Giphy updates its iOS app with a new sticker-making tool and a keyboard extension for quicker GIF sharing
Shannon Liao / The Verge :
Context & Ripple Effects
Giphy has been building toward this for years: a 2015 update let users import photos and videos from their own camera roll to create GIFs (camera-roll imports), and in 2016 it shipped a dedicated iOS keyboard called Giphy Keys. The new release folds both threads into the main app — a sticker-making tool plus a keyboard extension for quicker sharing.
The competitive backdrop matters: Google quietly redesigned Gboard for iOS earlier this year to make its own GIF creation feature more accessible (Gboard's GIF push), while Snapchat opened its posts to Giphy stickers in February (Snapchat's Giphy integration). Giphy is now competing on creation tools at the keyboard level rather than just supplying a library.
First-order effects
- Giphy iOS users can now make stickers inside the app and share GIFs through a keyboard extension without leaving their chat, collapsing what previously required separate apps like Giphy Keys.
- Giphy's keyboard extension puts it head-to-head with Gboard on iOS, where Google had just made GIF creation a more prominent feature.
Second-order effects
- Platforms distributing Giphy content, like Snapchat, gain a larger stream of user-made stickers, reinforcing their dependence on Giphy as the supply layer for visual expression.
- Google faces pressure to keep iterating Gboard's GIF and sticker features on iOS, since Giphy now owns both the creation tool and the distribution surface in one product.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Giphy consolidates from a searchable GIF library into the default creation-and-distribution infrastructure for stickers across messaging apps — a position reminiscent of how Facebook's Stickered app tried to own photo-stickering on Messenger back in 2014.
- Keyboard-level distribution becomes the battleground for expressive media, shifting power toward whoever controls the input surface rather than the content catalog alone.
The trend: Giphy is evolving from a GIF search engine into an end-to-end creation and keyboard-distribution layer for stickers and GIFs across messaging platforms.