Google Messenger gets a widget and support for GIFs

No matter how you say it, GIFs are awesome. They come in handy all the time. You can use a GIF to convey your current emotion, share a clip from a funny moment on TV, or watch that amazing dunk over and over again. Now you can even send GIFs via SMS with the latest update to Google’s standalone Messenger app.

After you update the app you’ll be able to select GIFs from your local storage to send. You’ll also be able to view GIFs that have been sent to you, tap on the them to view larger, and save to your gallery. Google has also added a nice big scrollable widget for your home screen, as well as the usual performance fixes. If you’re not a fan of Hangouts this is a great simple and clean alternative. Download Google Messenger for free below.

Messenger | Google Play Store

Twitter can now autoplay GIFs and videos in your timeline

Auto-playing videos started as an annoying thing on Facebook, but it has spread to even more social media sites. The latest to adopt the feature is Twitter. In an attempt to cut down on the number of taps it takes play a video or GIF, Twitter has made it possible for these clips to automatically play as you’re scrolling past. It only works with native Twitter videos, Vines, and GIFs.

The videos don’t play audio when you’re scrolling past. Similarly to Instagram, you can tap on a video to enable the audio. To watch a video in full screen you can simply rotate your phone into landscape mode. But perhaps the best feature is the ability to disable auto-play completely. If you’re annoyed by the auto-playing you can go into the settings and disable the feature, or have auto-play enabled while connected to WiFi.

Big kudos to Twitter for allowing users to decide how this feature works. Twitter for Android will be getting this feature soon.

[via Twitter]