Kik

Kik Messenger is a popular cross-platform chat app. OK, so that describes a lot of tools. But Kik's kicker is speed: It boasts some of the fastest notification and messaging hookups in the chat universe. Like similar apps, Kik Messenger makes it easy to find and add friends, share photos, and set up Group Chat sessions. We tried Kik Messenger's free Android app.

It's easy to install and set up Kik Messenger, even if you need to create a new account, though the ability to sign up via your Facebook account (as some other chat apps have) … Read more

At a time when mobile instant messaging is available in so many ways -- standard SMS, for free via through Facebook Messenger and through Apple's iMessage for iOS users -- you might think that a free messaging app wouldn't stand a chance as a standalone business.

Ted Livingston, a 25-year-old mobile wunderkind based in Waterloo, Ontario, is out to prove doubters wrong.

His app, Kik, became a viral sensation when it launched in the fall of 2010 -- it added 2 million users in 22 days -- and now claims more than 30 million registered users. More impressive … Read more

Kik Messenger for iPhone is a free, easy-to-use tool that has all the characteristics of a messenger application, as well as the advantage of texting, in an all-in-one, well-designed app. Its clean, uncluttered user interface will make interactions smooth, and the app will soon become one of your favorite texting tools.

We love how the developers have opened access to all mobile platforms and provided some great features you may miss on a computer-based social networking app. It is compatible with both portrait and landscape layouts, and you can switch between these at anytime. You don't have the limitation … Read more

The uproar over apps that suck up people's address books without warning is hardly surprising--except perhaps to some of the software engineers working on such products.

Apple today finally said it would clamp down by enforcing personal-data guidelines already in place. Which, in turn, just illustrates the ongoing disconnect between tech companies and their customers when it comes to privacy concerns.

The engineers coming up with way to use your data or gather your location often do so with the belief that they're doing something helpful. As the founder of Kik, an instant messaging app that used to … Read more

Even the lawyers can't stop technology.

When a startup called Kik launched a mobile messaging app a year ago, the growth was explosive. More than 2 million people downloaded it in its first few weeks, turning Kik into a viral sensation on both the iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones.

Then the trouble began. First, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion pulled the Kik app from its app store. Then it filed suit against Kik Interactive in federal court in Canada, claiming misuse of trademarks and patent infringements. RIM makes the popular BlackBerry Messenger service, called BBM.

But while the legal process … Read more

Group messaging service GroupMe launched a big upgrade last week, timed to occur right before the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, the biggest event of the year for digital start-ups looking to make it big. But that wasn't enough: GroupMe today launched what co-founders Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht call "version 2.1-more-thing" in a nod to the famed Steve Jobs line.

What's new this time? Instead of making groups invite-only, groups can now be "joinable" through solicitations on Facebook and Twitter. There are also some smaller tweaks, including avatars alongside … Read more