Twitter Adds GIF Keyboard Support on Devices Running Android 7.1 Nougat

 

Highlights

• Twitter for Android adds GIF keyboard support in beta app
• GIF keyboard available to limited users
• Twitter expected to roll out the feature broadly in next app update

Twitter seems to be the first to support GIF keyboard on devices running Android 7.1 Nougat. The GIF keyboard support was added by Google in Android 7.1.1 and was promoted as "an update to Nougat." With the new feature, the GIF images started appearing in the keyboard on supported apps. Google's Gboard was the first keyboard app to enable the GIF keyboard support.
The new GIF keyboard support is however limited to devices running the Android 7.1 Nougat and it also requires users to run the latest Twitter beta 6.33.0-beta.556 version. The feature was first reported by a Reddit user who pointed, "Twitter for Android now let's you search for GIFs through the Gboard."
It's worth noting that Android 7.1.1 update added GIF keyboard support though it wasn't system-wide change and was required to be enabled on an app basis. Google had confirmed that GIF keyboard support will be available through Google Allo, Google Messenger, and Hangouts. Twitter is one of the first non-Google app to implement the change - after Telegram in early January. Considering that the GIF keyboard support is available on beta version of Twitter, we can expect it to be available to broader audience in upcoming app update. The new GIF keyboard feature works with both tweets and direct messages (DMs) in Twitter for Android, similar to the existing GIF button. The new GIF keyboard support will be a useful add-on to the existing pack of GIF images already available in Twitter for Android via Giphy.
Twitter recently started showing view count on videos for some users as it continued to experiment with video related features on its platform.
Apart from GIF keyboard, Android 7.1.1 Nougat update also added new emojis that reflected gender equality.