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Have you ever heard of the Kik app? If yes, then how much do you truly know about it? Lately, this app has gained a lot of attention from parents for causing safety concerns for teens.
A parent who works as a mental health professional has expressed his/her concern, saying, “Kik is a dangerous app, and I have seen, firsthand, the damage that this app and others like it are causing our children.”
So, as a responsible parent, it’s time you educate yourself about this shady app and scroll this blog to the end to learn whether Kik is safe for your kids!
Quick Answer: Kik is an instant messaging app that allows users to chat via text and share videos, text, and GIFs anonymously. This app poses various risks to kids and exposes them to online sexual predators.
Kik is an iOS and Android instant messaging app, where you can chat via text or video and share images or GIFs. Kik ‘lets you connect with friends and groups worldwide through messaging, chatting, and live streaming.’
Since its release in 2010, it has been gaining immense fame among teens and now records 300 million registered users, where 40% of users are from the United States and 70% of users are between 13-24.
It has some unique features like anonymous chatting, live streaming, and internal apps, which are the major wake-up call for parents.
According to the app’s terms of service, the minimum age to register for a Kik account is 13 years old.
However, during my research, I found something bizarre yet suspicious. So, let’s take a look at that!
The age rating on the Google Play Store is listed as 12+.
While on the Apple Store, it shows that it is only suitable for kids over 17.
Moreover, the app doesn’t have an age verification process and allows anyone to access the app. So, if your kids want to lie about their age to start chatting, nothing is stopping them.
This loophole also gives leeway to online predators who are looking to target little kids for sextortion or other criminal activities.
Now, let’s take a look at how it works!
Getting started with this app is pretty easy; just install the app and log in using your date of birth, username, password, and a valid email address.
After signing in, you can invite friends from other social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, and take part in one-on-one chatting, sharing content, group chatting, and live streaming.
You can join private or public groups and you can search for groups or create your own with like-minded people. There’s also a bot shop where you can take quizzes, play games, and explore news and information on various topics.
No, Kik is not safe for kids! It is the least safe messaging app on the internet and promotes anonymous chatting and other troubling features.
This app is infamous for cooking up many controversies, like child grooming, child pornography, cyberbullying, and even murder. Also, it has a lot of disturbing content that exposes kids to various dangers.
According to an article published by CBS News, a convicted child predator said, ‘Kik is a predator’s paradise.’ He stated, “It’s quite common for pedophiles to visit the Kik app and pose as teens to target little children”, which is very disturbing.
Based on my personal experience with the app and considering past criminal activities, I recommend that kids under 17 stay away from this app.
At first glance, it might seem like a normal app to parents, but it has a few alarming features that might put your kids’ safety at risk.
Kik is mainly a messaging app, but it has internal apps like Match & Chat and Flirt!, which are pretty similar to Tinder and allow kids to look for potential matches. The other party is completely anonymous and might be posing as a teen to target your child.
Although it allows you to report and block the user, it has no parental controls.
70% of the user market of Kik is made up of teens and kids, and disturbingly, predators highly fancy this user market.
It doesn’t require a valid name or phone number from the users, allowing the predators to use anonymity as a shield while chatting.
In addition, the users can send or receive direct messages (DM) from anyone, which means that anyone on the app can message your kids and send obscene content to them.
Apart from the explicit conversations going around the chats, this app also has an in-built live-streaming option, where the top streams (mostly explicit content) are highlighted at the top of the page.
With such a dangerous app like Kik operating freely, it’s become more important to ensure our child’s safety. Here are a few tips that may help you:
If your kids want to use this app, help them create a strong password. It must be eight characters long and have a perfect mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.
You can restrict in-app purchases on the App Store or reduce screen time limits for app usage to ensure supervision.
If your kids are being bombarded with explicit content from a specific user, you can report and block them.
There is another method to block users that works for both Android and iPhone devices. Here’s how it goes:
If filtering the settings doesn’t work, install a parental control app, like mSpy or Norton Family, on your teen’s smartphone to keep them safe.
As a responsible parent, you must educate your child on the risks of chatting with strangers and sharing information online.
Teach them how to manage their online security and take effective measures in an emergency.
Kik is a messaging app full of security flaws and often acts as a hub for sexual predators and traffickers. It places all the responsibility in the hands of innocent children, whose age and inexperience fail to identify and report abuse on time.
If I were in your place as a parent, I would keep my kids miles away from this app. So, make sure you do the same if necessary!
Pro Tip: If your teen encounters any harassment or abuse on Kik, seek immediate help from Kik’s Help Center or the legal authorities.
Kik is an instant messaging application that allows you to chat and share videos, texts, or GIFs with friends.
Kik allows users to chat anonymously with anyone on the internet and offers a variety of features, like live-streaming, Flirt, stickers, smileys, and participating in group chats.
No, Kik is not safe for kids. It is one of the most dangerous messaging apps. It lets users maintain anonymity, allows kids to chat with strangers, and has no parental controls.
To protect your kids while using Kik:
Kik is completely anonymous and lets you conceal your identity from other users.
No, Kik doesn’t reveal your phone number, as you can connect with people using your username instead of phone numbers.
No, Kik doesn’t reveal your phone number, as you can connect with people using your username instead of phone numbers.
Primarily, Kik is an instant messaging app. However, it has internal apps called Match & Chat and Flirt!, which offer the same experience as Tinder.
