Google discontinues Tenor GIF API for developers, impacting Discord, X, WhatsApp & Bluesky
Google has announced it will discontinue the Tenor API service for app developers, directly impacting current integrations across several applications. The Tenor API was fully shut down on June 30, 2026. After this date, any attempt to access the service will result in an error response, making timely migration plans essential for all developers relying on this service.
As part of this winding down process, new API key registrations have been disabled since January 13, preventing the creation of new integrations using the Tenor platform. Tenor is a widely used online GIF search engine and database, which Google acquired in March 2018, and its API has powered GIF-picking features in numerous popular platforms.
While the API is being retired, Google has clarified that the Tenor website and its searchable GIF library will remain available to users. Following this change, major platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Discord, Bluesky, and WhatsApp must transition to alternative GIF search and picker services like Giphy or Klipy, since continued access through Tenor’s API will no longer be possible after the sunset date.
- GIF Hosting Platform
- Free
- Proprietary
External links
- Discontinuation of Tenor API service for app developersGoogle • Official source
- Google’s killing off Tenor GIF searches in other appsThe Verge
- Google pulls the plug on Tenor API, kills GIF libraries in other apps9to5Google
- Google kills Tenor GIF API, forcing changes at X, Discord, and moreArs Technica
- Don't panic, Discord isn't losing GIFs as Google shuts down Tenor APIPCGamesN
- Google just killed a feature that affects millions of usersAndroid Headlines
Comments
Google shutting down the Tenor API is a reminder that “free” platform infrastructure can disappear fast. Users may only notice a different GIF picker, but developers now have to migrate, re-test moderation, and depend on yet another third-party API.
The real lesson: don’t build core features on APIs you don’t control.
Another one, yay! https://killedbygoogle.com/
For a privacy-respecting alternative, there’s heypster
heypster-gif
Why does Google have to do this kinda crap with everything they make/buy out? Killing things slowly and painfully... when we know they're just going to kill the entirety of tenor eventually, like come on, the writing is on the wall. Just do it all at once...
Sometimes companies buy competing products to eliminate competition, and if there is no profit to run two similar products, one is killed or merged. And sometimes companies just look at the opportunity cost of running a product (what can I do with the same money in different areas and how much will I make?) and decide to invest somewhere else.
A GIF search engine?
Just when I though I've seen everything in my life...