Kik

Kik has been among the earliest of photosharing and chat apps that have been in the market since before the time of Whatsapp and the like. Kik users primarily identify their friends or other users using the Kik username. Sounds pretty cool when you tell someone to “kik me @….xyz”.

Kik allows its users to chat and share information such as photos through personal chat. Kik also lets you create user groups and share information. All in all, it shares the same basic features that more advanced messenger apps such as Facebook, Line or Viber offer.

The app also offers an in-app browser that lets you visit the webpages of linked applications and other features that are offered in the app itself. There is also integration with other app-linked services such as document sharing, sketchpad, greeting cards, video camera, and with social network integrated chat, which is quite popular with the younger generation of users.

Kik has found popularity with children and the younger generation of teenagers for its ability to share information easily as opposed to text messages. However, there have been instances on Kik where children and young teenagers are placed at risk by unwanted elements systemically targeting children.

The developers of the app have devised various means of ensuring privacy, but the fact that any random person across the globe can simply send you lewd pictures because they have your username doesn’t instil much confidence. The addition of the option to remove geotagging and other features offer improved security, but in all honesty, these updates have been a little too late in that Whatsapp has clearly overtaken the market for messaging services.

The app is free to download, but offers in-app purchases for Kik-enabled apps.

Available for download on the App stores for devices supporting iOS7 and up, and Android 2.3 and up.