How to send a GIF on WhatsApp and iMessage on iPhone

What you need before you start

You need an iPhone with WhatsApp and Messages, and WhatsApp updated to its latest version, because WhatsApp changes where its buttons sit between versions.

iMessage has one more requirement. Its built in GIF search, called #images, is only available in some countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, India, Singapore, Philippines and Japan, according to Apple Support (checked on November 12, 2026). WhatsApp's GIF picker has no country list on its help page.

Send a GIF on WhatsApp on iPhone

Use WhatsApp's own GIF picker. It needs no other app and no saved file.

1. Open a chat in WhatsApp.
2. Tap the Stickers icon next to the message box.
3. Tap GIF.
4. Tap the search icon to look for a GIF by keyword, the clock icon for recently used ones, or the star icon for your favorites.
5. Tap the GIF you want to send.

To keep a GIF for later, touch and hold it in the GIF menu and tap Add to Favorites. In a chat, touch and hold a GIF you received and tap the star. To remove one, touch and hold it and tap Remove From Favorites in the GIF menu, or Unstar in a chat. These are the steps on WhatsApp's help page for iPhone, checked on November 12, 2026. If you cannot see a GIF button, look inside the Stickers panel and update WhatsApp.

Send a video as a GIF on WhatsApp

WhatsApp turns a short video into a looping GIF, and its help page says the video must be under six seconds.

1. Open the chat and tap the plus button.
2. Tap Photo & Video Library and pick the video.
3. Tap GIF in the top right corner. If the video is longer than six seconds, trim it with the slider first.
4. Tap Send.

WhatsApp's help page documents these steps for Android, with the Edit pencil next to the GIF button, and has no iPhone version. The iPhone steps above are the ones that how to guides agree on, and the button names can differ between WhatsApp versions (help page checked on November 12, 2026).

Send a GIF in iMessage

Use #images inside Messages. It searches GIFs and adds the one you tap to your message.

1. Open Messages and open the chat.
2. Tap the plus button.
3. Tap #images.
4. Tap Find images, type a keyword and tap search.
5. Tap the GIF to add it, then tap the Send button.

If #images is missing from the menu, check Settings, General, Language & Region, because #images depends on the region and keyboard language. Apple's page on Messages apps adds that you can turn each app on or off under Settings, Apps, Messages, iMessage Apps. (Checked on November 12, 2026.)

Where to find more GIFs: GIPHY, Tenor and the web

GIPHY and Tenor are the two big GIF libraries, and both have an iPhone app that also works inside Messages.

• GIPHY: the app is called GIPHY: The GIF Search Engine. Its App Store page lists it as free, rated 4.8 from about 732K ratings, and says you can copy a GIF to the clipboard, save it to favorites and share it to WhatsApp.
• GIF Keyboard by Tenor: it works as a keyboard, a standalone app and a Messages app, and has a Safari share extension for saving GIFs. Its App Store page lists it as free, rated 4.7 from about 1.4M ratings.
• GIPHY or Tenor inside Messages: install the app, then turn it on under Settings, Apps, Messages, iMessage Apps, and it appears in the Messages drawer.
• Apple's Messages drawer: tap the plus button in a chat, swipe up for more apps, tap the Store icon and tap Get next to an app to install it.

The app facts come from each app's App Store page and Apple's page on Messages apps, checked on November 12, 2026.

Copy a GIF from a website and send it

When you find a GIF on a website, the most reliable route is to save it to Photos from Safari, or to find the same GIF on GIPHY or Tenor and send it from there.

• Save it from Safari: open the page that holds the GIF, not a Google Images thumbnail, touch and hold the GIF itself, not a link around it, and tap Save to Photos. Then attach it in WhatsApp with the plus button and Photos, or add it from Photos in Messages. Tap the saved copy in Photos to check it plays before you send it, because a GIF can end up as a still.
• The GIF sits inside an app or a post: use the app's share option to copy its link, open that link in Safari, and touch and hold the GIF there.
• Saving fails: save the file to the Files app instead, using Share, then Save to Files, and attach it from there with the plus button and Document.
• Skip the file: search the same GIF in GIPHY or Tenor, or use a GIF keyboard, and send it from the app. This is the route people end up on.
• Copy and paste: touch and hold the GIF, tap Copy, open the chat, tap the message box and tap Paste. This is the least reliable route. People report the GIF pasting as a single frame, as a link, or not pasting at all, and the copy menu has been reported broken on iOS 26.
• GIFs from X: X plays its GIFs as video and has no save option for them. Screen record the GIF from Control Center, trim the recording in Photos, and send it as a video, or use WhatsApp's GIF button on it. Searching GIPHY or Tenor for the same GIF is quicker.

These routes are the ones that several forums and how to guides from the last year agree on. None of them is an Apple or WhatsApp instruction, so test one with a friend before you rely on it (checked on November 12, 2026).

Send a GIF saved in Photos

You can attach a GIF saved in Photos with the plus button, but WhatsApp's own picker needs no saved file at all.

• From Photos: tap the plus button in the chat, tap Photos, pick the GIF and tap Send. WhatsApp's help page does not say whether a GIF sent this way keeps its animation, so send it to a friend first.
• As a file: tap the plus button, tap Document and pick the GIF. WhatsApp's help page says documents can be up to 2 GB. It does not say whether the receiver sees the GIF play, so test this as well.

Save a GIF someone sent you

In iMessage, touch and hold the GIF in the chat and tap Save, and it goes to Photos, as Apple Support lists.

In WhatsApp, the way WhatsApp's help page gives to keep a GIF you want to reuse is to add it to your favorites, as described above, and it then sits in the Favorites section of the GIF menu. GIPHY and Tenor keep favorites of their own inside their apps.

Why a GIF arrives as a still picture

A GIF usually arrives as a still because it was pasted or saved in a way that dropped the animation, so send it through a picker instead.

• Pasted from a keyboard or another app: send it from WhatsApp's GIF picker or iMessage's #images instead, or share it from the app that made it.
• Saved from a website: check the saved copy in Photos before you send it, and if it shows one frame, send the GIF from a picker instead.
• The GIF button is missing in WhatsApp: open the Stickers panel and look for GIF there, then update WhatsApp.
• #images is missing in Messages: check the region list above, Language & Region in Settings, and the iMessage Apps list in Settings, Apps, Messages.
• GIFs sit still in Safari or the chat: open Settings, Accessibility, Motion, turn on Auto-Play Animated Images and turn off Reduce Motion. Several forums name these two settings as the cause of GIFs not playing on iOS 26, and of the WhatsApp sticker and GIF panel freezing.
• A Live Photo arrives without motion: open it in Photos, tap the Live Photo button near the top of the screen and choose Loop or Bounce before you share it, as Apple's Live Photo page lists (checked on November 12, 2026).

The ways side by side

This table sets the ways in this guide next to each other by app and result.

Make and send a GIF of your own

Make the GIF yourself from a photo, then send it. Stock libraries give everyone the same clips, and a GIF of your friend or your dog is one nobody else has.

Dappi is a sticker and GIF app for iPhone. You give it a photo and a prompt that describes what you want to happen in the video, and it makes an AI video that you can send as a sticker or GIF in WhatsApp and iMessage, or save and share as a regular video. Dappi keeps your stickers in albums that you name, so they are easy to find again. One tip is to make stickers you will use every day, such as a friend giving a thumbs up or your cat falling asleep on a keyboard, so one sticker lasts a lifetime of chats.

A Dappi sticker arrives in WhatsApp as an animated WhatsApp sticker, and the GIF button is not involved. To send one:

1. Open the sticker in Dappi and tap WhatsApp.
2. In the Copy to WhatsApp window, tap Copy sticker.
3. Tap Open WhatsApp.
4. Open the chat, tap the message box and tap Paste.
5. Send it. Each paste is one sticker.

To send it in iMessage as a GIF:

1. Open the sticker in Dappi and tap iMessage.
2. In the window titled Dappi’s iMessage extension, tap Continue.
3. Pick the person in the Messages sheet and send.

You can also skip Dappi's own screens. In any chat in Messages, find Dappi in the plus menu and tap a sticker to add it as a GIF. A Dappi setting called iMessage GIF quality has Low, Medium and High, and it applies to GIFs sent this way. A higher setting looks sharper and sends a bigger file.

Download Dappi on the App Store

Our guides to animated stickers for WhatsApp and animated stickers for iMessage cover the steps and the common problems in more depth.