As frustrating as it may be, technology will always have errors. Sometimes there is a very simple fix, and other times… not so much. Just like all other apps, Kik can have its own errors and issues. Most of these problems are pretty easy to fix, while others may not be. Check out this article to help you navigate any Kik issues you may run into.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. – Arthur C Clarke

What is Kik?

Before we get into the errors you might run into while using Kik, it is important to quickly go over just what Kik is. Kik is a free messaging app available on iOS and Android devices. Here are some of the great things about Kik that millions of users appreciate:

Kik does not require a texting plan
- It uses WiFi and data
Kik can support group chats for up to 50 people
Lots of emojis and gifs to choose from to express your mood
Kik has Kik bots that allows you to connect with businesses and celebrities
- Can also keep up with current events and even chat with Kik bots
Kik codes allow you to find friends and other people to talk to
Kik video chat allows you to chat with friends without changing apps
You can invite friends to use Kik from the app itself
- Can send to a friends email, phone number, or even Facebook and Twitter page

As you can see Kik is a great messaging platform that has a lot of awesome features packed into 1 app.

Staying Safe on Kik

Now, just like with anything on the Internet, it is important to stay as safe as possible. Follow these tips to stay safe on Kik:

Never give out any personal information: do not tell people your address, phone number, or anything else that can be used to identify who you are
Block people: if you are contacted by either a stranger, or just by someone you don’t want to talk to, you can easily block people on your Kik app. A great feature that Kik does is if you are contacted by a stranger their profile picture, and any media they send you will be blurred out. If you aren’t comfortable with them or what they send you then you can easily block them
Don’t give your Kik name out on social media platforms: If you do you will get contacted by potentially dangerous folks, so make sure you only give your Kik name to people you can trust.

Kik is not a dangerous site by any means, but it is important to stay as safe as possible to make sure you don’t become a target.

Common Kik Errors

Now that we’ve gone over what Kik is and how to stay safe, let’s finally get to the point of the article; common issues you may experience on Kik. To simplify everything we broke the common errors into sections.

Common Errors: Registration

Birthday isn’t accepted

“Sorry, you are not eligible to create an account“

To sign up for a Kik account you have to be at least 13 years old

Account Registration

There are a few problems you can run into that can hinder your registration process, but we will cover the most popular issues.

“Oops. This is taking longer than usual. Please try again.”

This can happen when your connection to the internet is not super great.
To bypass this, either turn the WiFi on your device off or force close the app and then open Kik back up and try again.

Kik username is already taken

If the username you want is already taken then you will have to choose a different name. Check out this article to give you some great name ideas

Common Errors: Account

Password Reset

You might run into a situation where you need to reset your password. Simply follow the instructions that Kik gives you and choose a new password. Make sure to make a note of your password just in case you can’t remember it.

Can’t remember username?

If you cannot remember your username and are already logged into Kik you can check your user name by going to settings where you can find your username.
If you are logged out of Kik and can’t remember your username and need to log in all you need to do is log in with your email

Video Chat Issues

If, for whatever reason, your video chat is not working there are a few things you can do. Check them out:

Turn your WiFi on and off
Turn Airplane mode on and then off
Swap to data and turn WiFi off on your device
Make sure your Kik app is up to date
Make sure Kik is allowed to access the camera on your device
Force close the app and then restart it
Perform a hard reset on your device (instructions will be below)
Update your phones operating system if it is not up to date

As you can see there are quite a few things you can do to troubleshoot any video chat issues you might have.

Common Errors: Connection

Can’t open media sent from contacts

There are actually a few things that can cause this issue. Either:

Your data or WiFi connection is weak
Or your friend’s connection is weak

To fix it try turning WiFi off and switch to data, or ask your contact to resend whatever it is they were trying to send you.

Common Errors: Miscellaneous

So there are a few issues that don’t necessarily fit into any categories. Let’s go over them:

Contacts and chat history is gone from my device

If your chats are gone then you possibly did one of the following:

Logged out of Kik
Logged into Kik from a separate device
Erased your account
Deleted your app

If your chats are still gone after doing one of those things above, unfortunately your out of luck, there isn’t much you can do to try to retrieve those chats.

If both your chats and contacts are missing, and you haven’t done any of the things we listed above, there are possible fixes for you:

Force quit the app then reopen the app. If it didn’t work move onto the next fix
Completely log out of the Kik app, force quit it. Then reopen it and log back in. If it didn’t work move onto the final fix.
Uninstall the app completely, then reinstall it

Android is just stuck on “…”

So, as most Kik users know, you will see this … when messaging a friend. Those dots mean that your friend is currently responding to you. For some Android users that is all they will see. Kik has made a statement saying that they are aware of the problem and are “investigating” the issue. For now, there really aren’t many fixes except for this one, not very helpful, fix:

Log into your Kik on a iOS device, if possible

This is Kik’s response to “fix” the problem. If you don’t have any access to an iOS device you are unfortunately out of luck.

Other Fixes

To round out this guide, we decided it would be a good idea to tell y’all how to perform hard reboots on you devices, as well as resetting your modem and router. Let’s get started:

Hard Reboot: iPhone and iOS devices

Performing a hard reboot on your iOS device is very easy, and it does not harm your device at all. Follow these steps to do so:

Simultaneously hold down the power (lock) button and the home button
Hold them down for about 10 to 15 seconds and the screen will turn black
Keep holding until a white screen pops up with an Apple logo on it

That’s it, it is very simple and can fix many issues you might be experiencing. This is helpful if your phone freezes up, or if it is just acting very sluggish. This does not erase any data or anything on your phone, so you don’t have to be nervous about resetting it.

Hard Reboot: Android devices

For some Android devices there are a few ways to go about this. The simplest way is to remove the battery. Now this obviously is not possible if you cannot access your battery, in which case just follow these steps:

Hold down both the volume up and volume down buttons
Hold them down until you see a reboot animation

Again, it is just as simple as the iOS devices, and you will not lose any data stored on your phone. Now there are ways to perform an actual reset on your phone, and if you don’t know how to do that you can just Google it and you will find instructions easily.

How to reset your modem and router

If you run into any kind of connection issues, on any device in your home, you may want to (and by may want I really mean that you need to) perform a reset on your modem and router. Here’s how:

Unplug BOTH modem and router for about 30 seconds
Plug in your modem first and wait for all the lights to stop flashing
Next plug in your router and give it 30 seconds to 1 minute to come back up

It is that simple, and it easily fixes most connection issues. If y’all have any questions about Kik errors, write them down in the comments below!