Best daily deals

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.

Google hopes to make GIF-hunting a lot easier for all of us

The search giant just acquired Tenor, the company behind GIF libraries on Facebook Messenger, Samsung Messages, GBoard, Kik, and more.
By
March 27, 2018
A Google logo.
TL;DR
  • Google just announced that it has acquired Tenor, one of the largest GIF search engines online.
  • While Tenor will operate as a separate brand, Google says that we should expect to see deeper GIF integration on Google Images and Gboard.

The search giant just acquired Tenor, the company behind GIF libraries on Facebook Messenger, Samsung Messages, GBoard, Kik, and more.

Google Gboard gets new GIF creation features... on iOS
News

The way we search images and the purpose for which we search images have changed fundamentally over the past few years. As Google adroitly points out, “Most people now use Google Images to find more information about a topic, and to help them communicate and express themselves.” In fact, according to the search giant, there are millions of searches for GIFs every day. Google wants to make sure that Google Images is evolving according to Internet users’ needs and hopes that its acquisition of Tenor will be the answer.

Although it may sound unfamiliar, Tenor is everywhere. As one of the largest online GIF search engines, Tenor provides GIF libraries to major apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, Kik, Viber, and Zynga. It recently partnered with Samsung to bring GIF integration to the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. Not only that, Tenor lives inside popular keyboards such as GBoard.

Google reassures us that Tenor will continue to operate as a separate brand but explains, “With their deep library of content, Tenor surfaces the right GIFs in the moment so you can find the one that matches your mood. Tenor will help us do this more effectively in Google Images as well as other products that use GIFs, like Gboard.”

What are your thoughts? Something like this? Or this?