When we send a text on Kik Messenger, the server sends back a read status receipt that goes through the letters S, D, and R. You may notice there are times when a read receipt on a Kik message seems to hang with a “D” for longer than usual before changing to an “R.” There are a couple of reasons why a message status marker may remain in “D” status for an extended period of time. Have you ever wondered, “What does “D” mean on Kik?”
Kik Message Indicator
Kik Messenger provides its users with a neat feature that lets you know the progress your message makes on its way to your friend. When you first send a Kik message, the receipt letter will usually be an “S,” which means the message has left your phone but has not arrived yet to the Kik servers. This status usually passes almost immediately. If the “S” does not quickly appear and then change to a “D,” there is a network problem that is preventing Kik’s servers from receiving your message. You should check your Wi-Fi access, Internet signal or network settings.
Once a message has reached the Kik Messenger servers, its receipt status indicator changes to a “D” to show that the message is in the process of being delivered from Kik’s servers to your contact. There are two phases to the “D” status.
When the “D” is a faded, light gray color, your message has reached the Kik servers but is not yet delivered to the intended recipient’s device. When the “D” turns dark, the message has been delivered to the device.
As long as the message remains in “D” status, be it a light or dark “D,” it is in the process of being delivered to the recipient by Kik Messenger and has not been read. When the message is read, as you may know, the status turns from “D” for “delivering” to an “R” for “read.”
Every now and then, there will be a Kik message that goes to “D” status and then seems to hang there for a long time. A text can successfully advance from “S” to “D” status only to stall on “D” for a number of reasons.
Faded “D” Status
When a Kik message status indicator hangs in the lighter “D” status for what seems like too long, it means the message successfully reached and now safely resides on Kik’s servers, and the servers are waiting for an opportunity to deliver the message to your contact’s device. A Kik message may remain in this light or faded “D” status for several reasons. Some of the more common ones are:
- The recipient has turned off her device. Maybe she is in a work environment where all cell phones are required to be off. Or, she could be in a church service or at a theater where she has either turned off her smartphone or put it in airplane mode. Since this cuts the phone off from its Wi-Fi internet connection, the Kik Messenger app is off and cannot receive your message until it is turned on again.
- The phone may be malfunctioning. A drained battery will power down a device. It is not possible to turn on some devices, even when attached to a charger, until there is enough of a recharge for it to turn on again and run its basic functions. If you send a Kik message to a friend while his mobile phone is in this state, it cannot be delivered until the smartphone returns to its power on status.
- The message was sent to an iPhone/IOS device or Windows device. When Kik Messenger delivers a text to an iPhone or Windows phone, only the push notification goes through at first. The message itself is not delivered to the device until the recipient wakes up the phone and opens the Kik messenger application. Until your friend has an opportunity to open the Kik messenger application, the message cannot be delivered.
Solid “D” Status
When your sent message hangs in the dark or solid “D” status for a long time, it means the message has been delivered to the device but your friend has not read it.
A Kik Messenger read receipt that stays in “D” status for more than a few minutes is not unusual. The person may be in another room from his mobile phone, in the middle of a chore, or at a cash register making a purchase. When the Kik Messenger read receipt stays in “D” status for hours, however, we start to wonder. Depending on the role this person holds in our life, we may worry, even become angry, when we know our kik is on her device but she has not taken the time to read it.
Fortunately, it turns out that 99% of the time, all is fine with our contact and we hear from them fairly soon. While waiting, though, don’t let your mind go quickly to its worry place. Remind yourself that an extended solid “D” status of your read receipt on a Kik message can mean a number of things, including:
- The person is really busy right now. This could be any of the situations outlined above except that in this instance the device is placed in silent mode with the Kik Messenger app open. In this situation, the phone is still connected to the World Wide Web so the message is marked as delivered (a dark “D”). Your Kik message is on your friend’s device but immediate circumstances do not permit him to check them. The message that made it successfully from your device through the Kik Messenger servers and onto your friend’s device now waits until his situation changes.
- Your friend may be using a hack that allows him to read his messages without sending a receipt update to you. Maybe he can’t wait to see what you said to him, but he knows that he cannot answer you right now and doesn’t want to leave you wondering why he read your message but didn’t text back right away (which is, to be honest, the only thing that can be worse than the extended “D” status).
- The battery on your contact’s phone may have died, or some other accident rendered the phone out of network, after Kik Messenger delivered your message but before they could read it.
- You may be blocked. When a message hangs in a solid “D” status for an extended period of time, it could mean that the intended recipient has blocked a particular sender (in this case, you). When someone blocks you on Kik Messenger, you cannot tell that you are blocked. Your messages seem to go through until you notice that the “D” never changes to an “R.” It just sits there, forever.
When a message you send is still hanging in solid “D” status by the next time you see that person, you can ask them about it. If they are reading messages in a way that does not immediately generate a read receipt, you will know that you can never tell when they have read your messages on Kik until they let the status update go through.
If you ask a person about a message and it turns out that they have you blocked, they may tell you or they may play dumb. Also, it is always possible that they were intending to block someone else and hit your name by mistake. Asking about it may give them a welcomed chance to fix that by unblocking you and making sure the right person is blocked.
Off/Disconnect Message
When you send a chat message to someone who has not turned on his or her Kik Messenger app for several days, that message could remain with a “D” status for a long time. Maybe your contact is on vacation, overloaded with work, or cramming for exams and feels he has to ignore all social contact for a while to accomplish his goals.
Kik Messenger lets you know this with the message, “Oops it looks like this person’s phone has been off/disconnected for a while. We’ll deliver your message when they connect again.” This is a courtesy to the sender so that you are not wondering if there is a problem with the message being delivered, or whether the contact is ignoring or blocking you.
Later, You’ll Laugh
In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.- Khalil Gibran
The measures taken by Kik Messenger in its effort to provide updates to senders on the progress of kiks making their way to friends is extensive. You are always in the loop. Yet, only the recipient has control over when or how a message is read, and Kik Messenger cannot update your read receipt status to “R” until the read signal reaches its servers. Whether there is a problem with your contact’s phone, your contact is out of pocket, or something else is going on, you (and your Kik Messenger) cannot know until the friend resumes texting or you reach them in some other way.
While it is helpful to discover What Does “D” Mean On Kik, the best you can do when that happens is to relax and stay calm. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the mystery will be solved and you will share a laugh with your friend over how, as soon as your kik chimed in, his phone slipped out of his hand and into a sink full of dirty dishes — and greasy water. It’s almost always nothing personal.