Kik Messenger review

We review Kik Messenger on iPhone, which expands text messaging into the realms of portable instant messaging with group chats and delivery notifications

It’s hard to believe text messaging is apparently so popular. It’s been entirely superseded even by the most austere and basic instant messaging systems, especially on the current range of Internet-equipped smartphones.

Kik Messenger is another cross-platform messaging network that proves just how limited the SMS has really become, and offers some great features that even the computer-based social applications struggle to compete with.

But first and foremost this is a text-based chatting application, and without a fast and efficient delivery service it couldn’t even compete with the good old fashioned SMS. Fortunately, Kik Messenger delivers on this aspect in more ways than one.

It offers portrait and landscape keyboards, and is happy to switch between them at any time when using the app. There’s no limit to the number of characters you can enter and, naturally, it’s entirely free to use when sending messages to other Kik users.

More importantly it offers a feature that, once you’re used to it, becomes utterly essential in your texting habits. Firstly it acknowledges that you’ve actually sent a message by displaying a small tick with the letter “S” above it. Not too vital, given that you’re generally pretty sure when you’ve actually sent a message or not, but there’s no harm in a bit of verification.

Once your message arrives on the recipient’s phone, the “S” above the tick changes to a “D,” denoting that the message has been delivered. This is much more useful, as confirmation that it’s got where it’s going gives genuine peace of mind. A further verification is offered that tells you when the message has actually been read by the recipient, at which point the tick is furnished with an “R.” This is a crucial part of what makes Kik Messenger so usable, and is worth adopting for the verification system alone.

There are more features, of course, such as immediate access to an entire library of emoticons to brighten up your messages, and the option to send a photo taken directly from within the app. You can also participate in group chats, adding new people to the conversation at any time.

All of this is bolstered by a super-fast delivery system that even text message has trouble keeping up with. Kik’s messages land with the recipient at incredible speed, and the network is even fast enough to tell you when the person at the other end is typing a message so you aren’t all texting over the top of each other.

If there was one extra features we’d like to see with Kik Messenger it’s the in-browser web access offered by the likes of Pushme (which lacks Kik’s awesome verification system, evening the score somewhat). Being able to use the messaging system when sat at a computer would really seal the deal, but even so this is a communications tool that every smartphone user should give serious consideration to.

You’ll never text anyone again.

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