Is Kik Safe for Kids? What Parents Need to Know in 2024 by Toma Novakovic

Toma Novakovic

Published on: December 8, 2024
Writer

Kik is a messaging app that I wouldn’t recommend for kids. It has no parental controls of its own, it’s rife with easily accessible adult content, and it’s even been part of some child abuse criminal cases. It doesn’t require any age verification, so even children too young to use the app can sign up. Perhaps fortunately, the app is so buggy that they might not even be able to make an account.

If your child uses Kik, it’s vital to use a parental control app alongside it to keep them safe. My favorite for monitoring Kik is Bark — it looks at Kik messages and attachments and sends you alerts about any concerning content.

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What Are the Risks of Kik?

• Anonymous users. Kik doesn’t require any personal information to create an account — you only need a username, email address, and date of birth. Kid does ask you to verify your email but that’s the extent of it. It doesn’t verify users’ ages, and there’s no real way to confirm exactly who your child is talking to on Kik.
• Contact with strangers. Kik has a feature called “Meet new people,” which lets you chat with random users. This means your child could easily come into contact with all kinds of unsavory people. Anyone can contact your child, and your child can contact anyone. There have been many reported cases of stalking, abuse, and even murder where the victims met the perpetrators through Kik.
• Child predators. Kik’s anonymity has made it a target for predators seeking to exploit minors. As such, it’s been associated with many child abuse cases.
• Inappropriate live streams. The app’s community guidelines require content to be PG-13, but very little is regulated. In my tests, I found tons of mature content and the Live tab makes it way too easy to find explicit live streams.
• Scams. Many bad actors on Kik try to scam other users through catfishing, blackmail, and extortion, among many other methods.
• Bots and malware. Kik has a problem with bots pretending to be people in the random chat. These bots try to convince users to click a link to a site that would phish their data or spread malware.

What Age Is Kik Appropriate For?

Kik is absolutely unsuitable for minors. The Google Play App Store doesn’t give it an age rating, but a generic “Parental guidance recommended” warning. That’s because user interaction is Kik’s main point, so its safety depends entirely on users’ behavior.

The Apple App Store rates it more accurately as appropriate for ages 17+, pointing to suggestive topics, nudity, and sexual content.

Considering the lack of adequate regulations and monitoring that would help keep minors somewhat safe on Kik, as well as its association with predators, I don’t recommend letting your child use the Kik app at all.

If your child is old and mature enough to use such a dangerous app responsibly, you could consider it, but I suggest having a serious talk with them about Kik’s dangers.

How to Keep Your Kids Safe on Kik

Here are some steps you can take if you decide to let your child use Kik, but want to ensure they’re safe there.

1. Install a Good Quality Parental Control App

I recommend getting a high-quality parental control app likie Bark for Kik, which gives you some control over how your children use the app and keeps you in the loop about potentially dangerous content they come across.

Here’s what you get with Bark:

• Message monitoring. Bark monitors your kid’s chats on Kik and alerts you if it detects dangerous or inappropriate content,  such as adult material, violence, or bullying.
• Time scheduling. Block access to Kik when your child is at school, studying, or at bedtime.
• Activity reports. See how much time your kid spends on Kik, so you can easily determine if you need to intervene.
• App filtering. Prevent your child from accessing Kik entirely if you decide it’s too inappropriate and unsafe for your child’s current maturity level.

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2. Turn on Safe Search

Kik offers Safe Search, a filter that’s supposed to prevent explicit content from showing up in searches. On Android, this feature also blurs potentially inappropriate images. Here’s how to turn the Safe Search filter on:

1. Tap on the profile picture in the upper right corner.
2. Scroll down and tap on Chat Settings.
3. Toggle the Safe Search option on.
4. Restart the Kik app to apply the changes.

When I tested this feature out, it reduced the explicit content I encountered, but it didn’t remove it entirely. I could still easily find groups and live streams with adult content despite the filter being active.

3. Remove Live Suggestions

The main page of the Kik app features suggested live streams. The live streams are usually marked with the streaming user’s profile picture, which can be quite explicit. Kik lets you turn off these live previews:

1. Tap on the profile picture in the upper right corner.
2. Scroll down and tap on Chat Settings.
3. Find the Live Promotions setting and set the toggle to off.
4. Find the Live Suggested Streamer setting and switch that toggle off as well.
5. Restart the Kik app to apply the changes.

This successfully removes the live stream previews from Kik’s main page.

4. Control Who Can Send Chat Requests

Kik lets you control who can send message requests to your child:

1. Tap on the profile picture in the upper right corner.
2. Scroll down and tap on Chat Settings.
3. Tap on the New Chat Requests option.
4. Set it to “Never”, or “Only from Groups” if you trust the users of Kik groups your child is a member of.

However, in my tests, setting this option to “Never” didn’t prevent bots from messaging me.

5. Teach Your Child How to Block and Report Users

If your child is uncomfortable with how a Kik user is speaking to them, show them these steps to block that user from contacting them again:

1. In the chat screen, tap the username at the top of the chat
2. Tap the icon with three dots.
3. Tap Block user.
4. Tap Block again.

It’s similarly easy to report a user, though it’s questionable whether reporting users actually achieves anything.

1. In the chat screen, tap the username at the top of the chat
2. Tap the icon with three dots.
3. Tap Report User.
4. Pick one of the following reasons: “I don’t want to talk to them”, “This is a spam bot”, or “This person is being abusive”.
5. You can also check the box for the option to include chat history in the report.
6. Tap Report.

6. Show Your Kid How to Report Groups

If your child joins a concerning group chat, here’s how to report the entire group:

1. In the group chat, tap the group name at the top of the screen.
2. Tap the icon with three dots in the top right corner.
3. Tap Report Group.
4. Choose one of the reasons — “I don’t want to be in this group”, “This group is offensive”, or “This group is being used for abuse”.
5. Check the box with the option to include chat history, if you wish.
6. Tap Report.

Does Kik Have an In-App Browser?

Kik does have an in-app browser, but it’s limited enough that it shouldn’t be a concern. It used to have a fully functional built-in browser, introduced back in 2014. It was a great tool for kids and teens to circumvent the restrictions parents would place on their phones, which typically work on popular browsers like Chrome or Firefox.

However, the browser function has since devolved into a much simpler (and safer) form. The only place you can visit via Kik’s in-app browser is the Smiley Shop and Sticker Shop, where your child can download emoticons and stickers to use while chatting. The browser doesn’t have a URL box or a search function that your child could use to type site addresses.

Frequently Asked Questions