So, this has been a question in your mind for a while. Is it possible to recover Kik messages? The company itself tells that they do not store any backup of your messages. In fact, they even don’t see them. So, they will not be able to provide you any help regarding the Kik message recovery. So, we are left with only a single option, which is depending on your device. All the Kik messages are stored on your smartphone, whether it is Android or iOS. Every single message you send and receive will be stored on your device, not on an online server like many other messaging applications.
Some Facts about the Kik Messages
Before we get started, you should know a few things about the process that Kik follows to store the messages.
- On Android devices, Kik only stores 600 messages if the conversation took place in the last 48 hours. If the messages were even older, you can only see 200 messages.
- On iOS devices, the stored messages are 1000 in the last 48 hours. For the older ones, the number is 500.
- All the Sent and Received Kik messages are solely stored on your device storage. Kik doesn’t store them anywhere out of that.
- There isn’t currently a way to easily backup your Kik messages. But there are few un-official ways like backing up your entire device or the Kik app folder.
Is it possible to Recover Kik Messages?
The one and only method that will let you restore the Kik messages is if you have a backup. Kik doesn’t allow you to directly back up from the application like other messaging services such as WhatsApp. So how are you supposed to have a backup? There are two ways for this.
1. Using Smartphone Backups
Even though it is not a common thing for people to copy smartphone files, some of you may have a backup of all your files including the app data folder. The app data will be stored in the data folder on your device’s internal storage followed by the name of the application. So if you backed up your entire smartphone at some point, or partially did it where the data folder could exist, restoring that backup may help you to get the Kik messages back.
Even if you have a backup that you can use to restore, this method will only allow you to have the messages that were present on the smartphone at the time of the backup. As Kik stores no more than 1000 messages at the most, that’s all you will get even if you were able to restore them.
Some users have reported that this method doesn’t work on the latest versions of the Kik messenger. However you can give it a try, may be using an older version of Kik.
2. Using a third-party service
There are several third-party applications available both for Android and iOS that allow you to backup your smartphone data including Kik messages. These applications will be able to copy the Kik messages stored on your devices and convert them into backups that you can restore at a later time. If you are already searching for or a solution to recover the Kik messages, you may not find this method helpful. But it can be helpful if you want to backup your Kik messages in the future.
Additional Methods You Could Try
You can try recovering Kik account as a whole, or some of the possible solutions listed below if the above two methods are not working.
Extracting Kik Messages from Device Backups
To extract Kik messages from device backups, you can follow these steps:
- Use third-party applications like Dr. Fone for Android devices to recover deleted Kik messages from device backups
- For iPhone devices, utilize tools like iPhone Backup Extractor from Reincubate to extract Kik messages from iTunes or iCloud backups
- Ensure you have a valid backup containing the Kik messages you want to recover, as there may be limitations based on storage limits set by Kik
Recovering Kik Messages from Lost or Stolen Devices
To recover Kik messages from lost or stolen devices, you can consider the following steps:
- Restore your new device from a backup if you had previously backed up your device.
- For Android, use Google Drive backups or third-party backup applications.
- For iPhones, restore from iTunes or iCloud backups.
- If you don’t have a backup, it becomes challenging to recover Kik messages from lost or stolen devices. Without alternative storage or backup methods, retrieval is unlikely.
Recovering Kik Messages from Temporary or Cached Storage Locations
If you want to get your Kik messages back from temporary or cached storage spots, here’s what you can do:
- Firstly, get yourself some Android data recovery software like EaseUS Mobisaver for Android or and iOS data recovery software for iPhone. It’s going to be your handy tool for scanning and recovering those deleted Kik messages from temporary or cached storage.
- Once you’ve got the software, follow the instructions they give you for scanning and recovering the messages. Keep in mind that your success may depend on a few things, like how much time has passed since deletion and whether any new data has overwritten the old stuff on your device.
Investigating Data Carving Techniques for Kik Message Retrieval
To recover your Kik messages using data carving techniques, here’s what you can do:
- Get some forensic software. It scans your storage systems and looks for patterns that match Kik messages.
- Reach out to forensic experts or data recovery services. They know their stuff and have the tools to help you out.
Remember, data carving is usually used for forensic investigations. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, getting professional help increases your chances of recovering those important Kik messages. They may also be able to recover Kik photos or contacts.
Do not try contacting Kik support
It is understandable how important those messages were to you. However, there is no way the Kik support could help you to recover your lost messages. If you cannot recover them following any of the methods mentioned above, they are gone forever. Kik doesn’t store any of your messages on their servers, hence they are helpless in assisting you to recover them. So don’t waste your time.