If there are two hugely popular instant messaging apps among US teenagers, they are Snapchat and Kik Messenger. When it comes to it, Snapchat and Kik Messenger are quite different. Their main similarity is really that they are both incredibly popular specially among young people.
There are of course many situations in which deciding whether to use Snapchat or the Kik Messenger will not really make any difference but there will be others where one of the two apps will be better served.
Many people use both apps (and indeed many other instant messaging apps) and there is no real reason to choose between them. However, it is good to know how they compare so that you can decide if you need one or both. Also if you decide to have both apps, knowing what they do and what they do not will help you to decide when to use each.
In the past we have compared the Kik Messenger app to other similar apps such as:
It is the turn now to go over what are the features that distinguish Kik Messenger from its competitor Snapchat.
One of the main differences is that while Kik Messenger and all those instant messaging apps that we have discussed previously are mainly text based, Snapchat, of course, as its name indicates, is mainly image based. Despite this major difference between the Kik Messenger app and Snapchat both apps do cover a lot of similar ground in terms of how they can be used to chat to friends or even meet new people.
How Much Do Snapchat and Kik Messenger Cost?
The good news is that both Snapchat and the Kik Messenger app are totally free to download and install into your compatible smart mobile device. And not only that but they are also free to use, with no fees other than the charges (if any) that you may incur from your mobile network provider.
You can download and install both the Kik Messenger app and Snapchat from the relevant app store. For example, if you are using an iOS device (Apple’s mobile operating system), you would need to head over to the Apple app store, but if your device is an Android, then you will find Snapchat and Kik Messenger over at the Google Play app store.
Installation and download is very straightforward in both cases. You will not be able to start using either app without registering first. Luckily, in both cases the registration process is extremely straightforward as well. All you will need to do is open the relevant app after you have downloaded and fully installed it, and then follow the onscreen instructions. You will have to provide some personal information about yourself as part of the registration process.
What Is Snapchat About?
What Kik Messenger app is seems really straightforward and if you need to read more about what it is we have written about it extensively before. Because Snapchat is quite different, what with not being so text-based as the Kik Messenger app and other platforms of its kind, it is a good idea to go over what Snapchat is and walk through its main features.
So, if we define the Kik Messenger app as an instant text messaging app, we could define Snapchat as an image messaging app, instead. Of course, as we will see, you can also send and receive images on the Kik Messenger app, but the emphasis really is on text messaging. When it comes to Snapchat, however, the emphasis is firmly on images.
Snapchat would not have become quite the phenomenon it is had it not been for the popularization of so-called selfies (i.e., self-portrait photos taken with a smart device camera).
Essentially, what Snapchat offers its users is the chance to send selfies to each other. But not only that because, after all, the Kik Messenger app and other similar platforms already offered this service. What Snapchat offers is to make those pictures available for a limited amount of time.
The idea is that Snapchat users can send pictures of themselves to one another but those pictures will self-destroyed after a short period of time whether they have been seen or not.
What this allows users to do is to send any kind of picture content that they see fit with a short text message displaying across it. As such Snapchat is not the right vehicle for long in depth conversations or sustained verbal exchanges. Snapchat messages are brief and image-oriented and they have a pronounced ephemeral nature by definition.
How Do Kik Messenger and Snapchat Compare In Terms of Features?
“More people are watching college football on Snapchat than they are on television.”- Evan Spiegel
When you compare the Kik Messenger app and the Snapchat app is inevitable to see Snapchat as a bit of a one trick pony when it comes to features.
There is so much more that can be done with the Kik Messenger app. For example, the Kik Messenger app allows its users to share different kinds of content from text-based messages, to images, to video, to audio files. Also, the Kik Messenger comes with a lot of exciting conversation enhancers such as stickers, emoji, or Kik bots. What is so great about those chat enhancers is that you can use them when you are talking to your friends on an individual one to one basis or as part of a group chat or Kik party. In the case of the official Kik bots that you can acquire from the Kik shop, you do not even need to be chatting to anybody else to use them as you can just interact with them as you would with any other (human) user. This makes using the Kik Messenger app a lot of fun.
Of course, using the Snapchat app can also be a lot more fun but there is not essentially much more to do than take selfies. Therefore, if you are not comfortable with the idea of taking selfies and then sharing them with people you know and strangers alike, then Snapchat is most definitely not the app for you.
With the Kik Messenger app, on the other hand you can decide whether you want to chat with the people that you already know, with total strangers you have met online, or with a mixture of the two. If you decide that you only want to chat to people you already know, the best thing that you can do is to turn on the address book matching feature. By doing so, your app will synch your contacts so that all your contacts who also use the Kik Messenger app and already have the address book matching feature turned on will automatically be added to your chat lists. In turn you will also be added automatically to theirs.
If you are more visually inclined and the idea of typing on your smart phone for hours on end is not really all that appealing to you, then you might prefer Snapchat. Snapchat offers a big range of emojis but also different lenses and filters to make your snaps exactly as you would like before you share them. Also, like the Kik Messenger app, the Snapchat apps allows its users to chat in larger groups so messages are automatically sent to several different users at once.
Among the many other features available on Snapchat, you have the geofilters. These are designed for you to alter your photos to give them a truly personal touch. Geofilters are mostly used for specific occasions such as weddings, graduation, birthdays, etc.
Another great Snapchat feature is “memories”. Despite its ephemeral nature, Snapchat allows its users to create stories based on their snaps. You can them put any snaps you choose and any of the stories you have created into memories. This means that those pictures and stories will not be automatically destroy and you and your followers will have access to them at will.
We could go on and on about the different features that each of these two messaging apps offer but at this point it is probably sufficient with the ones that we have highlighted.
There is, however, one very relevant factor when choosing what messaging platform is the best for you. We are talking about who else is using it. If all your friends seem to use Kik Messenger instead of Snapchat to communicate then I would probably be a good idea for you to join Kik (that is if what you are after is a tool to chat to your existing friends). If, however, most of your friends use Snapchat, it would be probably worth considering doing so yourself. Of course, your own personal preferences count. If, as we said earlier you hate taking selfies then Snapchat would not really work for you, for example.
We hope we have helped you see the main differences and similarities between both apps. The best way for you to know which one would work better for you would be, of course, to use both and see how you feel about each one of them. And if you like both of them, there is absolutely no reason why you should not used both!
If you have used Kik Messenger and/or Snapchat and would like to share your experience with our readers, why don’t you leave us a message in the comments section below?