With so many instant messaging apps available these days, it can be a bit hard to choose which one to use. Ever Since smart phones became so popular a few years ago, pretty much everyone seems to be using one or more instant messaging apps. This is not surprising since, although all smart phones come with a pre-installed text messaging platform, instant messaging apps (such as WeChat, WhatsApp, Kik Messenger, Facebook Messenger, etc.) offer their users lots of different features. The only problem really is finding the right instant messaging app for you among the many that are available for free. Two of the contenders for best instant messaging apps are Kik Messenger and Telegram Messenger.
What we will be doing in this article is looking at both those instant messaging platforms in as much detail as possible in order to compare them. The point of this is to help you decide which one of the two popular chat apps would work better for you. We will therefore be looking at their different features, and the things that set them apart from each other.
What Is the Point Of Instant Messaging Apps?
Before we look into what makes the Kik Messenger app and Telegram different from each other, we should look at what, in fact, makes them so similar. In other words, why do people use such apps?
Well, for one thing instant messaging apps are a great way to communicate using a smart phone (or sometimes other mobile devices, as well). But, what you may still not get is why bother to download and install an app when your smart phone, as we said earlier, already comes with a pre-installed messenger. Well, the answer to this can be related to costs: some phone carriers charge extra for each SMS or text message that you send or receive. But, mostly, it is to do with all the great extra features that those instant messaging apps offer their users.
Another reason that could be held in favor of downloading and installing instant messaging apps, is privacy. When you use your pre-installed messaging platforms you are sending messages from your telephone number. What this means is that everyone who receives a text message from you would have your telephone number. Now, in many cases this would be no doubt all right but in others it will not be.
And we are not just talking about privacy. If you want to use the pre-installed text messaging services on your smart phone, you will only be able to send and receive messages from people you already know the telephone numbers to. In other words, it is impossible to connect with new people and make new friends.
One of the many advantages of using an instant messenger such as the Kik Messenger or the Telegram apps, and one that we want to especially highlight in this article, is that you will be able to connect to new people easily from the app itself.
Okay, so now that we have covered some basic ground let’s just look at the main differences between Kik Messenger and Telegram.
Size Does Matter
When it comes to it, apps such as Kik Messenger and Telegram both have very small sizes. We know though that, when it comes to smart phone apps, size really is important. For personal experience, we know how easy (and frustrating) it is to run out of free available space on a smart phone.
If you are worried about space well, the difference between the Kik Messenger app and Telegram is minimal but here it is:
- The Kik Messenger app uses 61.7 MB (mega bytes) of space.
- The Telegram app uses 9.5 MB.
Of course how you use any of these chatting apps will also determined how much space they would use. For example, if you share large files such as video, picture or audio files, you could run out of space a lot quicker.
Encryption
Encryption (noun)– the process of converting information into codes to prevent access from anyone who isn’t authorized
If you are really concerned with privacy you should really look into end to end encryption. End to end encryption means that only you and the person that you are messaging will be able to see the encrypted information. This is the most secure way of sending and receiving information over messaging apps.
Unfortunately, not all instant messaging apps offer message encryption. In this case, Telegram does but Kik Messenger does not. So, at least in this regard, Telegram is safer that the Kik Messenger app.
Documents and other files
If you are looking to use your instant messaging app for work (or school) you might need to know whether you can send and receive documents. This is particularly useful if you are working on work or school projects.
We would say that the Kik Messenger app is more geared toward entertainment than work, which probably explains why it does not allow its users to share documents. Telegram, however, is able to do so.
Search
This category is a bit of a funny one in that most people would not see a need to be able to search within an instant messaging app. If you do not care for such a thing, then it will not matter to you that you would be able to search using keywords on Telegram but not on the Kik Messenger app.
Location, Location, Location
One increasingly popular feature that certain dating apps have and that also some instant messaging counterparts now do too is the one that gives its users the ability to send their location to each other.
This feature comes in particularly handing whenever you are chatting to someone online and decide to meet up in person. Instead of having to give them directions and explain how or where to meet, you could just send them your location via the app. This feature is currently available on Telegram but not on the Kik Messenger app.
Audio & Video
Another thing that has become quite fashionable to do is sending audio files. That actually makes it sound something a lot fancier than it actually is. What a lot of people do now is, instead of bothering to write whole text messages or call their friends on the phone, they record more or less short audio clips that they now sent to each other. This is a convenient alternative to sending text messages particularly when you are in a situation when you cannot really type.
If you are looking for an instant messaging app that would allow you to record and send audio clips, then out of Kik Messenger and Telegram, you should definitely choose Telegram.
Although a much less common thing to do when you are using instant messaging apps, sending short video files is something that some people want to do. Both Telegram and the Kik Messenger app allow their users to record and share short videos. Now, you may need to be aware of some time restrictions but the apps themselves will let you know if you are trying to send videos that are too long and will offer you the chance to edit them now before you are allow to share them with other users.
Stickers and other chat enhancers
Chatting online can be open to misunderstandings if we are not careful. This is why most instant messaging apps now include emoji, stickers, and other chat enhancers. If you attach a sticker to a message you would be able to convey more accurately what you are feeling. In any event, you would at least be making the conversation a lot more fun.
Now, both the Kik Messenger app and Telegram include many different emoji and stickers, so they are both pretty much equal when it comes to that. The area that makes the Kik Messenger stronger when it comes to chat enhancers is the availability of bots. Kik bots can be both informative and fun, and you will not find anything like them over at Telegram.
Is It Available on Tablet?
So far, we have talked only of smart phones but some people would also like to use their messaging apps on tablets such as Apple iPad and others. We know how convenient it is to use a chatting app on your smart phone and it makes sense that most of these apps prioritize smart phones over tablets and other mobile devices in terms of availability.
Having said that, it is nice to have the choice of using a chatting app on any of the mobile devices you may own. Unfortunately, out of the two the only instant messaging app that is available for tablet devices is Telegram.
Languages
If you are reading this article you must be able to speak English. This does not necessarily mean that you always message your friends in English. If you use other languages to communicate and would like the instant messaging app that you use to support them, the Kik Messenger app supports many more different languages than the Telegram Messenger.
As you can see there are areas where the Telegram Messenger is superior to the Kik Messenger app, and others where it is exactly the opposite is true. It is up to you to decide what matters to you more and going for the app that best suits your needs and expectations. We hope we have helped!
If you have any feedback or questions, please post them in the comments section below!