What is Kik?
Kik is a controversial messaging app popular with children and young people. During testing, our online safety experts found that it appears to be an app which features a high amount of inappropriate behaviour.
There are over 15 million monthly active users on Kik.
Core Functions
- Send instant messages to other users.
- Video call in one-to-one or group chats with up to 6 people.
- Chat one-on-one with others, create personal groups, or chat in public or private groups with up to 50 members.
Public Groups on Kik mean anyone can join. Kik has groups for almost every interest and hobby (e.g. Harry Potter or cooking), but there are no guarantees that the chat inside the group will reflect the title.
Private Groups can be safer than public groups IF they are made up of a group of ‘real life’ friends. Users can have up to 50 members in a private group. The only way to access a private group is via an invite link or by scanning the group code.
Age Restrictions
- Children under the age of 13 are prohibited from having a Kik account by the Kik Terms of Service – but users can enter a fake date of birth to bypass these requirements.
- On the iTunes App Store, Kik is given a user rating of 17+.
- Google Play doesn't give a specific age rating, but suggests 'parental guidance' when using the app.
- If a user is under 13 and simply lies about their age to use the app, they're opening themselves up to inappropriate behaviour, risky relationships, and advertising aimed at older children and adults.
Risks
- There are NO privacy or parental controls. Anyone can search for a username and send them a message.
- While some public groups are set up as ‘11-16 chat’, there is no meaningful age verification. This means that anyone can join the group and pretend to be within the age range, presenting an additional risk to young people.
- Due to only needing an email and name to sign up, it is very easy for a user to pretend to be someone else.
- There is no moderation within group chats. This means children and young people using the app can be exposed to inappropriate language and content (e.g. graphic images or videos posted into the chat).
Safety Settings
This app has very little safety features and no parent controls, but users can block and report others.
Top Tips
- If you care for a child who uses Kik, it is important to talk to them about how they use it.
- Don’t automatically assume that a young person in your care uses Kik because they want to talk to strangers. It could be their preferred choice because many of their friends use it. If they do, it is important to discuss the risks of talking to people they don't know and sharing personal information.
- Discuss concerns with other professionals or parents so they are also aware of Kik.
- Suggest another app for group chats to those in your care. One alternative is WhatsApp, where contacts need to be added via a phone number.
Deleting or deactivating a Kik account
When a user deactivates their profile, their Kik username will not be searchable and their name will be deleted from the contact lists of people they’ve talked to on the App. To reactivate an account, all they need to do is log back in.
When a user permanently deletes their account, it’s no longer possible to log in or access any of their contacts of message history.