If you’re anything like me, you will have hundreds of messages and dozens of conversations stored in Kik. Sometimes I will have several conversations running at once on a range of subjects and I need to keep my chat history so I can keep up with all the different threads.
All of which got me thinking, how can you view older messages in Kik and can you back them up before they are deleted?
Kik is a push message service. It does not keep your chats and does not store copies of anything you send. The Kik servers are merely message relays. They receive your message from your Kik app, find the recipient in the user database and forward that message on. The recipient’s Kik app then notifies the Kik server the message has been received and then read that the server drops the thread.
There is no storage, no tracking and no retention of your messages. This is one of the main reasons Kik is so popular. It is almost impossible to track your use and all messages disappear once the transaction is complete.
That does present a couple of practical problems though. All messages are saved on your phone within the Kik app. If anything happens to your phone or the app is corrupted or deleted, your messages disappear.
Viewing older messages in Kik
While you are logged into Kik, all of your messages should be visible within limitations. Apparently, Kik shows up to 1,000 messages over a 48 hour period on an iPhone and only 600 on Android. Older messages are still saved but only the last 500 on an iPhone and last 200 on Android. Why there is a difference in volumes I do not know. Neither have I been able to find out.
If you want to keep older messages you must remain logged into Kik. If you log out, messages will be deleted and you will lose access to your older chats.
Save older messages in Kik
Kik does not have an archive function built into it but you can archive your phone and therefore chat data. This is less than ideal as you cannot view this data in iTunes or on PC so while saved, it isn’t usable in any meaningful way.
There are two alternatives that do work but they are both quite laborious. I would suggest only using them for really important chats that you really don’t want to lose. The first is to take a screenshot of the chat and the second is to copy and paste chats into another app.
There are a bunch of websites out there all suggesting using phone backup and recovery software, using database recovery tools and all manner of downloads to save or recover old Kik messages. The trouble is with these ‘solutions’ is that they only work if you accidentally log out of Kik or if something happens to your phone. If messages time out and go over the 48 hour limit or the 500/200 older message limit, they aren’t usable anyway unless you delete a ton of more recent messages.
These two ways are the only practical ways I know of to keep and view old messages on Kik.
Take a screenshot
Taking a screenshot of a Kik message could be viewed as a betrayal of trust so use it carefully. Place the chat in the center of the screen and then perform the screenshot. Scroll up or down and repeat to capture the entire conversation.
To take a screenshot on Android, hold down the power and volume down button until you see the notification. The screenshot will be saved in the Screenshots folder on your phone and not in your camera folder.
To take a screenshot on an iPhone, press and hold the home and lock buttons. If you’re fortunate enough to have an iPhone X, you will need to hold the lock and volume up buttons.
Copy and paste older messages in Kik
Again, this isn’t exactly user friendly but is the only other usable way I know of to save older messages in Kik. Again, it could technically be a betrayal of trust so be mindful when you use it.
To copy and paste in Android:
- Hold your finger down on a piece of text until a selector box appears.
- Choose Select All Text and then Copy.
- Open up a notepad or Word for Android and paste the contents into a document.
- Save the document with a meaningful name so you know what it contains.
To copy and paste in iOS:
- Hold your finger down on some text until a selector box appears.
- Choose Select All and then Copy.
- Open up a notepad or Word for Android and paste the contents into a document.
- Save the document with a meaningful name so you know what it contains.
The current version of Kik supports the Select All option but not all iOS apps do. If you want to save older messages in other apps you may not be able to select all. That would render this technique useless but in the context of Kik, for now it works.
