Is it possible to block GIFs in iMessage?

[Bill Av]

I thought they were cute at first, but am now finding them annoying - especially with the larger ones. Is there any way to keep them from auto-downloading?

 

[Floris]

I do not remember reading that we can block them. I don't think it's possible. But if it is, I'd love to know as well.

 

[C DM]

I believe if you have reduce motion enabled then the animated ones shouldn't really work.

Aside from that it's basically down to not using them if you don't care for them.

 

[KALLT]

‘Reduce motion’ only disables some of the potentially disorienting effects. It does not affect animated GIFs or videos.

 

[posguy99]

Aside from that it's basically down to not using them if you don't care for them.

No one seems to get the idea that you can't control what other people send to you. Of course I'm not going to use the crap. But that doesn't stop other people from sending it to you. Short of disabling iMessage, there's no way.

 

[C DM]

No one seems to get the idea that you can't control what other people send to you. Of course I'm not going to use the crap. But that doesn't stop other people from sending it to you. Short of disabling iMessage, there's no way.

Just like you can't control people from prank calling you or ringing your doorbell or bugging you in all kinds of other ways.

Well, you can in a sense, by talking to them or blocking them or taking some other similar type of action, just as that would basically apply to this as well.

 

[posguy99]

Just like you can't control people from prank calling you or ringing your doorbell or bugging you in all kinds of other ways.

Yeah. Apple thinks people want this, otherwise they wouldn't have added the crap in the first place. They may even be right, I wouldn't know. So why would they give you a way to turn it off?

 

[Suckfest 9001]

Maybe tell the people communicating with you to tone it down with the GIFs? Or block them and find better people to talk to?