Google kills yet another API, shutting out all non-Google platforms from favoured gif database

I'm told that the youths of today find using animated gif reactions 'cringe'. As a millennial who misspent her youth on Tumblr, reacting to good game news with a gif of The Arm from Twin Peaks rubbing his hands together has become an unfortunate part of my idiolect. Before I break out the folder of Supernatural gifs and probably curse us all, it's worth noting that finding the perfect gif for your posts to X and Discord has become that much harder— because Google has killed the Tenor API.

Developers have known this was coming since at least January, as fresh API key sign-ups and new integrations stopped being accepted back then. Google shared via a support article that, "As part of an ongoing effort to focus resources on enhancing our core products, we've made the decision to sunset the Tenor API on June 30, 2026."

Don't worry, all those oddly satisfying Opus Magnum gifs aren't yet going anywhere—for now. To be clear, you can also still visit the Tenor website and peruse its gif wares there. The API is what accessed this vast library and made it possible to post your reactions to the latest episode of The Vampire Lestat with the appropriate flourish.

Tenor began life as an independent company called 'Riffsy' back in 2014. The company changed its name in 2016, and was then acquired by Google in 2018. Tenor was then integrated into a number of Google products like Gboard, Google Chat, and Google Messages. Google says that you can still access Tenor in these products, as well as its GIF Keyboard for Android and iOS devices. Killing the API just shuts out other platforms.

X's head of product Nikita Bier says that the microblogging site has since had to migrate away from Tenor. According to Ars Technica, Discord has dabbled with both Giphy and Klipy integration, though appears to be sticking with the latter. WhatsApp and Bluesky have followed suit. Obviously, neither of these alternatives perfectly replicate Tenor's gif database, much to users' chagrin. Now may be the time to learn to make your own.