Speedy Messaging App Kik Goes Viral, But Is It Cool With Apple's TOS?
Kik Messenger is a once in a lifetime startup success story, going from 0 to 1.5 million users in 18 days. Aside from being free, the app is available multi-platform and is insanely fast, in fact its speed is what sets …
Context & Ripple Effects
Five days after VentureBeat flagged Kik Messenger's explosive start as an SMS challenger, the growth curve has steepened: zero to 1.5 million users in 18 days, on a free, multi-platform client whose speed is the differentiator. The same week, Apple named Instagram — another app riding rapid user growth — the App Store's App of the Week, so fast-rising social apps are clearly on Apple's radar from both directions.
The open question is whether Kik's rise survives contact with Apple's terms of service: the compliance concern is reported but unconfirmed, and with no syndicated pickup or public reaction yet recorded, the story is a single-outlet watch item rather than a settled controversy.
First-order effects
- Kik's distribution now hangs entirely on Apple's review discretion — if the TOS question is upheld, an 18-day, 1.5-million-user run could be cut off from new iPhone downloads overnight.
- Apple faces a visible test of consistency right after featuring Instagram as App of the Week: penalizing one viral social app while celebrating another would set a precedent every developer will read.
Second-order effects
- Cross-platform messaging rivals must now price in gatekeeper risk when building iPhone clients — a feature set or address-book behavior that trips Apple's rules can erase a competitor's momentum regardless of product quality.
- If Kik is constrained on iOS, its multi-platform strategy shifts weight toward non-App-Store channels, changing where its growth and any future monetization can come from.
Third-order effects
- The episode is a clean instance of platform gatekeeper leverage: when one company controls the dominant app store, viral consumer apps are structurally exposed to policy enforcement rather than market competition alone.
- If enforcement against fast-growing messaging clients becomes a pattern, developers may design iOS versions conservatively from day one — shaping what cross-platform messaging looks like for everyone.
The trend: Mobile messaging is pulling users away from carrier SMS toward free multi-platform apps, while app-store gatekeepers hold veto power over which of those challengers reach scale.