Kik Interactive believes that the era of the smartphone is as big as the computer era or the inception of the internet. So many people live their lives with their smartphone close in hand. It is a way to stay connected to the people that we love and helps us share our greatest experiences with others. One of the best ways to be somewhere without actually being there is through the use of visuals. You can certainly show something better than you can tell them about it. This Kik Video app review can help to determine whether this app is worth the hype. The saying is “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so what is a video worth?
The answer to this question is a lot. Imagine being able to show your parents how your daughter scored the winning soccer goal instead of telling them about it or showing them a picture of her celebrating afterwards. Video messaging can allow them to be right there with you. Sending them a video message through Kik is easy and quick. You can keep them updated throughout the game, so you don’t have to try and recap the entire game afterwards or miss out on the action.
Building outrageous expectations about the next big thing – be it a personal video chatting service or venue-based photo sharing app – can create all sorts of complications when things don’t go as planned.- Ryan Holmes
What is Kik?
In 2009, several Canadian students at the University of Waterloo founded Kik Interactive. The idea was to create innovative technologies that could be utilized on mobile devices and smartphones. The Kik Messenger was the first application that was developed by the group and was released back in October of 2010.
It only took 15 days after the release for the app to reach a million registered users. By October of 2014, the Mobile Marketing Association gave Kik Interactive and Sony Music a Smarties award for the music campaign with One Direction. In 2015, Kik added video messenger to the app to enhance use.
Video Messaging can add additional value to your overall Kik experience. It allows the user to send a video message to their friends and family on Kik Messenger. The videos can also be shared through social media sites like Instagram and Facebook, and other software formats like Google + directly using the app. It allows friends and family to witness experiences that they would miss otherwise.
What is Kik Messenger?
Kik Messenger is also known as Kik and is an application providing instant messenger services for mobile phones and other devices. The app is from Kik Interactive. The app is free for Android, Windows Phone, and iOS operating systems. The app utilizes Wi-Fi, or the data plan on the smartphone to transmit the messages.
What can be sent?
The messenger allows users to messages, videos, photos, mobile web sources, sketches, videos, and other content sources.
Useful Features:
Here are some of the important features that the application offers that can be
- Anonymity
The main feature that allows the messenger to stand out against another messenger service is the application’s anonymity. Any user over the age of 13 can create a user account by only entering their full name, e-mail address, and birthdate for verification of age.
The user does not have to verify their phone number or give their location. This allows users who don’t want to provide this information can still communicate with their family, friends, and loved ones.
- Safety
The app does not share real names, phone numbers, or other location information to protect the identity of the user. This can protect younger users from being located.
Another feature that adds to the security of the product is that messages from users outside of the user’s network are blurred out and cannot be read by the user. That makes it so that the user can decide whether the user contacting them is from someone they know. It allows them to decide to reject the message if they don’t know where it came from.
A third safety feature regards the deletion of content that the users deem to be offensive or inappropriate. The users can also be blocked, so that they are unable to make contact.
Exciting Add-on Feature: Video Messenger
Kik Video Messenger allows users to send videos with ease. In just three simple steps, videos from one device can be sent to another, or new videos can be recorded and sent.
- Tap to the left of the message area on the “+” sign.
- Pick from your recent videos, or choose the icon for the camera to record a video to send.
Press the button and hold it to record the video and then when the button is released it will be stopped.
- Tap the icon in the right corner on the bottom that is a chat bubble to send it.
Tips for getting the most out of the app:
- You may need to shorten your uploaded video. To do this, you will slide the yellow bars to edit the video.
- The saved videos can be edited before it is sent. Open the gallery tray and then press and hold the video that needs to be edited. That will open the screen for editing. The play button will allow you to edit the button before you send it.
Looking to Save the Video?
The videos that are sent through Kik can be saved on the smartphone and even transferred via e-mail or other sources.
- When saving the video on iPhone, iPod, or Android phone, start by pressing on the video and holding. Then just hit “save”.
- If the video is in the full-screen mode, the download arrow can be tapped in the top corner of the screen.
The latest version of the application needs to be updated to ensure that the video can be saved. There are some ways to check to make sure that the most recent version is downloaded.
- Checking for any updates is the easiest way to see if you have the most up-to-date version.
iPod and iPhone:
- Start with Settings
- Choose Help and About Us
- Choose Update Kik
Android Phone:
- Open the Google Play Store
- Find “Kik Messenger”
- Download updates
Pros & Cons
An important part of any review weighs the pros and the cons. This section looks at both the good and the bad aspects of the app.
Pros
- Integrates smoothly with Kik to share videos faster. They show as private files on the Kik chat screen.
- Send videos directly from your gallery. It is a way of sharing the moments that are most important, with the people that are most important, no matter what the distance.
- Capture moments and allows them to be included right in the text. It is an easy way to really help people understand what you’re talking about.
- Enjoy videos from others with just a click of the play button.
Cons
- There were some kinks that needed to be ironed out. Recent updates have seemed to take care of most of them.
- Some users stated that there were too many steps involved when posting and recording videos, back in June of 2015. The methods have been simplified since then.
Kik video messenger allows people to stay connected more completely. It allows people to share the moments that are most important to them. There are so many Kik users and this add-on app allows for them to stay connected and add more. It is a great way to protect the identity of the user and not give away the location of their every move like some other applications, adding additional security. Being able to connect with people more completely is very important to many people these days. Most sites have at least three star overall rating. It is mostly brought down by the original version with the kink. These have been mostly taken care of now, but the newest update needs to be installed to reap the benefits.
This Kik Video app review should give you an idea of whether or not this is an app that is worth installing. The overall benefits of being able to connect with friends, associates, team members, co-workers, classmates, and family quickly and easily is important in its own right. Now, with the addition of the video, this communication is taken to a whole other level. It can create real time connection. People can watch what is going on instead of just hearing about it. This easy to use app does have one drawback regarding the length of the videos that can be sent at one time. It is not good for business use in this sense. An entire presentation cannot be recorded and sent. This does not take away from its convenience though, because the videos can be quickly started with only small breaks in between. The videos sent from the gallery can be broken down into segments and sent as well. it has a wide range of uses in the business and personal sectors.
What is your experience with using video on Kik? Leave a comment below with your thoughts on the functionality and experience. Also, share this post on Facebook and Twitter so your friends can make sure they use Kik to its full potential.