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GIPHY SDK

By integrating with GIPHY, the first and largest GIF search engine, you gain free access to our ever-growing content library of GIFs and Stickers, plus brand new features like animated Emoji and Text — featuring the latest in entertainment, sports, and breaking news from GIPHY's official content partners.

The fastest and easiest way to bring the full GIPHY experience directly to your app is with GIPHY SDK. Built with developers and product designers in mind, GIPHY SDK is a top-to-bottom solution for all things GIF in your app. This includes interfacing with GIPHY API, fetching and caching assets, and displaying GIFs and Stickers on screen in customizable UI templates.

With billions of requests a day, it’s safe to say GIPHY knows GIFs. We're excited to share our best-in-class tools with you so your users can have the best GIF experience possible, with all the same features they're already enjoying on Facebook, Slack, Instagram, and more – with just a few lines of code.

Here’s what GIPHY SDK offers:

Customizable UI Templates

Our team in NYC designed flexible UI kits for our SDK users, so you can customize your GIPHY integration without any of the hard work. Check them out here!

Best-in-Class Content

World class movie studios, TV networks, sports leagues, brands, influencers and artists use GIPHY every day to share an enormous library of high quality content with our network.

Optimized Loading & Renditions

We offer extensive rendition options for different platforms and devices to ensure loading GIPHY content doesn’t get in the way of your app’s speed.

Analytics

GIPHY Analytics helps improve your users’ search results and keeps them coming back for more.

Exclusive Access

GIPHY’s newest content and features, like animated text and emoji, will be available exclusively on the GIPHY SDK, along with all future releases.

Safe Content

Our content is moderated so you can feel secure knowing content served through GIPHY is safe for distribution.

If you're already familiar with our API, you'll be glad to know GIPHY SDK includes all of its best features, but takes a fraction of the time to implement.

Before you get started, head over to our sample app repository for iOS or Android to check out GIPHY SDK in action, along with example code.

Content Types

At GIPHY, we believe everything should move and it’s part of our mission to help make everyday conversations more animated. With our growing list of content types, expressing yourself with GIPHY has never been easier.

Please note that Emoji and Text, as well as all future releases, are only available through the SDK.

GIFs

GIFs are short, looping, moving images. Need we say more?

Stickers

Stickers are GIFs with transparent backgrounds. They’re great for layering animated content on top of all kinds of use cases: messaging apps, stories (e.g., IG, Snap, FB etc.), or games. Basically, any time a square frame just won't do.

Emoji

GIPHY Emojis are fully animated emoji stickers. No longer are these familiar, emotive faces frozen in place, as GIPHY emoji brings life and motion to some all time favorites, as well as some new (and uniquely GIPHY) emojis.

Text

GIPHY Text features animated text-based stickers, making it easy to add that perfect amount of sarcasm, enthusiasm, or whatever emotion is needed to the conversation.

GIPHY SDK for iOS

Setup

Requirements

Github Example Repo

The GIPHY SDK for iOS is currently only available through Cocoapods, but we still use Github for release notes, issue tracking, and more.

Head over to the example repo to:

  • Run the example app to see the GIPHY SDK in action with all of its configurations. It is necessary to run pod install before building the example app.
  • View the most up-to-date documentation. The documentation here on the developer portal may not always reflect the latest release.
  • Open issues or feature requests
  • View releases

CocoaPods

Add the GiphyUISDK to your Podfile like so:

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use_frameworks!
target "YourAppTarget" do
pod 'Giphy'
end

Note: for pure Objective-C projects, add an empty Swift file to your project and choose Create the Bridging Header when prompted by Xcode. This will allows to static libraries to be linked.

Getting started

Here's a basic ViewController setup to make sure everything's working:

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import UIKit
import GiphyUISDK
import GiphyCoreSDK
class ViewController: UIViewController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        GiphyUISDK.configure(apiKey: "your api key here")
    }
    override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
        super.viewDidAppear(true )
        present(GiphyViewController(), animated: true, completion: nil)
    }
}

Basic Usage

Swift

First things first, be sure to import:

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import GiphyUISDK
import GiphyCoreSDK

Configure your API key. Apply for an API key here.

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GiphyUISDK.configure(apiKey: "yOuR_kEy_HeRe")

Create a new GiphyViewController, which takes care of most of the magic.

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let giphy = GiphyViewController()

Create a new GiphyViewController every time you want to show GIPHY (maintaining a reference to the same GiphyViewController object isn't necesssary and can impact performance and lead to unexpected results)

Settings

  • Theme: Set the theme to be .dark or .light.
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giphy.theme = .dark
  • Layout: Set the layout to be .waterfall (vertical) or .carousel (horizontal).
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giphy.layout = .waterfall
  • Media types: Set the content type(s) you'd like to show by setting the mediaTypeConfig property, which is an array of GPHContentTypes.
    Note: Emoji only is not available for the carousel layout option.
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giphy.mediaTypeConfig = [.gifs, .stickers, .text, .emoji]
  • Confirmation screen: We provide the option to show a secondary confirmation screen when the user taps a GIF, which shows a larger rendition of the asset. This confirmation screen is only available for .waterfall mode — this property will be ignored if the layout is .carousel.
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giphy.showConfirmationScreen = true
  • Rating: Set a specific content rating for the search results. Default ratedPG13.
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giphy.rating = .ratedPG13
  • Rendition: Option to select the rendition type for the grid. Default fixedWidth.
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giphy.renditionType = .fixedWidth
  • Localization: Option to choose whether or not to localize the search results based on phone settings. Default false will set the language to en.
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giphy.shouldLocalizeSearch = false

Presentation

Present the GiphyViewController and watch as the GIFs start flowin'.

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present(giphy, animated: true, completion: nil)

Events

Set the delegate and conform to the GiphyDelegate protocol to handle GIF selection.

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giphy.delegate = self
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extension YourController: GiphyDelegate {
   func didSelectMedia(giphyViewController: GiphyViewController, media: GPHMedia)
        // your user tapped a GIF!
   }
   func didDismiss(controller: GiphyViewController?) {
        // your user dismissed the controller without selecting a GIF.
   }
}

From there, it's up to you to decide what to do with the GIF.

GPHMediaView

Create a GPHMediaView to display the media:

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let mediaView = GPHMediaView()
mediaView.media = media

Use the media's aspectRatio property to size the view:

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let aspectRatio = media.aspectRatio

If you want to build your own view to display a GIF, grab a URL to the asset like so:

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let webpURL = media.url(rendition: .original, fileType: .webp)
let gifURL = media.url(rendition: .fixedWidth, fileType: .gif)
let vidURL = media.url(rendition: .fixedWidth, fileType: .mp4)
let url = URL(string: gifURL)

Media IDs

In a messaging app context, you may want to send media ids rather than GPHMedia objects or image assets.

Obtain a GPHMedia's id property via media.id

On the receiving end, obtain a GPHMedia from the id like so:

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GiphyCore.shared.gifByID(id) { (response, error) in
    if let media = response?.data {
        DispatchQueue.main.sync { [weak self] in
            self?.mediaView.media = media
        }
    }
}

Buttons

There are three button classes provided for you to use if you choose to.

GPHGiphyButton

GIPHY branded button available in the following styles:

  • logo - full giphy logo
  • logoRounded - same styles as logo with rounded corners
  • iconSquare - square giphy icon logo with black background
  • iconSquareRounded - same styles as iconSquare with rounded corners
  • iconColor - color version of giphy icon logo with transparent background
  • iconBlack - solid black version of the giphy icon logo with transparent background
  • iconWhite - solid white version of the giphy icon logo with transparent background
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let button = GPHGiphyButton()
button.style = .logoSquareRounded

GPHGifButton

Generic gif button with the text "GIF", available in the following styles:

  • rectangle - rectuangular "pill" style button with solid background and transparent text
  • rectangleRounded - same styles as rectangle with rounded corners
  • rectangleOutline - rectuangluar "pill" style button with solid text and an outline
  • rectangleOutlineRounded - same styles as rectangleOutline with rounded corners
  • square - same styles as rectangle but square with smaller text
  • squareRounded - same styles as square with rounded corners
  • squareOutline - same styles as rectangleOutline but square with smaller text
  • squareOutlineRounded - same styles as squareOutline with rounded corners
  • text - transparent background button with "gif" text only

The GPHGifButton is also available in the following colors:

  • pink - pink and purple gradient
  • blue - blue and purple gradient
  • black - solid black
  • white - solid white
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let button = GPHGifButton()
button.style = .squareRounded
button.color = .blue

GPHContentTypeButton

Icon buttons for the different supported icon types. These come in the following styles:

  • stickers - solid sticker icon
  • stickersOutline - outline version of the stickers button
  • emoji - solid emoji smiley icon
  • emojiOutline - outline version of the emoji button
  • text - solid text speech bubble icon
  • textOutline - outline version of the text button

The GPHContentTypeButton is also available in the following colors:

  • pink - pink and purple gradient
  • blue - blue and purple gradient
  • black - solid black
  • white - solid white
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let button = GPHContentTypeButton()
button.style = .emoji
button.color = .black

Caching

We use PINCache to cache media assets, which reduces unnecessary image requests and loading times. We create our own instance of PINCache, which you can access via GPHCache.shared.pinCache.

By default, we use both PINCache’s memory cache and disk cache. The disk cache is limited to 300 mb by default, but you can set to any value you’d like:

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// set to 300 mb
GPHCache.shared.pinCache.diskCache.byteLimit = 300 * 1000 * 1000

If you only want to cache GIFs in memory, set GPHCache.shared.setting to memoryOnly like so:

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GPHCache.shared.setting = .memoryOnly

Similarly, you can cache only to disk with:

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GPHCache.shared.setting = .diskOnly

Note: We don't automatically clear the cache when the GiphyViewController is dismissed. Manually clear the cache on your convenience by calling GPHCache.shared.clear() to clear the cache based on your setting, or GPHCache.shared.clear(.memoryOnly) to choose a specific cache you want to clear.

Dependencies

Sponsored Content

We serve sponsored content every now and then, so we can continue building great products and sharing the joy of GIFs across the Internet and in apps like yours.

As a result, you’ll have to check a few boxes when you submit your app for review on the App Store if you’ve integrated this SDK.

  • Answer yes when asked if the app uses an advertising identifier and be sure to check:
    • Serve advertisements within the app
    • Attribute an action taken within this app to a previously served advertisement

GIPHY SDK for Android

Github Example Repo

The GIPHY SDK for Android is currently only available through Maven, but we still use Github for release notes, issue tracking, and more.

Head over to the example repo to:

Installation

Add the GIPHY Maven repository to your project's build.gradle file:

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maven {
    url "http://giphy.bintray.com/giphy-sdk"
}

Then add GIPHY SDK dependency in the module build.gradle file:

implementation 'com.giphy.sdk:ui:1.0.0'

Getting started

Here is a basic example of how everything should work:

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class GiphyActivity: AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        GiphyCoreUI.configure(this, YOUR_API_KEY)
        GiphyDialogFragment.newInstance().show(supportFragmentManager, "giphy_dialog")
    }
}

Basic usage

Before you start using GIPHY SDK, you have to initialize it using your GIPHY API KEY. You can apply for an API key here.

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    GiphyCoreUI.configure(this, YOUR_API_KEY)

All the magic is done by the GiphyDialogFragment. You can adjust GIPHY SDK by passing a GPHSettings object when creating the dialog.

Create a settings object to personalize your GIF picker.

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var settings = GPHSettings(gridType = GridType.waterfall, theme = LightTheme, dimBackground = true)

Instantiate a GiphyDialogFragment with the settings object.

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val gifsDialog = GiphyDialogFragment.newInstance(settings)

GPHSettings properties

  • Theme: Set the theme to be DarkTheme or LightTheme.
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settings.theme = LightTheme
  • Layout: Set the layout to be .waterfall (vertical) or .carousel (horizontal).
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settings.gridType = GridType.waterfall
  • Media types: Set the content type(s) you'd like to show by setting the mediaTypeConfig property, which is an array of GPHContentType objects.
    Note: Emoji only is not available for the carousel layout option.
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settings.mediaTypeConfig = arrayOf(GPHContentType.gif, GPHContentType.sticker, GPHContentType.text, GPHContentType.emoji)
  • Confirmation screen: We provide the option to show a secondary confirmation screen when the user taps a GIF, which shows a larger rendition of the asset. This confirmation screen is only available for .waterfall mode - this property will be ignored if the layout is .carousel.
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setting.showConfirmationScreen = true
  • Rating: Set a specific content rating for the search results. Default pg13.
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settings.rating = RatingType.pg13
  • Rendition: You can change the rendition type for the grid and also for the confirmation screen, if you are using it. Default rendition is fixedWidth for the grid and original for the confirmation screen.
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settings.renditionType = RenditionType.fixedWidth
settings.confirmationRenditionType = RenditionType.original

Presentation

Show your GiphyDialogFragment using the SupportFragmentManager and watch as the GIFs start flowin'.

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gifsDialog.show(supportFragmentManager, "gifs_dialog")

Events

To handle GIF selection you need to implement the GifSelectionListener interface.

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 giphyDialog.gifSelectionListener = object: GiphyDialogFragment.GifSelectionListener {
    override fun onGifSelected(media: Media) {
        //Your user tapped a GIF
    }
    override fun onDismissed() {
        //Your user dismissed the dialog without selecting a GIF
    }
}

From there, it's up to you to decide what to do with the GIF.

Create a GPHMediaView to display the media. Optionally, you can pass a rendition type to be loaded.

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val mediaView = GPHMediaView(context)
mediaView.setMedia(media, RenditionType.original)

You can also populate a GPHMediaView with a media id like so:

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mediaView.setMediaWithId(media.id)

Buttons

There are three button classes provided for you to use if you choose to.

GPHGiphyButton

GIPHY branded button available in the following styles:

  • logo - full giphy logo
  • logoRounded - same styles as logo with rounded corners
  • iconSquare - square giphy icon logo with black background
  • iconSquareRounded - same styles as iconSquare with rounded corners
  • iconColor - color version of giphy icon logo with transparent background
  • iconBlack - solid black version of the giphy icon logo with transparent background
  • iconWhite - solid white version of the giphy icon logo with transparent background
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val button = GPHGiphyButton(context)
button.style = GPHGiphyButtonStyle.iconBlack

GPHGifButton

Generic gif button with the text "GIF", available in the following styles:

  • rectangle - rectuangular "pill" style button with solid background and transparent text
  • rectangleRounded - same styles as rectangle with rounded corners
  • rectangleOutline - rectuangluar "pill" style button with solid text and an outline
  • rectangleOutlineRounded - same styles as rectangleOutline with rounded corners
  • square - same styles as rectangle but square with smaller text
  • squareRounded - same styles as square with rounded corners
  • squareOutline - same styles as rectangleOutline but square with smaller text
  • squareOutlineRounded - same styles as squareOutline with rounded corners
  • text - transparent background button with "gif" text only

The GPHGifButton is also available in the following colors:

  • pink - pink and purple gradient
  • blue - blue and purple gradient
  • black - solid black
  • white - solid white
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val button = GPHGifButton(context)
button.style = GPHGifButtonStyle.squareRounded
button.color = GPHGifButtonColor.blue

GPHContentTypeButton

Icon buttons for the different supported icon types. These come in the following styles:

  • stickers - solid sticker icon
  • stickersOutline - outline version of the stickers button
  • emoji - solid emoji smiley icon
  • emojiOutline - outline version of the emoji button
  • text - solid text speech bubble icon
  • textOutline - outline version of the text button

The GPHContentTypeButton is also available in the following colors:

  • pink - pink and purple gradient
  • blue - blue and purple gradient
  • black - solid black
  • white - solid white
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val button = GPHContentTypeButton(context)
button.style = GPHContentTypeButtonStyle.emoji
button.color = GPHGifButtonColor.blue

Design Guidelines

We want to make it as easy as possible to seamlessly integrate GIPHY into your app, while respecting your current user experience and interface style. That’s why we’ve done most of the heavy lifting for you! As part of the GIPHY UI SDK, a library of interface assets is provided to streamline your integration process.

We recognize that every app is different, which is why GIPHY SDK offers different layouts, colors, and other customization options to ensure a smooth and consistent experience.

Buttons

We’ve provided you with two styles of GIF buttons: Branded and Generic. The GIF button activates the SDK and can be placed anywhere in your app. They both work on dark or light backgrounds. The branded GIPHY version has two styles, with squared or rounded corners. The generic button reads ‘GIF’ and comes in various colors: blue or pink gradient, and black or white. We recommend keeping these buttons at a tap size of 35px or more.

UI Configurations

The UI SDK offers two main layout options: Waterfall and Carousel. Waterfall layout provides a vertical grid of GIFs on top of your app, while Carousel layout offers a single horizontal carousel of GIFs. Select your layout using .waterfall (vertical) or .carousel (horizontal). We also provide two main color themes, Dark and Light, each with its own search interface. To make your selection, set your theme to .dark or .light .

Some further customization options include the GIF confirmation screen, which shows a larger rendition of the GIF/Sticker before sharing. This property will be ignored if the layout is .carousel as the confirmation screen is only available for .waterfall mode.

How to Comply with our Attribution Policy

GIPHY loves its community and we want to support our GIF and Sticker creators. We believe that they should get recognition for the content they create. That’s why we’ve included a tap and hold UI that shows the creator’s username and enables users to easily search for more content by that creator.

The optional confirmation view mentioned above also includes the creator’s username, if one exists.

Sketch UI Kit

Ready to design your GIPHY experience? Download our Sketch UI Kit to drag and drop elements into your app and experiment with layouts, fonts, colors, and content that work best for you.

Download Sketch UI Kit

Brand Guidelines

While we have included a branded button for SDK users, you may need our logo for other purposes. Check out the links below to download GIPHY-approved logos and icons, along with our brand guidelines.

For general best practices related to the GIPHY brand, see our Brand Guidelines and be sure to check out our SDK License Agreement. By using GIPHY SDK, you are agreeing to the SDK License Agreement.