Texting Alternative: A Beginner’s Guide to KIK

The newest trend in text messaging is a cross-platform smartphone app for individual and group messaging. Lots of young people (with pretty up-to-the-minute Instagrams) are already devotees of the platform. Here, we’ll answer your questions about Kik so you can decide if you want to download it, too.

How do I create a Kik account?

Unlike other popular messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Kik doesn’t have you input your phone number to create an account. Instead, you create a messaging account with your email and a password. You can then find your friends by searching for their usernames or by searching for their phone numbers once they’ve entered those into the app.

Who uses Kik?

Bottom line? Lots and lots of people use Kik. From 2010 to 2012, the Kik app attracted over four million users. But by 2016, Kik had exploding, drawing in more than 275 million users.

Why would I use Kik?

Kik operates in a way that’s very similar to your phone’s normal texting plan. If you’re worried about going over your texting limits, Kik can be a great way to save your texts for when you’re away from a Wi-Fi connection. Unlike texting on your phone, you won’t run down your texting plan with Kik. Instead, you connect via your data plan or Wi-Fi. Most people use Kik as an email, social media chat, or texting alternative.

What are Kik features?

Kik has some features that not all Android texting apps provide. Its live typing feature, for example, lets you know when the person you’re texting is typing. It also lets you know when your text recipient has read your text.

Another useful Kik features is its customizable notification sounds – you can change the noise your phone makes when a certain person texts you. Additionally, Kik’s code scanning is a unique feature. Each Kik user has a personalized code that can be accessed in the app’s settings. To add a user with their Kik code, you can simply give Kik permission to access your phone’s camera and then scan another user’s Kik code to add them.

While you’re Kik-ing up a storm, don’t waste all your memory and storage space. Instead, optimize your phone with PSafe Total. PSafe’s Memory Booster gives you options for clearing out unneeded files from storage and optimizes your data — all designed to speed up your device.

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The dfndr blog is an informative channel that presents exclusive content on security and privacy in the mobile and business world, with tips to keep users protected. Populated by a select group of expert reporters, the channel has a partnership with dfndr lab's security team. Together they bring you, first-notice news about attacks, scams, internet vulnerabilities, malware and everything affecting cybersecurity.