How to Save GIFs on iPhone

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by Brenna Miles
Brenna Miles is a freelance technology writer with a B.A. in Business Management and HR Management. She's been writing about technology for 6+ years.
Updated May 02, 2019

GIFs are often used for sharing reactions online and in text messages, and typically images looped together towards an end or looped endlessly. They're as easy to save on your iPhone as any other image.

Instructions in this article can be applied to iOS devices running iOS 10 and higher.

How to Save GIFs on iPhone

  1. Open the GIF you'd like to download.

  2. Tap the image and hold until the menu appears.

  3. Tap Save Image.

    GIF to save and Save Image button on iOS

The only difference between iOS 10 and iOS 11 and 12 is the way GIFs appear in the Photos app. The GIF format is finally supported on iOS 11 and newer, meaning your GIF will appear animated within the app, instead of just a still image.

Where to Find GIFs Online

Want to save the perfect GIF for that next text? There are plenty of places online to find unique GIFs to download to your iPhone or iPad. You can do a quick search using Google Image Search or use a website such as Giphy, a website dedicated to everything GIF.

Use the built-in GIF tool inside of iMessage on your iOS device to search through hundreds of preloaded GIFs. Simply locate the red magnifying glass on the toolbar in iMessages, tap it and search.