Tired of Kik? Here are 8 alternatives you could try (2023)

The Kik messaging app is a fan favorite for its user-friendly interface and privacy protection. Allow users to meet new people without sharing their personal phone number with strangers.

While Kik has been around for a while, fans may want to switch to a different messaging app. With more and more messaging apps available every day; It can be difficult to figure out which one is best for you.

Typically, most users are drawn to the messaging service that keeps the majority of their friends and pals in the conversation, but there are benefits to using other apps.

Kik Resources

A major problem that the app explosion has created is that existing popular apps such as Kik have succumbed to the temptation to add more and more features because they don't want to be overtaken by a new chat app. Kik's popularity has exploded as it can be used not only to contact your friends but also to chat anonymously.

Kik has also tried to become more than just a messaging app over the past few years. Video chat, Snapchat-like filters, stickers, and more have cluttered the app with useless features that most users don't need, making the app bigger and increasingly unstable. Now the app seems overwhelmingly full of spam and underage users, making it difficult to chat with other users without risking being spammed or speaking to a student from a far away state. All of this makes Kik an increasingly poor choice for both communicating with your friends and meeting new people online.

Whether you're tired of the constant spam or want to get away from the younger crowd that Kik has taken over the past few years, let's take a look at seven of the best Kik alternatives for iOS and Android.

WhatsApp isn't as popular in the US as competitors like iMessage or Hangouts, but more than half of the world uses WhatsApp as their primary communication app, dominating 109 countries in 2016.

The Facebook-owned messaging service is the second most popular messaging app in the world. Apart from a few small features, WhatsApp is a pure messaging app that doesn't burden your phone with unnecessary resource hogs and poorly optimized features.

First, let's talk about the design differences between the WhatsApp versions. WhatsApp follows the design guidelines for both iOS and Android, depending on which platform you're using.

On iOS, the app has a clean blue and white design that's obviously inspired by iMessage.

On Android, the app looks a bit different, with a tab-based UI and a solid forest green color scheme that's more in line with the messaging apps we've seen on Android, like Google's own SMS messaging app or the Hangouts.

Both offer similar features in their designs, with the Android app splitting the app into calls, chats, and your contact list, while the iOS keeps your chats front and center. Each app has a new chat icon, easily accessible from anywhere on the main screen.

In terms of features, both versions are almost identical, with the iOS and Android versions including standard messaging features that consumers have come to expect in 2018. The camera automatically sends video or audio clips to your friends over Wi-Fi or data , location information and even contact information to your friends and family using the app.

Despite differences in the design of the conversation view in both versions, the chat interface seems to fit together almost exactly. Below the conversation thread — with one or more users within a group message — you'll find the same text box, along with a send button and an option to insert photos into your message.

So what does WhatsApp offer beyond simple chats? Let's break it down: First, there are no fees, ads, or in-app purchases included with the app, making it a great choice for any user looking for a totally free app. The app is also incredibly lightweight, especially when compared to apps like Facebook Messenger. While this app focuses primarily on being the app for everything you could possibly want - gaming, mobile payments, and more - WhatsApp focuses on getting the basics of messaging right without adding any extra bloat. The app itself is almost half the size of the Facebook Messenger app on iOS and Android, and without the features included with Messenger, it can load and run faster than Messenger on both low-end and high-end phones.

WhatsApp's only notable addition to the standard messaging and calls in the base app is the social feature, which lets you post statuses and stories similar to AIM and Snapchat respectively.

Overall, WhatsApp is a great replacement for Kik. It's easy to add contacts through your device, although we wish it were as easy as switching Kik usernames. The app runs smoothly and doesn't consume much battery, giving you a great experience in the highly optimized chat app arena.

Using the app is smooth and easy, making calls over WiFi or wireless data feels great, and the lack of ads and bloatware makes the app a breeze to use. WhatsApp might not be replacing Kik for anonymous chats anytime soon, but it's definitely worth trying - it's a great app and totally worth keeping on your phone.

Our second recommendation is another Facebook-owned app. But while WhatsApp is mainly aimed at overseas and developing countries, Messenger is the app that became popular in Facebook's home country, mainly based on Facebook's ubiquity in our modern culture. With a built-in user base of over 2 billion users, Facebook Messenger is the easiest way to chat with the people you already know, though you probably feel the discovery tools are a bit lacking overall.

Let's start with the basics. If you've never used Facebook Messenger, chances are you're not on Facebook. Not surprisingly, the app requires a Facebook profile, but Messenger itself doesn't require Facebook to be installed on your phone. After loading the main application, you will see that the main page is a bit busy.

The top includes a search bar as well as a tab-based interface for your inbox, active users, group messages, and calls. The Inbox tab shows your messages in reverse chronological order and has an integrated Active Now interface.

If you scroll up, you'll find Messenger's hidden "Stories" feature, a direct copy of Snapchat's own Stories (although you're much less likely to find someone using it). There are a few more tabs at the bottom of the app: Home, Contacts, Camera, Games, and a Facebook Groups feature for messaging brands and businesses.

However, the basic chat interface is clean, with a nice bright blue-on-white finish. Within each chat thread there are multiple options for sending messages. At the top of the messaging interface, you can enable a voice or video call for each user, making it easy to get in touch with anyone, no matter what operating system you choose.

At the end of each chat, you have almost endless opportunities to send messages to users and others. You can send your location, photos, videos, audio recordings, emojis, stickers and even money all in one app.

Each chat topic can be customized by pressing the info button in the top right corner. From there you can change how notifications work, change the color theme of the chat, choose your automatic emoji for the topic (it's like that by default), change people's nicknames in the app, enable a "secret conversation" that automatically sends messages after a clears certain period of time and more.

The customization that comes with Messenger is something we haven't seen with most other messaging apps, making it a unique offering among the litany of other choices.

As mentioned, Facebook Messenger manages to pack more features than most users need or want. There are Snapchat-style AR filters and stickers that you can use to add effects and designs to your Snap-like photo messages to send to users.

There's the Stories rip-off mentioned above, although nobody seems to be using it much. There is a game interface built into Messenger with multiplayer games where you can compete against your friends for points and high scores. A lot of it might seem bloated - and it is to a certain extent - but it's also one of the most versatile chat apps out there right now. In fact, Facebook Messenger only falls into one main category: discoverability. You don't necessarily have to be friends with someone on Facebook to send a message, but you will encounter the unique problem of your message being sent to a "message request" category that automatically hides your message. This lack of ability to meet and communicate with new people makes it difficult to compete with Kik.

Overall, Messenger is one of the best apps that you can choose in the market. For one thing, the audience is there — you don't have to convince your friends to switch to a new messaging app if they're already using it.

The app is packed with features making it a one stop shop to replace just about any communication app on your phone. The built-in functionality works well, although some of it is pulled directly from apps like Snapchat or Venmo. The app can drain your battery and resources a bit, and it's certainly not a lightweight app, but it's a great Kik alternative.

Like WhatsApp, WeChat has had some difficulties breaking into the world outside of its home country of China. You may not have heard of WeChat, but the world has: The messaging app has almost a billion active users, with the app being used for professional and personal communication in China itself.

The app has replaced mainstays like email and text messaging for hundreds of millions of people, and while the app has faced challenges in other countries, its success in China is not surprising. Just like WhatsApp, you can chat, share images, send video and audio to other users, and more.

In addition to standard text and photo messaging, the app supports all types of calls, including voice, video, and group calls. The app is resilient enough for both business and casual use, but the best Kik replacement feature is the ability to meet new people to chat with.

If you go to the "Discover" tab in the app, you'll be prompted to shake your phone. The app then looks for other users shaking their phones at the same time and that's it - new friend discovered. WeChat's social features make Kik's username-based search features seem like a thing of the past, as meeting up and making friends are incredibly easy to use.

Whether you're looking for a standard messaging service or want to meet new people, WeChat is a great app - as long as you can find other US users.

Line is a direct competitor to WeChat in China and other Asian countries, but the app has posed a real challenge to WeChat and similar apps with its booming global popularity, having been downloaded over 500 million times on Android alone.

With millions of active users, Line might not be as well-known as Kik or WhatsApp, but it's definitely worth paying attention to. Like WeChat, Line offers free messaging, video calling, voice calling, and group chat, and supports up to 200 users in group chat at the same time.

The app supports stickers and emojis and even has a desktop client that you can use to chat from your phone. You can add your contacts or meet new people through the app's social network.

Line's developers have added several features inspired by other social media apps, including the ability to follow people's accounts (like Twitter or Facebook) and the ability to create a poll to determine who what to do, where to go or what to eat. .

Line isn't as popular as its direct competitor on WeChat, but it's by no means a bad app. We might prefer WeChat for its Shake to Discover feature, but Line on iOS and Android is worth a look.

Viber's aesthetic suits apps like Skype more than Kik, but its core features also make it another Kik alternative. Viber is packed with features and millions of regular users, making it easy to use the app to keep in touch with your friends. If you link your mobile number to the app, you will be connected to all contacts who are also registered with Viber, an app that has been downloaded over 500 million times on Android alone.

Once you're signed in, you can perform all of the standard communication functions you'd expect from a messaging app. You can chat, share media like photos, videos, and audio clips, send files between users, and more.

Because Viber is a Skype-like app, you can make video and voice calls between users without paying a dime, and you can even make international calls to Viber users around the world, with calls to traditional numbers costing just a few cents per Minute costs, depending on the location. Since Viber offers emojis and stickers within the app. Overall, it's a strong competitor for messaging apps, even if it doesn't quite reach the heights of WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat.

Sure, Snapchat isn't quite as traditional a messaging app as WhatsApp, Viber, or WeChat, but it's also one of our favorite social apps for one important reason: it's incredibly fun to use.

While Snapchat is largely based on sending pictures and videos, the app can also be used to send chats to other users, which will automatically delete themselves after viewing the message. Privacy is an important factor when using Snapchat, and deleting photos, videos, and text makes it a really interesting choice for users around the world.

There are also group chats where these messages won't be deleted for 24 hours, making it easy to make plans and talk to each other without the messages immediately disappearing.

Snapchat's features have been copied by dozens of social and messaging apps, including Facebook's own WhatsApp and Messenger apps, which implement Stories directly as their own feature, but no app has built as good a feature set as Snapchat's.

One point where this app falls short compared to its competitors: it's a bit harder to meet new people without exchanging usernames or Snapcodes. Luckily, there are online communities - including places like Reddit - for such an event. If you're not already using Snapchat, it's an incredibly fun and rewarding app that's worth keeping on your phone, even if the app uses a lot of battery and data.

If you're looking for a more secure app than Kik, Signal is trusted worldwide for protecting its users' messages with end-to-end encryption. While apps like WeChat and WhatsApp are vulnerable to security vulnerabilities, Signal is recommended by web security experts like EFF to protect your messages from data leaks and hacks. Notorious whistleblower Edward Snowden himself has even recommended and endorsed the app on multiple occasions, so you can rest assured that the app has been vetted for security and protection.

The app is incredibly fast, and the iOS and Android versions match their respective themes, so you'll never feel too out of place on your phone with an unfamiliar interface.

If there is a place, Signal cannot replace Kik; Unsurprisingly, the app has social features. Signal isn't designed to respond and make new connections through the app - you use your existing phone numbers to make connections.

Finding your existing friends on Signal is easy enough, but making new friends is much harder. Still, for users who want to keep their conversations completely private, Signal is by far the best app on any platform. It's fast, free and completely secure.

MeWe presents itself as another social media app that rivals Facebook and is another Kik alternative that you should consider. Totally free with no ads or ads, this messaging app offers group messages, chats, the option to create GIFs and much more!

A unique feature of MeWe is that the developers emphasize that there is no newsfeed manipulation. Essentially, users are not censored (which can be good or bad).

MeWe is a lightweight app that drains battery life like some of the other options we mentioned. MeWe allows users to make voice calls, video calls, send regular chats and send "secret chats".

With a free 30-day subscription ($0.99/month after the first month), users who want extra security have access to encrypted messages on both ends.

Unlike Kik, MeWe isn't a very popular app, so it might take a few friends and speaking contacts to make the switch. Easy to use and secure, MeWe could be the Kik alternative you've been looking for.