We asked parents how easy they thought it would be for a child to pretend to be older in order to sign up to Kik, and whether they had to verify their phone number or email address. Based on these answers, Kik has received a negative rating for its sign up process.

Here are some of the things parents said:

• “Appears to have little requiring you to verify who you are. They don’t ask for identifying information in the way that other apps do.” – Father of 16 yr old
  
• “Very simple and quick, only name, email, birthday and password required. Didn't ask me to agree to any T&Cs or anything like that.” - Father of 8 and 11 yr old girls

We asked parents how easy they thought it would be to find ways to report unsuitable content or behaviour, and how to block people from contacting you. Based on these answers, Kik has received a positive rating for its reporting and blocking process.

Here are some of the things parents said:

• “It is not too difficult to report or block someone on Kik.” – Father of three children
  
• “Once you suss out the app layout and account settings it’s relatively easy.” – Father of 9 yr old girl

We also asked young people who reviewed Kik whether they knew how to report and block users:

• 62% said they know how to report on this site
  
• 69% said they know how to block someone on this site
  

Want to know more?

You can find out how to report a user here.

You can find out more information about reporting here.

You can find out more information about blocking here: 

We asked parents how easy it was to change the settings so that your profile and account is private, and how easy it is to turn off location settings. Based on these answers, Kik has received a neutral rating for its privacy settings.

Here are some of the things parents said:

• “There are no real privacy options other than using phone contacts and a block list.” - Father of 2 and 8 yr old girls
  
• “Privacy tab only gives me options to create a Block List for usernames and whether or not to Use Phone Contacts - there appears to be no way of changing location or privacy settings.” - Father of 8 and 11 yr old girls
  

We also asked young people who reviewed Kik whether they knew how to report and block users:

• 65% said they know how to change their privacy settings on this site.
  
• 58% said they know how to change their location settings on this site.
  

Want to know more?

You can find out more information about privacy here.

We asked parents how easy it was to find out whether Kik has rules or community standards, and how easy it would be for a young person to find information about keeping themselves safe on this platform. Based on these answers, Kik has received a neutral rating for its safety and support.

Here are some of the things parents said:

• “Only advice I had was a pop up that said that a group discussion was "PG13" and that it would be monitored for inappropriate content. No links to define what PG13 meant in real terms.” - Father of 8 and 11 yr old girls
  
• “If they were really [concerned] about Community Standards, this wouldn't be buried behind another category called "Help and About Us." – Father of 16 yr old
  

Want to know more?

You can download and read Kik's guide for parents here. 

You can visit Kik's Safety Centre here. 

You can visit Kik's Help Centre here.

You can manage who talks to your teen on Kik here.