How To Save and View Older Messages in Kik

If you’re anything like most Kik users, you will have hundreds of messages and dozens of conversations stored in the app. Sometimes, you may have several conversations running at once on a range of subjects and need to keep your chat history so you can keep up with all the different threads. With that scenario in mind, you may wonder how you can view older messages in Kik and 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 just relay the messages. They receive your message from your Kik app, find the recipient in the user database, and then forward the message. The recipient’s Kik application notifies the Kik server that the message was received and read, then the server drops it.

There is no storage, no tracking, and no retention of your messages. These actions are 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 scenario does present a couple of practical problems, though. All messages get 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 your messages are visible within limitations. Apparently, Kik shows up to 1,000 messages over a 48 hour period on an iPhone and only 600 on Android. Old messages still get saved with the new ones, but only the last 500 on an iPhone and 200 on Android are kept. Why is there a difference in volumes? The answer remains unknown.

If you want to keep older messages, you must remain logged into Kik. If you log out, messages get deleted, and you will lose access to your older chats.

Saving Older Messages in Kik

As partially discussed, Kik does not have an archive function built into it, but you can archive your phone and chat data. This scenario 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 work, but they are both quite laborious. I would suggest only using them for essential 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.

Many websites suggest using phone backups and recovery software, using database recovery tools, and all manner of downloads to save or recover old Kik messages. The trouble 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.

The two ways below are the only practical solutions to keep 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 viewed as a betrayal of trust so use it carefully. Place the chat in the center of the screen and then perform the screenshot. For any phone, scroll up or down the chat and capture all the important messages in the conversation. Fortunately, some newer phones offer better capture capabilities.

Android 10 and up, at the least, have a screenshot feature that scrolls the entire page and captures it. For instance, Motorola G Fast models capture an entire page when you hold the power button briefly, then choose screenshot, then press the downward arrow below the captured image. You watch as it scrolls the page and captures the entire image.

For older Android phones (it works on newer phones, too), you hold down the power and volume down button until you see the capture 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.

Method 2: Copy and Paste Older Messages from Kik

The copy and paste process isn’t exactly a user-friendly solution but is the only other way to save older messages in Kik. Again, the process could technically lead to the betrayal of trust, so be mindful when you use it.

To copy and paste Kik messages in Android, do the following:

1. Hold your finger down on a piece of text until a selector box appears.
2. Choose Select All Text and then Copy.
3. Open up a notepad or Word for Android and paste the contents into a document.
4. Save the document with a meaningful name so you know what it contains.

To copy and paste Kik messages in iOS, follow these steps:

1. Hold your finger down on some text until a selector box appears.
2. Choose Select All and then Copy.
3. Open up a notepad or Word for Android and paste the contents into a document.
4. 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 do. If you want to save older messages in other apps, you may not have access to the “Select All” option. That scenario could render this technique useless, but it works for now in the context of Kik.