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Google Ends Tenor API Access for Third-Party Apps on June 30 While Keeping Website Live
Google ended access to the Tenor API on June 30, 2026. The Tenor website and its GIF library remain available while affected platforms migrate to other services.
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Google shut down the Tenor API on June 30, 2026. The move ends all third-party integrations that relied on the service for GIF searches. The Tenor website and its searchable GIF library continue to operate after the shutdown.
Google acquired Tenor in 2018 and has kept the platform active for its own products, including Google Messages and Gboard. Platforms that used the API must now switch to alternatives. X, Discord, Bluesky, and WhatsApp previously integrated the service.
X Product head Nikita Bier said on June 21 that the platform was forced to migrate. Discord began testing Giphy and Klipy in January, and WhatsApp started work on a Klipy replacement in May. Google stopped accepting new Tenor API sign-ups on January 13.
After June 30, all existing agreements are decommissioned and any API requests return an error. The company said the change is part of an effort to focus resources on core products. In 2020 the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority described Tenor as the only equivalent large provider of GIFs when reviewing Meta’s planned Giphy acquisition.
Meta later divested Giphy in 2023.
