If you’re like most Kik users, you’ll have hundreds of messages and dozens of conversations stored in the app. Sometimes you may have several conversations running at once about a variety of topics and you need to maintain your chat history so you can keep up with the different threads. With that scenario in mind, you might be wondering how you can view older messages on Kik and back them up before they’re deleted.
Kik is a push messaging service. It doesn’t save your chats and it doesn’t store copies of anything you send.. Kik servers simply transmit the messages. They receive your message from their Kik app, find the recipient in the user database, and then forward the message. The recipient’s Kik app notifies the Kik server that the message was received and read, then the server discards it.
There is no storage, tracking or retention of your messages. These actions are the main reasons why Kik is so popular. It is almost impossible to track your usage and all messages disappear once the transaction is complete.
However, that scenario presents a couple of practical problems. All messages are saved on your phone within the Kik app. If something happens to your phone or the app is damaged or deleted, your messages disappear.
View old messages on Kik
While you are logged in to Kik, all your messages are visible within limitations. Apparently, Kik shows up to 1,000 messages in a 48-hour period on an iPhone and only 600 on Android. Old messages are still saved with new ones, but only the last 500 are kept on an iPhone and 200 on Android. Why is there a difference in volumes? The answer remains a mystery.
If you want to keep older messages, you must stay logged into Kik. If you log out, your messages will be deleted and you will lose access to your older chats.
Save old messages on Kik
As partially mentioned, Kik does not have a built-in archiving feature, but you can archive your phone and chat data. This scenario is not ideal since you cannot see this data in iTunes or on PC. So while it is saved, it cannot be used in any meaningful way.
There are two alternatives that work, but both are quite laborious. I would suggest using them only for essential chats that you really don’t want to miss. The first is to take a screenshot of the chat and the second is to copy and paste the chats into another app.
Many websites suggest using phone backup and recovery software, database recovery tools, and all kinds of downloads to save or recover old Kik messages. The problem with these solutions is that they only work if you accidentally log out of Kik or if something happens to your phone. If messages expire beyond the 48-hour limit or the 500/200 oldest messages limit, they won’t be usable anyway unless you delete a bunch of newer messages.
The following two ways are the only practical solutions to preserve and view old messages on Kik.
Method 1: Take a Screenshot to Save Old Kik Messages
Taking a screenshot of a Kik message could be seen as a betrayal of trust, so use it with caution. Place the chat in the center of the screen and then take the screenshot. For any phone, scroll up or down in the chat and capture all important messages in the conversation. Fortunately, some newer phones offer better capture capabilities.
Android 10 and later, at least, have a screenshot feature that scrolls through the entire page and captures it. For example, Motorola G Fast models capture an entire page when you briefly press and hold the power button, then choose the screenshot, and then press the down arrow below the captured image. You watch as it scrolls down the page and captures the full image.
For older Android phones (works on newer phones too), press and hold the power and volume down button until you see the screenshot notification. The screenshot will be saved in your phone’s Screenshots folder and not in your camera folder.
To take a screenshot on an iPhone, press and hold the home and lock buttons. If you are lucky enough to have an iPhone X, you will need to hold down the lock and volume up buttons.
Method 2: Copy and Paste Old Kik Messages
The copy and paste process isn’t exactly a user-friendly solution, but it’s the only other way to save old messages on Kik. Again, the process could technically lead to a betrayal of trust, so be careful when using it.
To copy and paste Kik messages on Android, do the following:
- Press and hold your finger on a piece of text until a selection box appears.
- Choose Select All Text and then Copy.
- Open a notepad or Word for Android and paste the content into a document.
- Save the document with a meaningful name so you know what it contains.
To copy and paste Kik messages on iOS, follow these steps:
- Press and hold your finger on a piece of text until a selection box appears.
- Choose Select All and then Copy.
- Open a notepad or Word for Android and paste the content into a document.
- Save the document with a meaningful name so you know what it contains.
On a positive note, the current version of Kik supports the “Select All” option, but not all iOS apps support it. If you want to save old messages in other apps, you may not have access to the “Select all” option. That scenario might render this technique useless, but it works for now in the context of Kik.
