Add support for a GIF keyboard / ability to easily send GIFs

[matrixbot]

Created by @ matthew:matrix.org.

[uhoreg]

(So I lied. But this one is really my last comment for the night. I promise. Honestly.) Would this be covered by sticker support, if the stickers could be GIFs?

[non-Jedi]

I think this is covered by the sticker api at least. Probably can close this one.

[ara4n]

...except it isn't, as the sticker API isn't a GIF keyboard. I can't search for "arrested development" and get a selection of memes to pick from.

[SimmyD]

As i get friends onto riot mostly the first thing is "how do i send and search gifs"

Is there an opposition to looking at adding something like giphy directly into the UI?

[pixlwave]

Having this same conversation with someone right now. Their words not mine:

Also, it won't be mainstream until it has gifs
gifs are everything

🤔

[motey]

My boss comes in my office once a week and wants to have an update on the "gif-thing-status in the new chat software"

[J-tt]

This really feels like something that should be in Element, I've put a bounty on it:

https://www.bountysource.com/issues/28576328-we-need-a-gif-keyboard-toooooo-11-1

[Liam-Lumity]

This really feels like something that should be in Element, I've put a bounty on it:

https://www.bountysource.com/issues/28576328-we-need-a-gif-keyboard-toooooo-11-1

Added to this, no chat app can persist in this world of memes and custom emojis without the functionality to share them easily

[J-tt]

The bounty is now at US$125, after an additional contribution by myself and itsthebatman

[J-tt]

We've reached US$200 which was the goal set by @denim2x so hopefully we get some action soon!

[ShadowJonathan]

Discord uses giphy, while i think this is a bit weird to have jammed into a privacy-oriented and generic messenger, i think at least giving the option of sending GIFs straight from there would be useful. (Discord has a /giphy command that pops up suggested GIFs (which you can click on), and picks the first one when pressing enter)

[tohojo]

Jonathan de Jong ***@***.***> writes:

Discord uses [giphy](https://giphy.com/), while i think this is a bit weird to have jammed into a privacy-oriented and generic messenger,

So does the Signal Android app, but IIRC they proxy the requests so it's not possible to correlate them to specific clients. I guess element could do that too (letting the user set the proxy server)...

[SimonBrandner]

I guess element could do that too (letting the user set the proxy server)...

I guess it could but feels like a bit of an overkill for GIFs...

[ShadowJonathan]

Maybe allow a direct call to giphy servers for now, but work towards a "define your own proxy" setting, and maybe go towards a (reduced) set of domains you can proxy HTTP requests with from the synapse server.

Though that latter action is maybe a bit risky, seeing that it effectively can transform a matrix server into a HTTP proxy, which isn't the goal and can be a security vulnerability.

[seanfarley]

Also, if I'm not mistaken, gifs that I recieve via a bridge (e.g. from signal, discord, etc) are rendered as a link instead of playing in-place.

[yajo]

Can't I give more than 1 thumb up to this issue? If I create a github pseudo-users botnet and fill it up of thumbs up would this get prioritized?

I feel like I'm dumb without gifs...

[J-tt]

@yajo I added to the bounty to try and get someone to work on it, but seems like it's been stalled out pending review by @matrix-org/design and @matrix-org/product (see: matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk#5814)

[JiffyCat]

At this point, this is to be expected from the Element team. Another highly requested feature (custom emotes) is blocked even with multiple PRs.

[ghost]

It's a real shame that all "fun" features get no attention and are even actively rejected by the developers.
You can't have widespread adoption when you're lacking behind on features that make other chat platforms fun to use.
I couldn't convince my friend group to move to matrix because of the lack of gifs and custom emojis, and honestly, they're right. As much as i want to move away from Discord, they at least have good features.

[nebulade]

Really looking forward to this as well.

[TouchstoneTheDev]

This topic is now unresolved since nearly 8 years, when I see the starting date of 2015 correctly. Is there any realistic chance, that this finds its way into a release for all the clients this year? From a communication standpoint it's (a bit) a shame to not provide a proper solution for stickers & GIFs. Bounty is already over $600… please!🥲

Duhh bountysource is goneeee

[J-tt]

Oh yikes

bountysource/core#1586

[TouchstoneTheDev]

Oh yikes

bountysource/core#1586

Others are wasted for life

[crabdancing]

It's a real shame that all "fun" features get no attention and are even actively rejected by the developers. You can't have widespread adoption when you're lacking behind on features that make other chat platforms fun to use. I couldn't convince my friend group to move to matrix because of the lack of gifs and custom emojis, and honestly, they're right. As much as i want to move away from Discord, they at least have good features.

I completely agree with this. Like it or not, whether you think it's frivolous or not, people are not generally driven by what's better under the hood. They're driven by what lets them communicate as viscerally and comfortably as possible. Trying to get a product like Element/Matrix truly mass-adopted while ignoring features like this, is like insisting on making a trench flowing uphill, and hoping the water will cooperate with you. I want to see this tech stack replace Discord. It is technically better in every way that matters, it is less predatory, more respectful of privacy and freedom rights, and has a business model that seems entirely sustainable. But we need to adopt some level of 'frivolity' to make that a reality.

Edit: typo

[weblionCH]

It's a real shame that all "fun" features get no attention and are even actively rejected by the developers. You can't have widespread adoption when you're lacking behind on features that make other chat platforms fun to use. I couldn't convince my friend group to move to matrix because of the lack of gifs and custom emojis, and honestly, they're right. As much as i want to move away from Discord, they at least have good features.

I completely agree with this. Like it or not, whether you think it's frivolous or not, people are not generally driven by what's better under the hood. They're driven by what lets them communicate as viscerally and comfortably as possible. Trying to get a product like Element/Matrix truly mass-adopted while ignoring features like this, is like insisting on making a trench flowing uphill, and hoping the water will cooperate with you. I want to see this tech stack replace Matrix. It is technically better in every way that matters, it is less predatory, more respectful of privacy and freedom rights, and has a business model that seems entirely sustainable. But we need to adopt some level of 'frivolity' to make that a reality.

I couldn't agree more! This needs to be implemented to stay competitive on the market. Period.

[MightyCreak]

While I would like to have this feature too, I really don't like the recent comments I'm seeing here. I find them disrespectful.

I am fairly sure that Element developers know and understand the relevancy of such feature, but they also have other important features to implement (say redo all the mobile apps, for instance...). Also, they have clients (those that are actually paying them and allows them to barely stay afloat) for specific features and these features are, apparently, not about being able to add GIFs in their messages.

If you really can't bear the fact that element web/desktop don't provide you with a quick way to add GIFs in your texts, maybe try other Matrix clients?

[spaetz]

Not wanting to increase the noise ratio, but this is not really an element-meta issue, as mobile keyboards on e.g. Android feature their own GIF picker, which work just fine with element mobile clients. (I verified), so this is mostly limited to element-web/desktop.

[iceHtwoO]

Not wanting to increase the noise ratio, but this is not really an element-meta issue, as mobile keyboards on e.g. Android feature their own GIF picker, which work just fine with element mobile clients. (I verified), so this is mostly limited to element-web/desktop.

iOS doesn't have this feature by default

[r1lax]

We are looking forward to it as well here :)

[Mesmaroth]

Any updates on this? It's been 9 years since this issue was started.

[ara4n]

It's stuck in the same state as #339 (comment).

[kedom1337]

Seeing how old this issue it almost seems ridiculous even making this comment but not having this feature is honestly a big bummer. There is simply no way matrix will get wide spread adoption if its most popular client is missing even such simple features that, at this point, are well established in online chatting culture. Would be awesome seeing this added!

[TheBinaryShadow]

Seeing how old this issue it almost seems ridiculous even making this comment but not having this feature is honestly a big bummer. There is simply no way matrix will get wide spread adoption if its most popular client is missing even such simple features that, at this point, are well established in online chatting culture. Would be awesome seeing this added!

Amen. How are we expected to migrate and entrust any kind of workflow or mission critical task to a client that can't get GIF search in 2024.

Yes, I am serious.

Stop trying to build the roof of this house, there ain't no base to hold it.

[kedom1337]

Yeah I mean this sadly just seems to be a good example of an open source business strategy gone wrong (at least for anybody that's not NATO or the German government). You are gonna be hard-pressed to find an open source project of this size where the requirement to merge a PR is "multiple hundred thousand $" for a feature that not only has been requested 9 years ago but is also dead simple and much wanted by a large amount of the user base.

That being said, complaining in GitHub issues probably isn't gonna do anything good either. Just sad to see really as this is honestly an awesome project otherwise.

[Jayddo]

While understanding the priorities and constraints is important, this kind of feature should be almost an after-thought and at the same time it is one of the main requirements for mass adoption, so seeing as how it is gated under paid requests, and even then, less prioritized than governments requests, while reading how matrix still strives for mass adoption, makes it obvious how there's a big disconnect between what the software wants to do and what it's working towards.

Mass adoption means catering towards the end users' needs that change with time, and gif search has been a staple since... 2020? something around that, so it'd be expected within.. one year of it becoming a standard, let's say. There will be more things in the future, for sure, and being on point is crucial to be adopted and stay adopted. This shows that there's no ball being dropped, because there's no ball.

For us simple users, it simply means matrix cannot be used and we need to look elsewhere for our communities, small businesses and what not. Mass adoption as a result will not be there and this will be a great software used in specific environments. Nothing wrong with that.

It's just a bit sad that a simple thing such as gif search becomes the divider between mass adoption and niche use, but that's where we're at.

This all being said, it does not mean to discourage the effort done, and while I may disagree with how this feature is being actively ignored, I do appreciate the kind of work that I would not be able to do, so cheers for that, Matrix and Elements are great pieces of software.

[arkitoure]

My issue is that Matrix/Element is spidered into our whole community setup and is difficult to switch now. People are constantly going on about DIscordish features but we wanted to use a decentralised solution and Matrix at the time was the best fit. I still think the tech is highly competitive but this more necessity based approach does split opinions.

With security and decentralisation at the forefront, some argue that these bells and whistles are childish and simply not needed. While others, the more Discord type folk, joke about how they cannot use custom emoj and gifs. Personally Im kind of in the middle of those lines of thinking due to having bigger fish to fry in time:production ratio. I do lean more on the security/decentralisation side however.

Developing good software is hard work and costs money and I know this is a big factor but I still have hope that the project will elevate beyond. I hope to also contribute more here once I get through the stack of todo's on my desk.

[hegdenischay]

Just wanted to chime in and say that since there's possibly a privacy problem with integrating a GIF picker straight into element, I've created a PR to maunium/stickerpicker to add it there, so whoever wants this feature could use it through the existing stickerpicker widget. It's also disabled by default, and requires a Giphy API key to be used. (You can get it by snooping around network requests on the giphy website.)

It's definitely slower than what you would expect, but I think that's probably because I'm bad at javascript rather than anything inherently wrong in the concept.

It currently uses Giphy, maybe someone can contribute Tenor search as well.

[sascha-wi]

Can somebody give an clear overview of the current status of trying to implement a gif provider/integration into matrix / element?

1. Is it possible?
2. Through which means?
3. What are other options?

[hegdenischay]

@sascha-wi If you want a GIF picker in element, use maunium/stickerpicker as a widget. This uses giphy, and it should be pretty quick now.

If you want GIF search in a matrix client, commet.chat implements it with Tenor (IIRC). Commet.chat is pretty new, however, and I have not personally used it, so I cannot vouch for how well their GIF implementation works.

[spaetz]

There is also gifme, the maubot which is able to search and display giphy and tenor pics. (At least) Fluffychat supports custom emojis and many Android's keyboard contains sticker functionality...

[sascha-wi]

@sascha-wi If you want a GIF picker in element, use maunium/stickerpicker as a widget. This uses giphy, and it should be pretty quick now.

If you want GIF search in a matrix client, commet.chat implements it with Tenor (IIRC). Commet.chat is pretty new, however, and I have not personally used it, so I cannot vouch for how well their GIF implementation works.

Does maunium also work for the element desktop app? I have to create those "sticker packs" myself according to the documentation/installation video from Brodie Robertson. Thats not what I am looking for, I am trying to integrate a gif picker for all of the users of my matrix server.

[hegdenischay]

@sascha-wi If you want a GIF picker in element, use maunium/stickerpicker as a widget. This uses giphy, and it should be pretty quick now.
If you want GIF search in a matrix client, commet.chat implements it with Tenor (IIRC). Commet.chat is pretty new, however, and I have not personally used it, so I cannot vouch for how well their GIF implementation works.

Does maunium also work for the element desktop app? I have to create those "sticker packs" myself according to the documentation/installation video from Brodie Robertson. Thats not what I am looking for, I am trying to integrate a gif picker for all of the users of my matrix server.

the GIF picker is enabled by default now, and you should simply be able to use Giphy GIFs without having to add any new stickers. If your users want custom stickers later, you could add them to one instance and every user would have that.

[sascha-wi]

@sascha-wi If you want a GIF picker in element, use maunium/stickerpicker as a widget. This uses giphy, and it should be pretty quick now.
If you want GIF search in a matrix client, commet.chat implements it with Tenor (IIRC). Commet.chat is pretty new, however, and I have not personally used it, so I cannot vouch for how well their GIF implementation works.

Does maunium also work for the element desktop app? I have to create those "sticker packs" myself according to the documentation/installation video from Brodie Robertson. Thats not what I am looking for, I am trying to integrate a gif picker for all of the users of my matrix server.

the GIF picker is enabled by default now, and you should simply be able to use Giphy GIFs without having to add any new stickers. If your users want custom stickers later, you could add them to one instance and every user would have that.

This was referring to stickerpicker?

[hegdenischay]

@sascha-wi If you want a GIF picker in element, use maunium/stickerpicker as a widget. This uses giphy, and it should be pretty quick now.
If you want GIF search in a matrix client, commet.chat implements it with Tenor (IIRC). Commet.chat is pretty new, however, and I have not personally used it, so I cannot vouch for how well their GIF implementation works.

Does maunium also work for the element desktop app? I have to create those "sticker packs" myself according to the documentation/installation video from Brodie Robertson. Thats not what I am looking for, I am trying to integrate a gif picker for all of the users of my matrix server.

the GIF picker is enabled by default now, and you should simply be able to use Giphy GIFs without having to add any new stickers. If your users want custom stickers later, you could add them to one instance and every user would have that.

This was referring to stickerpicker?

Yes.

[pitagoras530]

Any updates to this?