There, Livingston had a front-row seat to the mobile revolution, which many believe had been ushered by the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Livingston himself chose to do most of those at Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the Blackberry phone. As part of their studies, both had to complete six four-month internships. The two founders both pursued engineering-related degrees that they began in 2005 (they would only meet later, though). Kik, headquartered in Waterloo, Canada, was founded in 2009 by University of Waterloo graduates Ted Livingston and Christopher Best. How it came to be, who is behind it, and reasons for why it ultimately failed to become a messaging powerhouse will be covered in the next few chapters. Kik competed for messaging supremacy but has experienced a severe fall from grace over the past few years, which almost culminated in its shutdown. Kik can only be accessed by downloading its mobile application, which is available for Android and iOS devices. These bots can be accessed via its very own Bot Shop and allow users to play games or interact with other companies such as CNN or H&M. Users, furthermore, have the ability to chat anonymously and only reveal their profile to someone else after they get to know them.Īnother differentiating feature of Kik is its utilization of chatbots. Instead, only the username, chosen name, as well as a profile picture is being displayed.

However, email addresses are not shared with other users.

Instead, they can simply select a user name (alongside their email) that suits them. Kik, unlike other services like WhatsApp, differentiates itself by not requiring users to sign up with their phone number. However, if that’s not desired, then one can disable the feature. The public groups are searchable and can be identified by hashtags such as #Anime or #Music.Ĭonsequently, users have the option to directly communicate with other users from that group. Groups can either be private or publicly accessible. Users can either engage in one-to-one chats or enter a group of up to 49 people. Kik is a free mobile messaging application that can be used to send audio, text, images, GIFs, as well as video files.

Kik messaging