We have written extensively on this blog about all the amazing features that the Kik Messenger app offers its users. Among a growing competitive arena that includes such great options such as WeChat, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, etc. Kik Messenger keeps standing out. What really makes the Kik Messenger app stand out from the competition is that they keep introducing innovations. The latest innovation is the introduction of video chats.
Kik Interactive is always trying to make the user experience better. Recently, they have greatly improved the user experience for their stickers and now they are announcing the much-awaited introduction of video chats.
If there was ever an area when the Kik Messenger app lagged behind some of its competitors (most notably Skype) was in video chats. It is great to be able to send out text messages, share stickers, emojis, pictures, or even chat with Kik bots, but sometimes what users want to do is to be able to chat on cam. Kik Interactive was aware that its users really wanted the possibility to chat on cam so they spent the necessary time to develop the right solution. So now, for the first time ever, users can chat on video using the Kik Messenger app.
Apart from the fact that the introduction of video chats on Kik is great news for all those users who were both demanding it and eagerly awaiting it, it is much more than that. The introduction of video chats also means that the good people at Kik Interactive really do listen to their users.
If the Kik Messenger app now includes video chat as one of its features it is because this is, by far, what users had been demanding. This is great news in itself but it also opens up the possibility of having more new exciting features added in the future.
What Is So Good About Kik Video Chat?
Video chat (noun)- a conversation over the Internet using webcams
Kik Video chat opens up whole new and exciting possibilities. Now, you can see (and show) real time reactions to anything that is posted on the instant messaging app.
Video chat can be used both in individual one-to-one chats and also in group chats. If you want to use video chat in group chats you will need to know that there is a limit of up to six simultaneous users in one group.
If you are in a group chat, individual users can choose whether or not they would want to take part in the video chat. It is up to each and every user to decide whether they want to be seen by others or not.
Unlike other apps, turning on the video chat feature does not mean that you will not be able to continue using the many other available features. Video chat is always an addition and not a subtraction. For example, if you really enjoy sharing stickers, GiFs, pictures, etc. with your friends, you will be able to continue doing so even if you have the video chat feature turned on. In fact, video chat would make using those other features that you love even more fun. Now you will be able to see your friends’ faces as they react when they receive, say, a sticker or a GIF from you.
Kik recognizes that there users do not want the video call to take up the whole screen of their smart mobile device they use for the Kik Messenger app. After all, if they did they could already use other available apps or services such us Skype, Viper, or Apple’s Face Time. So, instead of designing a feature that will occupy the whole screen, Kik Messenger has released one that makes sharing pictures, stickers, or writing text is completely compatible with video chatting. If you want to know more about how to use this amazing new feature, read on!
How to Use Kik Video Chat?
So, if you are excited to start using the brand new video chat feature on the Kik Messenger app, in this section we will explain everything you will need to do in order to do so.
What follows is a list of steps that you will need to follow in order to use the Kik video chat feature:
- Grab your smart phone.
- Head over to your apps and locate the Kik Messenger app.
- Launch the Kik Messenger app.
- Go to your chat lists.
- Find the chat where you would like to use the video chat feature or start a new chat.
- On your screen, you will notice that there is a new icon on the top, specifically to the right hand side of your friend’s display name (or the group’s display name is you are in a group chat). This new icon looks like a camera.
- The icon should be gray. If you would like to go on camera, all you will need to do is to swipe it gently to the right. This action will turn the icon blue and it will turn on the video camera on your smart mobile device.
- A circle with whatever your camera is pointed at (typically this will be your face) will automatically display on the chat, occupying the top right hand side corner of your screen in a circle. So you will be able to see yourself, which is also exactly what your friend (or friends) will also be seeing right that same moment. If your friend decides to turn his or her camera on too then his or her face will display next to yours on the screen also in a circle.
- If at any point, you decide that you want to terminate the video chat, all you will need to do is to swipe the camera icon on your screen left. The icon will then become gray and the circle with your face will disappear both from your screen and your friend’s screen.
- Terminating a video chat does not mean terminating your chat. You will be able to continue chatting for as long as you and your friends wish to even with the camera being off. Exactly, as you always used to before the new video chat function was introduced.
The last point is actually one of the major advantages of Kik video chats. With this brand new feature, users can decide when they want to video chat and for how long. So, in the course of any given chat, you can decide whether you want to be on cam at any given point. You may start a video chat any time you wish to, for as long as you want to and as many times as you see fit. Also, another great advantage is that up to six different users can be engaged in the same video chat at any given time. If you are chatting to one of your friends you may decide to use the video chat feature or not, whether the friend you are chatting to is also doing the same thing or not. In other words, the video chat would allow you to be on the video chat or not, regardless of whether your friends also are or not.
Apps such as Skype focus on a very different service that essentially is designed to allow users to make video phone calls. The point is to allow people to communicate as they would do on a traditional phone call with the difference that they would be able to see each other while they speak. This has made Skype and other similar services or platforms popular when people in long-distance relationships, families who happen to be apart, and other people in similar situations.
It is not a secret that most people who use the Kik Messenger app are very young. This is taken into account by Kik Interactive so that any new feature they introduced has been specifically designed with a young demographic in mind. This has also been the case with the new video chat feature and it is precisely the reason why it does not really work at all like a video phone call. The idea is to add something that adds to the existing Kik experience and improves it; not something that would make it completely different for existing users. So, instead of creating something that would take you away from the instant messaging app and everything that users love about it, they have created something that just add to the experience.
Also, if this feature does not mean anything to you, there is no reason whatsoever why you could not continue to enjoy using the Kik Messenger app in the same way you used to until it was released.
If you have used the new Kik video chat feature, we want to hear from you. Were you one of the many users who were eagerly awaiting its released? Now that you have used it, how do you like it? Is the video chat a feature that you want to use a lot? How does it compare to Skype or Viper? If you have any feedback about this brand new feature, please leave us a message in the comments section below.