Google acquires GIF search platform Tenor

Google is acquiring the platform Tenor, which runs GIF-searching functionality in keyboards for phones and messenger software, including on Samsung devices and Facebook Messenger. The company will keep operating as a separate brand under Google, improving its products as well as building out its tech and API.

This makes sense for the company following its push to make GIF-searching a big part of its keyboards for iOS and Android. Folding Tenor's wide library and context searching into Google Images and Gboard, among other products, will help them serve up smarter GIFs at a better clip, as the company wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition. This shows how seriously Google considers the format. It's been improving its GIF services across the board, from boosting its moving image-creating app and Gboard to licensing out its tech: Back in September, GIF-hosting company Giphy implemented Google AI to improve its search functionality.