Hello! I would like the ability to disable user’s animated icons and all playing animation unless I tap on it (gifs/videos playing). The motion is distracting and makes it difficult for me to get immersed in the conversation.

I think one or more toggle switches, or honor the iOS accessibility preferences (Accessibility->Motion->Reduce Motion) would be great. Essentially it would display a placeholder with a “play” triangle, in the center, pointing to the right to indicate a playable video. Except user icons would just display a still without ability to play (except when navigating to the user profile and viewing their image explicitly.

Anyways just some things to think about, actual implementation is up to you. Thanks for consideration!