A few weeks back I reviewed numerous ways in which to break barriers to communication while travelling. Up until today, I had been using Twitter as a means to minimise my phone bills when it came to costly international texts – there was one problem with this though, a lot of my friends overseas don’t use Twitter nor do they ever intend to.
I decided to act on a work colleague’s advice to download the Kik Messenger application on my iPhone4. Kik is a free smartphone to smartphone, real-time texting application (similar to BlackBerry Messenger) that works across several platforms: iPhone, iPod, BlackBerry and Android.
The username and verification process is fairly simple and straight forward. Once verified, Kik uses the information from your stored phone book contacts to let you know if any of your existing contacts are also using Kik – rather awesome.
From here on minimal brain consumption is required to navigate and operate Kik. Either add a new contact or find the person you want to text from the Kik contact list and away you go typing out your text. I know there has been many a time where I’ve sent a text, especially international texts, and wondered if they’ve ever been received. That is where the Kik application differs from regular texting – it actually lets you know when your message has been sent, delivered and read!
S✓ – Sent
R✓ – Received
D✓ – Delivered
There is also a sound and vibration option for when a new message comes through which makes me extremely happy, as my current Twitter for iPhone application has yet to implement push notifications.
If you have a lot of family and friends overseas (who have smartphones) or you’re just looking at cutting back on your phone bill, I highly recommend this application. There have been so many times where I have wanted to text a friend in the US (from Australia) but the 50 cent text fee has always discouraged me from doing so (it accumulates so fast and before you know it your international text bill alone is $50!).
It is great to finally have a real-time texting application that is not restricted to just BlackBerry users and it is free, so even if you are sceptical, it is definitely worth a shot!
Kik has become such a hot app to have that it has grown to over one million users in just 15 days! Who knows, maybe a few months from now, instead of telling friends to “text me” we’ll be saying, “Hey, Kik me!”
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Do you use Kik Messenger? Thoughts?
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Couldn’t Skype do this for you? And more people are on it, not just on phones either. I might be missing a benefit of this app though..
Hey Peter – I was unaware that Skype acted like a text messaging service unless you paid for it? More people are on it, yes, and I too use it, but I use it only for video chatting with friends abroad.
This app is purely a text messaging service. My friends in the US that have iphones get charged to send an international text to me, as do I to them, sometimes as much as 50 cents a text, so this way we are just using the data included in our mobile plans without getting charged the international text rates on top of that monthly plan amount – some providers do not include international sms rates in their mobile monthly cap limits – I know I had this problem with my last Telstra cap and I used to build up an insane amount of extra monthly payments from sending international SMS’ on top of my already monthly cap charge.
Now that I’ve changed network providers and have 2gig of data each month to burn on my iphone, I may as well put part of it to good use, likewise with my friends abroad.
Sorry just noticed the reply (somehow didn’t come into my email?). Yeah, you can definitely IM with Skype and it won’t cost a thing except your data allowance of course. No need to actually talk unless you want to.
Works a treat actually
Texting is definitely out of the question internationally when there are much better options like this.
Ah, very cool – will check it out! Thanks for letting me know. All the best for the New Year Peter… Will see you next year at one of the Travel Tribe meet ups no doubt!
Quite new to all this but love your international app tips. Blogging is starting to become an addiction for me..So writing one is just round the corner.
Glad you find them useful. Kik is a great app and I’m a big fan of it – it’s so fast and has saved me a fortune in international texts so far! Cheers.
Such an amazing app! I keep in touch with you more now due to kik (aka Keek) then I did when you were living on my couch. The only bad thing with the new updates is that not everywhere has a kik friendly signal and they have now deprived us of the green ball. Since each update seems to add something new and useful perhaps they might include free calls soon! *fingers crossed* (and bring back the green ball)
Yes, I actually feel like we’ve bonded more over Kik than when I crashed your couch… especially all those times that I’ve drunk Kik’d you and then you’ve gone and made a Facebook album with my drunken screen grabs in it, so much love right there!
I’ve noticed with the update that service everywhere hasn’t been the best, but hey, if we get to send photos to each other, I’m not complaining! Can’t wait to see your face next week xx
I have kik and I love it…I tried skype on my cell and it would not work for me…crashed my cell everytime….I switched to kik and I am very happy.
Is kik messenger free to use at anytime from china to uk and vice versa or do i need to use wi-fi?
Gillian, Yes! I kik internationally. Kik uses 3G and Wi-Fi I read. I just know its free and works amazingly well with people that live in other countries. I’m trying to find out if you’re traveling if there is any cost?
My friend is traveling to China and we want to Kik. Are you sure it’s going to work and still be free for him as he travels?