How often do you use your smartphone to chat with friends and acquaintances? How does Kik Messenger work? How many messages do you send per day? The most intimate piece of technology that exists today is also one that the majority of people have in their pocket at all times.
Smartphones allow us to keep connected with our contacts and the world at large, taking in knowledge and news just as quickly as we disseminate our own through viral and social media. The flow of information doesn’t slow down and it doesn’t stop; the more connected that we can be, the easier of a time we have keeping up.
So wide-ranging is the mobile application pool on any mobile device that people can personalize to perfectly fit their person. Choosing the right messaging app to keep in touch with your contacts, as well as the rest of the ceaselessly moving digital world, is important. Enter Kik Messenger, which proposes to make that connectedness easier to achieve than ever. It’s the only messaging application with a built-in web-browser. Kik has been embraced by millions of active users around the world, and perhaps more importantly, it’s also used by developers, artists, and interest groups to easily deliver the fastest, freshest updates to their followers.
Kik is a connectivity hub, whereas many other platforms force you to spread your attention across multiple, different apps. Who am I kidding; we’re all going to use a plethora of apps, anyway! But isn’t the thought of localizing your browsing, messaging, and media sharing into a single experience an appealing one?
Here are a few reasons that Kik stands apart from the mobile messaging pack:
- Huge userbase of over 200 million
- One of the top apps on iOS and Android
- Flexible, fun, built-in web browser
- Support on most mobile operating systems
Below, we’ll go over a few of the ins-and-outs that make Kik work. Just as it’s important to find the right messaging and media apps that suit your lifestyle, it’s important to have a strong understanding of how to best integrate them into your daily life.
This Is How Kik Works
Like many popular chat platforms, Kik Messenger operates natively on a wide variety of mobile operating systems. Kik has released on Android OS, iOS, and Windows Phone, giving the application a long reach across hundreds of devices. The interface is very nearly the same on every device, meaning that every Kik user will have a similar experience no matter which platform they’re using. Better yet? Kik is a free download from your operating system’s app store, meaning that you can start chatting without any cost at all. Kik is a simple and convenient app that requires an internet connection or Wi-Fi connection to function.
For those without a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, popular Android emulation software can bring the Kik Messenger experience to your laptop or desktop. An in-depth article on how to set up Kik through an Android emulator is available here. Applications such as Bluestacks, Andyroid, or AMIDuOS can be used to bring Kik to your computer. With the right emulation software, you can bring an otherwise mobile experience onto any computer platform. What’s better, is the fact that your Kik user profile will come right along with you, no matter what device you’re doing your chatting from.
Kik Messenger Basics: Profile and Contacts
At its heart, Kik is a simple messaging platform. Its minimalistic design and inputs guarantee a quick understanding of the chat app’s basic functions. Still, there are a few simple steps to take after installing Kik. This will help you to better understand how Kik works and help you to dig into its distinguishing features more quickly.
One of the minor features that makes Kik a more appealing messaging platform is that it doesn’t require a phone number in order for you to set up a profile. For users that want a little bit more privacy, or for those who aren’t connected to a cellular network that still want an excellent chat application, Kik is a great first choice. When you set up your user profile, all that you’ll be asked to provide is a unique username and your email address.
Once you’ve set up a profile by selecting a unique username, you’ll run right into the other feature of Kik Messenger that requires some time to set up–your contacts. A chat application without contacts is a lonely place. Fortunately, sharing your profile within your existing framework of social media platform is a simple thing. From within the “settings” menu in the Kik application, simply select “share your profile.” This will allow you to send a link to your new Kik profile through other social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Additionally, inviting new contacts can occasionally earn you “Kik points,” which can be spent in the app’s online marketplace. I’ll talk a bit more about this below, but it’s welcome to know that there are twofold benefits for getting your friends on the same chat platform as you!
Kik’s In-App Browser
One of the most innovative features of Kik Messenger is the application’s web browser. This feature gives Kik users a wider range of available media for consuming and sharing than any other popular messaging apps . It also helps to bring third-party platforms closer in touch with their various audiences.
Accessing the browser is a simple task. Located in either the top right (Android Device) or bottom right (iOS Device) of the Kik Messenger app interface, a globe icon will bring up the landing page for the Kik browser experience. Users can input their own search terms, or use the ranked list of Kik-optimized websites to begin exploring various popular media. The interface is more intuitive than your typical web browser, and as you’ll see from the minimalistic and well-organized tiles, this browsing experience was created with sharing in mind.
Using Kik’s built-in browser you can:
- Share a song with your contacts
- Play a game with friends
- Browse popular images online
- Read popular media
- Keep up to date with popular artists, developers, and other interest groups
From within the browser, you can easily copy any Kik-optimized website and drop it right into an instant message. The system is fast, smart, and exceptionally easy to delve into. Kik is the only messaging application that has such a tool, and for millions of users, this alone remains the most appealing aspect of the application. Users on the go will be hard pressed to find an app that does a better job of bridging tool that might otherwise require multiple apps.
Within the browser, you can also access your “Kik points.” This digital currency is accumulated when you participate in Kik-sponsored messages, chats, and activities. If you gather enough Kik points, you can trade them in for premium packages of emoji and other chat symbols to use in your messaging.
Kik’s Read-Notification and Messaging
Typing and read receipts make a lot of sense for messaging. You write a letter, you put it in an envelope, you send it to a friend, and you want to know when they get it. It’s like FedEx – they let you know when the package gets dropped off.- Evan Spiegel
It’s a messaging app, so why talk about the most obvious function last? Because the clean, quick interface that Kik uses for its messaging system is one of the best (and most accurate) available! Every message that you send and receive comes bundled with a simple read-notification lexicon that will let you know your message’s status. A small letter designation (S, D, or R) will let you know when your message has reached the intended recipient. S is for “sent,” D is for “delivered,” and R is for “read.” A more thorough explanation of how these symbols integrate with your messaging experience is available here, but it suffices to say that this small addition to an already streamlined messaging services only helps you to be more accurate in your communication.
On top of this feature is Kik’s group chat features, which is managed easily from within your available list of contacts. Whether you’re creating a social chat group for your friends or participating in a sponsored chat with a third-party interest, Kik’s chat groups allow for the same easy media sharing and communication as its one-on-one service. Links from the browser can be sent to an entire field of recipients, or inversely, you can join in ongoing group chats to receive updates on favorite topics.
The read notification system falters, slightly, within Kik’s group chat feature. Since a single message is sent to multiple recipients, the letter indicators can’t tell you if everyone in the chat has both received and read your message. Additionally, some users would prefer the option to turn off read notifications for their own messages. While this is certainly a valid argument, the read notification system is immensely useful for all of the groups that utilize Kik in order to reach an audience. As long as users can escape the expectation that a read message deserves an instant response, Kik’s notification system is fluid and fast; a way to take control of your chat by knowing where your every message is.
Kik Helps You to Work Less
At its heart, Kik Messenger is a simple application. Its messaging service is superb, but the streamlined design and built-in browser help to eliminate the app-hopping busywork that comes along with staying up to date with one’s contacts, as well as the bevy of social media that’s available to us. It won’t replace all of your internet browsing, but it will certainly give you plenty to read and share between all of the people that you keep up with. That sharing has never been easier and more accessible than it is with Kik Messenger. You might not realize how cumbersome wielding multiple apps is until you try one that brings so many useful functions together. We’ve become accustomed to nearly constant contact with our friends, able to chat, send messages, and share moments from our lives with a push and a swipe. Kik will help you to gather some of that time and energy into one, central application. Hopefully you got a good sense of how Kik Messenger works to help you contact, share, and connect with your friends and family.