Messaging apps and platforms continue to be big players in the online world of 2020, and there is a wide variety of messaging platforms to choose from. A popular option for meeting new people online is the chat app known as Kik. Since its launch in 2010, the app has been a popular choice, especially for younger users. Kik makes it easy to stay anonymous, making people feel more comfortable opening up to strangers online. The app is well designed and has many “must have” chat features. The interface is modern and clean, the app supports group chats and chat rooms, and the addition of video chat makes it easy to meet face-to-face with people on the street or thousands of miles away.
Kik is in many ways a mini internet ecosystem in one app, so it’s not surprising that the app has over 300 million registered users. If you haven’t tried the app yet, it’s best to get it right now from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Don’t worry, it’s free. One of the great things about Kik is that chat rooms are an integral part of the app. In this post, I will show you how to find the best Kik chat rooms, both within the app’s interface and through external sources.
Who Is Kik For?
It’s important to note Kik’s demographic. A large proportion of Kik’s own users are teenagers – in fact, more than 40 percent of teenagers in the United States were on the service in 2016. There are a lot of older people on Kik as well, but the age of people chatting on Kik is something you should keep in mind when reviewing our resources for chat rooms.
If you’re an older Kik user, it’s important to note that the people you chat with online may be underage, as Kik’s terms of service require the user to be only 13 years old to use the platform. Likewise, if you are under the age of 18, you should be careful who you chat with. It is important that you try your best to stay safe online when chatting with strangers. Never share any personal information about yourself, and especially do not accept invitations to meet in person.
Finding Public Communities on Kik
Kik chat rooms work a little differently than rooms on other platforms like AIM or Discord. Chat rooms on Kik are group chats; this means that any chat room can disappear if it is distributed by the creator of the group. This means that you need to be aware that a particular chat group may not be around.
When you first install the Kik app, it will take you to the home screen where a list of all your Kik contacts will appear. At first you won’t have any connections, once you start making friends in the app they will start appearing here. But at the bottom of the list you’ll find what we’re looking for: the “Explore Public Groups” button.
This is where you start looking for interesting groups. Tap this button and a search interface will open. Kik group names are prefixed with a hash (“#”), but you don’t need to put a hash to search. The search page has a list of popular searches or you can type your own keyword.
Let’s say you’re a bike enthusiast and you search for the word “bike”. Of course, there are several bike groups. Just tap someone who pops up in your search. Notice that there is a number next to the group name; Something like “47/50”. Kik groups are limited to 50 members at a time. When someone joins a chat group, they get one of these points and stay there until they leave the group. This means that some groups, although seemingly “full”, do not have a lot of activity.
Tapping the group name opens the group page listing all the members of the group. You can tap “Join Public Group” to jump straight into the chat.
If you want to leave a group you’ve joined, you’ll need to go back to your home screen. Then find the group in your list, long press its icon and select “Leave”. You’re using one of the group’s locations until you do, so please make sure you practice good etiquette and leave groups when you’re done chatting there.
There are a lot of groups on Kik. Not surprisingly, many groups rely on popular media: game of Thrones, Rick and Morty, Justin Bieber, Marvel and DC are among the top searches online. The biggest issue with Kik groups is that groups based on common keywords like “Movies” fill up instantly, of course. Instead, you’ll need to find one of the many other movie-themed groups, and they aren’t always keyword-friendly.
But as it stands, there are other options for finding groups and they don’t rely on Kik itself.
Finding Kik Chat Rooms Online
If you want to communicate with new people online, you are not just looking for a general chat room, you are looking for an active chat room. This is where using social platforms comes in handy because many online groups have been created to help users find and connect with like-minded (and hopefully similar-age) people. These sites became popular because there was a time when Kik disabled search functionality; While the function has been restored, various group-finding sites continue to thrive.
Not surprisingly, the best resource online for Kik groups is a Reddit group listed under subreddit r/KikGroups. With over 16,000 active members, it’s easy to find people to message online. New posts for groups arrive every few hours on average, and the community seems both helpful and friendly. Each group submission comes with the title and subject listed in the invitation, along with an age range allowed to enter the group.
Some groups only list the 18+ age requirement, while others are more specific and list ranges like “16 to 22” or “14 to 19”. These may seem a bit broad (what would a 19-year-old college student and a 14-year-old high school freshman argue with each other without risking crossing the line?), but usually, it’s easy. to identify a group appropriate for your age. If navigating an endless stream of group announcements isn’t appealing, you can use Reddit’s powerful search to search for the types of groups you find interesting.
At the time of this writing, there is a lot of variation in the groups available. Some public groups like #coffeeisgreat or #pocketdimension seem to be looking for new users who fall into the general age ranges (all and 18+, respectively). There are some special groups for teenagers only, including those referring to the 14 to 19 age range mentioned above. Military-friendly chats welcome users of all ages, and there’s even an active group on #booktalk to talk about books. Some groups have additional details on their own Reddit posts that give the group a reason to exist and welcome everyone to add certain public hash as we mentioned above.
Other groups are created privately and still use the Kik code interface, which initially replaces public groups. These posts link to a page to add the Kik code from your phone using your camera and then you will be automatically accepted into the group.
Reddit isn’t your only option for searching for new groups. Facebook has a ton of online groups dedicated to finding Kik chat rooms online, but unlike Reddit, these communities have gotten a bit more active since the public chats were relaunched. While there are still plenty of Facebook groups returned in chat, most of them are private groups that you should ask to join rather than browsing listings like on Reddit. Tumblr has a tagged section for browsing group chats, but you’re more likely to find selfies when in KikGroups than with actual Kik codes.
If you’re looking for a specific group, searching on Google or Bing will get you some returns, but as we’ve seen on Facebook, the new public chat feature seems to make these searches a bit outdated. Finding new groups via Kik chat is much easier than using an online search engine.
Finally, there are several online websites that exist primarily to find new users and groups to chat with, but we will refrain from linking to these sites because these sites are known to host dangerous or shady predators and we will instead point anyone into any trouble. Because Kik’s audience is young, it’s important to be careful when using these sites. Even the Reddit group can come close to the line sometimes, but the rules and guidelines set by the moderators keep things a little cleaner than you might expect.
With Kik finally adding public chats back to the app, it’s easier than ever to find online chat rooms while maintaining your security and privacy. Kik has come a long way in trying to provide its users with a reasonable amount of security when browsing online, and it’s a positive step to see new public chats feel a little safer than ever before. You should be able to find chat groups that give you a lot to talk about.
