Overview

Enhance your push notification campaigns by incorporating GIFs, making them more engaging and dynamic. GIFs are supported for Android 14+ and iOS push notifications when expanded. This article covers how GIFs work in push notifications, platform-specific behavior, and best practices for implementation.

Use Cases

The following are some use cases for GIFs in push notifications:

• E-commerce: Showcase products using GIFs that display a 360-degree view of a product or demonstrate its features in action (for example, a clothing item being modeled, a gadget’s functionality).
• Abandoned cart reminders: GIFs showing the items left in the cart with a playful, eye-catching animation to encourage purchase completion.
• Banking and finance: Reinforce security messages using subtle GIFs with animated security icons (for example, a lock, a shield).
• Logistics and delivery: GIFs showing the movement of a package on a map and different stages of delivery (for example, “Package Picked Up,” “In Transit,” “Delivered”).

Use GIFs in Push Notifications

In Android

To add GIFs to your Android push notifications, perform the following steps:

1. In the second step of push campaign creation, Content, select the Basic Notification template.
2. Under the Rich media section:
   
   1. Select the Use GIF for Android 14+ check box. The GIF with image fallback section appears. You can use a fallback image for devices with Android 13 and below.
   2. In the GIF with image fallback section, you can either:
      • Upload the GIF. The size limit for GIF files is 500 KB.
      • Enter the GIF URL. You can also personalize the URL.JJJ
        

        info	Information Only .gif file format is supported.

   3. In the Test Campaigns section, you can test your push campaigns to preview the output based on the device.
   4. Complete the rest of the setup and publish the campaign.
   5. After the notification is delivered on the device, you’ll see:
      
      • GIFs are downloaded and displayed in the notification drawer.
      • If the download fails, the backup image appears.
      • The animation plays only when the user opens the notification drawer. If the drawer is already open when a notification arrives, the animation won’t play. To view it, the user must close and reopen the drawer.

Limitations

• Android 13 and below, GIFs are not supported; the fallback image is displayed instead.
• Certain manufacturers, like Samsung, may not support GIFs even on Android 14 and above. These devices will display similar behavior to those running Android 13.
• It is observed that sometimes, if a GIF is delivered to the user while the notification drawer is open, only the first frame is visible as a static image. After the user closes the notification drawer and opens it again, the GIF will animate.

In iOS

To add a GIF to your iOS push notification, perform the following steps:

1. In the second step of push campaign creation, Content, select the Basic Notification or the Stylized Basic Notification template.
2. On the Basic details tab, you can configure the GIF in the following ways:
   1. In the Rich media list, select Image/GIF. The Image section appears.
   2. Under the Image section, you can either:
      • Upload the GIF. The size limit for GIF files is 500 KB.
      • Enter the GIF URL. You can also personalize the URL.

        info	Information Only the .gif file format is supported.

   3. You can also replicate the campaign content from the Android template by selecting Copy Content > Copy from Android option.
      • If GIF is used in Android, the GIF will be copied to iOS.
      • If both a GIF and an image are used in Android, the GIF will be copied to iOS.
        
   4. In the Test Campaigns section, you can test your push campaigns to preview the output based on the device.
   5. Complete the rest of the setup and publish the campaign.
   6. After the notification is delivered to the device, you'll see:
      
      • GIFs play when the user expands the notification.
      • If the GIF download fails for any reason, such as an incorrect file format, invalid URL, or any failure to download, no media is displayed.

FAQs

Best Practices

• Optimize GIF Size: Keep files small (≤500KB) to prevent failures in displaying GIF.
• Provide a Backup Image: Ensure smooth fallback for unsupported devices.
• Test Before Launching: Check GIF behavior on different OS versions.
• Use GIFs Strategically: Avoid overuse to prevent notification fatigue.