The Tenor API was scheduled to be fully decommissioned on June 30, 2026, according to Google’s official Tenor notice. That date has passed. An application still depending on the third-party API needs a replacement integration; rotating an old key is not a migration strategy.
Google distinguishes the developer API from its own products. Its notice says users can continue to access Tenor content through Gboard, Tenor.com, the Android and iOS GIF Keyboard, Google Chat, Google Messages, and other Google integrations. A working Tenor website therefore does not establish that the external API is available.
The two dates that matter
- January 13, 2026: new API key sign-ups and new integrations stopped being accepted.
- June 30, 2026: API and Ads Distribution Agreements terminated, and existing API integrations were scheduled for full decommissioning.
The notice says requests made after the shutdown will fail with an error. It does not identify one universal HTTP response or promise that every historical media URL will stop working on the same date. Avoid treating a particular cached image as a service-health check.
Identify your actual dependency
Search application code, configuration, database records, and mobile releases for Tenor endpoint hostnames. Separate live search requests from stored GIF IDs, direct media links, and ordinary links to Tenor.com. Each needs a different response.
For live search, select a provider and update authentication, response parsing, pagination, and attribution together. For saved favorites, retain the original provider and ID so users can understand unavailable results. For historical messages, show a readable fallback if media fails; do not silently replace a sent GIF with a different reaction.
Choose the smallest workable recovery
A text-only composer is a useful temporary fallback while search is being replaced. Keep existing messages readable and stop retrying a permanently unavailable API.
GIFs.so offers a curated reaction library with REST and MCP access through a verified account. It is one candidate for a focused picker, with a smaller catalog and a different API contract. It does not provide every Tenor feature or translate Tenor IDs automatically.
Use the migration checklist to inventory what your app needs, then compare providers with your real search queries before switching traffic. Source checked September 5, 2026.