Kik Messenger, also known as Kik, is an application developed by a Canadian company called Kik Interactive Inc. It is a freeware smart-phone instant messaging client application, available free of charge on iOS, Android operating systems, and Windows phone devices.
But it is no longer available on Symbian-based or BlackBerry 4.6 – 7 phones. You cannot download or register a new account on Kik using these devices.
Kik is known for its features of preserving clients’ anonymity. For example, it permits clients to register without registering their phone numbers so that the Kik application cannot log into a client’s IP address, which the organization can use to decide the clients location.
Kik is an instant messaging application that lets you receive and transmit Text messages, Photos, GIFs, Videos, Sketches, and use many more features within the application.
Kik uses your data plan or Wi-Fi connection to send and receive messages. You can also meet new people and connect with new people using Kik messenger. However, Kik is not a dating app.
History Of Kik
A group of students from the University of Waterloo in Canada found the company Kik Interactive in 2009. They wished to create new technologies that could be used on mobile smart-phones.
Kik Messenger is the first smart-phone application developed by Kik Interactive which was released on October 19, 2010. Within 15 days of its first release, Kik Messenger reached 1 Million user registration and Twitter got credited as a catalyst for Kik messenger’s instant popularity.
On November 24, 2010, RIM (Research in Motion) removed Kik Messenger from BlackBerry App World. It also limited the features and functions of the software for its users. RIM took legal actions against Kik Interactive for patent infringement and misuse of trademarks. The companies settled the lawsuit with the terms undisclosed in October 2013.
In November 2014, Kik announced a $38.3 million Series C funding round and buying GIF Messenger “Relay,” as its first acquisition. By this time, Kik had raised a total of $70.5 million.
On August 16, 2015, Kik received a $50 million investment from Chinese Internet Giant Tencent, the parent company of WeChat. This investment earned a billion-dollar valuation.
In 2017 Kik decided against more VC funding instead of raising high profile initial coin offering (ICO) and sold “Kin” digital tokens to the contributors. In November 2017, Windows removed Kik Messenger from the Windows Store. Neither the developers nor Microsoft have provided a statement or an explanation on the removal of the Kik messenger.
The Kin Coin was officially released on the Kik platform in Beta in July 2018.
The Kin foundation released the Kinit Beta App on the Google Play Store, restricted to US residents only. Kin offers different ways of spending and earning the Kin coin in 2018.
In September 2019, Kik’s CEO and founder Ted Livingston announced on a blog post that Kik would be shut down on October 19, 2019, to focus on the Kin coin ongoing legal battle with the SEC. And further, he announced that over a 100 employees would be laid off.
On October 13, 2019, the founder of Kik announced that the app would remain, and in its blog, he announced Medialab acquired the Kik Messenger.
Features Of Kik Messenger
Some of the additional features that attract the user to use this application are listed below.
- Group Conversation/Chat: You can join a group chat with up to 49 other users.
- Kik Codes: Helps you add friends and join the group faster and easier.
- Message Receipt Notifications: Notify by sent and delivered of messages.
- Bots: Provides users with a fun, engaging, and useful service, all through chat.
- Profile Integration: Customize the profile image and contact information.
- Live Typing: You can see typing a live message in the chat box.
- Chat Customization: You can customize chat with colors and chat bubbles.
- Free Video Chat: Real-time video calls with a friend for free.
- Connect Automatically: you will get a notification of a new friend who joined Kik and helps you connect with the friend.
If you think these features are cool and useful for you, you can get Kik messenger on your smart-phone. Kik is available for both the iOS Apple and Android operating systems. Simply download it from the App Store or Google Play Store according to your device. How?-Go through the headings below to download Kik messenger on your device.
How To Download Kik Messenger On Android? (Google Play Store)
- Open Google Play Store on your smart-phone.
- If you haven’t signed in yet, sign in using your Gmail account.
- Now click on the “Search for apps & games” text box.
- Type in Kik and click on the magnifying glass to search the app.
- Now choose the official Kik application from the list and click on the app.
- Now you will see the Install option. Click on the Install button and wait!
- Finally, click on the Open button or you can also find a downloaded app on the Home screen of your device.
You have successfully downloaded Kik Messenger on your device. Now you can create one account of Kik to get started with Kik messenger and enjoy it.
How To Download Kik Messenger On iOS? (App Store)
- Open App Store.
- Sign in with your Apple ID if you haven’t signed in yet.
- After you open the App store, click on the magnifying glass icon to search the app from the bottom right corner of the App Store.
- Now you will see the Search option. Click on the text area of Search.
- Now type Kik on the text field and search for the app.
- Finally, click on the GET and Confirm with the side button or prompt on the screen.
- You can access the Kik app from the “Home screen” of your device.
You have successfully downloaded Kik Messenger on your iOS device. Now you can create an account; if you do not know how to create a Kik account, then go to the article ‘How To Create An Account On Kik Messenger’.
How To Download Kik Messenger On PC? ( Android Emulator Software)
Even when Kik is a freeware smart-phone instant messaging client application, available on iOS and Android operating systems, it does not have any PC version. To use Kik on your PC, you have to download Android Emulator Software before you download Kik on your PC.
If you do not know how to download Android Emulator Software or an application from Android Emulator Software, then we have an article on How to Use a Social App in PC/Windows. You can click on the link to access the article and you will find a guide on how to download and install an app from Android Emulator Software.
In Conclusion
There you go, here in this article, I have made you familiar with Kik messenger by explaining to you about the Kik messenger app and its history in short.
You can also go through its features mentioned above, which is the main attraction of the Kik messenger app. If you think Kik is a useful app for you and will help you out with instant messaging, then you can download it. To download Kik on your device, you can follow the step-by-step procedure mentioned above. I hope this article will be helpful to you.
If you have any questions about this article, you can leave a comment in the comment section below. You can also visit our Official website Online Help Guide for more helpful guides on Kik Messenger.
Thank You.
Also Read: Kik Messenger Chat
