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)

[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.

[michelebugio]

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?

[Destinyg133]

Still nothing?

[IAMBUDE]

After 9 years and 9 months, how is this still not a feature?

[nebulade]

matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals#4230 to better handle animated images / gifs with clients overall will certainly help to go in that direction. It much improved the gif handling in fractal

[moodler]

While nice, I don't see how the flag would add much - gifs that I manually paste/upload into Element desktop already seem to propagate and appear fine for everyone. This issue is more about the user interface for selecting them within all the Element apps so that ordinary non-nerds can enjoy a full chat experience.

However, I'm resigned to the fact that Element dev team as a whole is consumed with different things.

I can't help but wonder if all the community energy spread into making umpteen different incomplete clients for Matrix was more focussed on just one or two fantastic clients then how much better and more competitive Matrix would be as an ecosystem.

[Borrower543]

gifs that I manually paste/upload into Element desktop already seem to propagate and appear fine for everyone. This issue is more about the user interface for selecting them within all the Element apps so that ordinary non-nerds can enjoy a full chat experience.

Minor correction, gifs pasted into Element desktop don't animate. You need to manually save to device and manually upload. (Gifs entered through gboard/etc on mobile do animate but have no indication so it's easy to accidentally send multiples).

[t3chguy]

Minor correction, gifs pasted into Element desktop don't animate. You need to manually save to device and manually upload.

That is misleading, thats a fault of your browser copying just a static PNG. See https://superuser.com/questions/1664216/why-does-google-chrome-and-safari-copy-image-as-png-representation. If you have a compatible browser or OS you can copy & paste GIFs into Element Desktop. e.g. this works from Finder on macOS.

[Destinyg133]

Still would be a lot easier if we could get direct integration iside client so we could easily search and send it

[hegdenischay]

Like I have mentioned before, it's available as a widget for those who want it.

TL; DR, use (stickerpicker)[https://github.com/maunium/stickerpicker] as a widget if you want Giphy, replace some config options in it if you want Tenor, or use the fork that @pix made if you want both.

Additionally, there are a few matrix clients that have their own gif pickers, I can think of Commet and Gomuks web as options.

[Destinyg133]

Like I have mentioned before, it's available as a widget for those who want it.

TL; DR, use (stickerpicker)[https://github.com/maunium/stickerpicker] as a widget if you want Giphy, replace some config options in it if you want Tenor, or use the fork that @pix made if you want both.

Additionally, there are a few matrix clients that have their own gif pickers, I can think of Commet and Gomuks web as options.

Ofcourse there are options and you are correct. But I think people want straight integration and official support rather then using stickerpicker and do devtools to include some kind of functionality. Commet is still heavy alfa. While it is cool that other clients try to show new functions in which matrix as protocol can be mainstream and better option then discord and services alike. Other clients still dont have support for element call afaik for example, so once again Element is only viable options for a lot of people.
Its great that devs show love for such a project but its without a doubt that some "fun" functions should come to Element without getting ignored for years. It can attract more people. And bigger project can only attract more people to help developers on open source projects.

[hegdenischay]

Like I have mentioned before, it's available as a widget for those who want it.
TL; DR, use (stickerpicker)[https://github.com/maunium/stickerpicker] as a widget if you want Giphy, replace some config options in it if you want Tenor, or use the fork that @pix made if you want both.
Additionally, there are a few matrix clients that have their own gif pickers, I can think of Commet and Gomuks web as options.

Ofcourse there are options and you are correct. But I think people want straight integration and official support rather then using stickerpicker and do devtools to include some kind of functionality. Commet is still heavy alfa. While it is cool that other clients try to show new functions in which matrix as protocol can be mainstream and better option then discord and services alike. Other clients still dont have support for element call afaik for example, so once again Element is only viable options for a lot of people. Its great that devs show love for such a project but its without a doubt that some "fun" functions should come to Element without getting ignored for years. It can attract more people. And bigger project can only attract more people to help developers on open source projects.

Seamless integration would be ideal and there have been PRs before that tried it and have failed for various reasons. But stickerpicker exists now, and while it's not ideal, it's definitely better than nothing. Also, there are at least two sticker implementations competing for implementation, each with their pros and cons, so I am unsure if this issue will gain traction any time soon.