GIFs,” Jillian Fisher, director of mobile products at Giphy, told International Business Times.
“GIPHY Keys is the easiest and fastest way to browse, search, and share GIFs in your text messages -- right from your keyboard! Not only do you have access to GIPHY's collection of millions of GIFs, you can play with our special GIPHY commands to make and discover so much more awesome content”.
Like other GIF applications, once a user finds their preferred GIF, all that should be done is a simple copy and paste into the message field and then hit the send button. Giphy Keys also announces a new 8ball tab, where users can ask the app a question and get an answer in GIF form. The section also gives weather forecasts for specific zip codes, and can animate phrases and words, all with GIFs.
For users who coordinate GIFs into every side of their iOS messaging experience -- from iMessage to Snapchat and other clients -- Giphy Keys should be a useful addition to their daily examination and sending of the popular animated format. Those interested can download Giphy Keys from the App Store for free.
“GIFs let us be who we are without having to over-articulate it,” said Julie Logan, Giphy’s director of brand strategy. “The core purpose of culture is to lend us moments out of which we shape our personality. So every time a new era of technology shifts the way we communicate, a new medium for sharing culture appears. This is undisputedly the age of mobile messaging and GIFs are undisputedly its new cultural medium.”
Beginning a feature off on iOS can cause some consternation among Android users. Giphy’s director of mobile products, Jillian Fisher, recognized that Android plays a big part in helping the company get GIFs. Fisher discovered that a non-iOS version of Giphy Keys is in the works, but she didn’t indicate when it would be released.
“We first built Keys for ourselves because, while we actually power a lot of the third-party keyboards you see out there, we wanted to build one with a UX that worked for us and also fully utilized the extent of what the Giphy API has to offer,” she stated. “Keys not only allows you to seamlessly search for and share GIFs from right inside the message field, but create GIFs on-the-fly, as well.”