November 10, 2021
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0Is KakaoTalk Safe for Daily Use?
“Katalk me” is what they say in Korea instead of the usual “PM me.” Does it remind you of how we use the word “Google”? These days, “Katalk” — short for KakaoTalk — has become a common expression.
By the way, Google is constantly monitoring your online activity. Learn more here.
KakaoTalk, which appeared in March 2010, was the first messenger developed by a Korean team. This turned out to be one of the main success factors. In addition, nationality allowed the application to compete with those already present on the market successfully.
As time passed, the popularity of the messenger increased – and then fell.
Therefore, today, we want to tell you more about this messenger, who should use it, are there alternatives and is KakaoTalk safe?
Find alternatives to KakaoTalk here.
What is the KakaoTalk messenger?
KakaoTalk is a free application (messenger) that people around the world can use to communicate. In the app, everyone can instantly send messages, call users, create multiple chats, etc.
This messenger was created by the South Korean company “Kao Corp” on March 18, 2010. The application supports 15 languages, and more than 200 million people use it. 93% of the users of this messenger are Koreans.
When choosing the name of the program, the developers decided to call it cocoa. Why did they choose this name? The developers’ ambition was to improve the quality of people’s lives. Chocolate was chosen as the basis, the main ingredient of which is cocoa. Hence, the origin of the messenger’s name.
When the company was founded, its management defined Kakao’s mission as “to grow together for the better.” It means to grow together with partners. The developers decided to make the main features of the product:
- high loyalty to the user
- direct socialization
- the presence of games
So, Kakao’s success formula now includes a set of facts and emotions:
[loyalty + socialization tools + games]
Loyalty
It is best to talk about loyalty using the example of the “100 Improvements” initiative launched in 2011. Within this framework, Kakao accepted suggestions and concepts from its users to improve the service. Then, based on the collected 60 thousand ideas, Kakao selected the 100 best ones and brought them to life. KakaoStory, which is very popular today, is one such concept. The KakaoStory service, in turn, implements the “social” approach.
Sociality
KakaoStory is very similar to Facebook. This is a photomicroblogging application that allows users to share news and photos and find mutual acquaintances. The main difference is its closeness. The KakaoStory microblog is visible only to friends (only someone in the KakaoTalk contact list can become a friend). In the first year of its existence, more than one billion posts were published, and 32.5 million users installed the application.
Games
In 2012, Kakao took another step towards success: it implemented the gaming part of the formula, releasing the KAKAO Game Platform. The application already had 82 million installations on iOS and Android. The DAU was 30 million.
The introduction of the gaming service has become an additional driver in increasing the user base.
Functional abilities
The main aim of the software is to provide communication between users. However, now such functions will not surprise anyone. Therefore, developers are trying to expand the possibilities.
The main feature of the application is its simplicity and ease of use. In addition to the important and necessary functions for communication, there are also various “goodies” that make the interaction process convenient and fun. For example, voice filters can process your voice beyond recognition.
In addition, if other programs allow you to create collective chats involving several dozen users, KakaoTalk expands them to a hundred.
By the way, the database of emoticons and stickers is amazing. There are really a lot of them here, and there are “decorations” for all occasions.
The messenger works great in multifunctional mode. And this means that you can simultaneously call someone, write messages, send files, process your voice, and do many other actions. And nothing will slow down. The software copes with all tasks perfectly. However, this is the danger. Therefore, be careful when talking to both friends and superiors simultaneously so as not to accidentally send cute cats or private messages to the wrong window.
KakaoTalk’s pluses:
- ability to create chats with numerous users
- stable operation
- free video and audio calls
- ability to send files of various types, including media content
- available on Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Bada OS, Nokia Asha, Windows Phone
KakaoTalk’s minuses:
- due to the high system requirements, the application only works on new powerful devices. You can solve the problem if you run KakaoTalk on a computer.
Is KakaoTalk safe to use?
In 2014, there was a scandal connected with messenger privacy and security. The local prosecutor’s office said that it would look through the internet and mobile apps traffic to find out people who were spreading false rumors.
KakaoTalk first stated that they would cooperate with the authorities. However, as a result, users began to worry and massively abandon the messenger in favor of Telegram, which claimed to be the most secure application. Later, the CEO of Kakao apologized to users and stated that he would not work with the authorities.
Does Telegram really private and secure to use? Learn more here.
Of course, those days have already passed, and the messenger has managed to prove itself as quite safe. However, do not forget that the company’s management, under pressure, agreed to cooperate with the government and government agencies and disclose confidential information about messenger users.
Unfortunately, no one can guarantee that with new interest and pressure from the government on the messenger, the developers will remain true to their promises and statements made a couple of years ago.
Therefore, it is still worth considering the most secure messenger for communicating and transferring private files.
The best KakaoTalk alternative
Of course, many alternative messengers are functionally superior to KakaoTalk and safer to use. In addition, do not forget that the safest option is one with fully anonymous registration. No one will know your real names, email, phone numbers, etc.
Utopia P2P is the safest alternative to the well-known KakaoTalk. If your task is not to learn Korean but just to communicate safely online, Utopia will provide you with all the necessary resources.
Utopia is an anonymous and decentralized messenger of a new generation. It is based on a peer-to-peer architecture, where there is no single server for data storage. Instead, a crypto container is created for each user.
Registration and use of the messenger are fully anonymous: no need to enter personal data. In addition, each message is encrypted with multi-level encryption, which provides a reliable security system against data leakage and potential hacks. Plus, Utopia is also a complete ecosystem for data transmission, browsing, online payments, gaming, and more.
Utopia’s developer is the 1984 Group. This is a team of anonymous creators whose real names are unknown. This measure is necessary to avoid pressure from the state and subordinate agencies.
Therefore, if safety is more important, it is better to choose Utopia P2P.
Read more about the benefits of Utopia P2P here.
