Now homegrown messenger Hike also known as Hike Sticker Chat will be shutting down later this month. The company’s founder and CEO Kavin Mittal announced the news on Twitter. The messenger will be replaced by two new apps – Vibe and Rush. At the time of writing this post, we couldn’t find Hike Sticker Chat on Google Play Store.
Also Read: WhatsApp private group chat links and user profiles appear on Google search
In related news, popular messaging platform WhatsApp is updating its privacy policy that users have to agree and accept to continue using the app. This has caused a backlash among the users as their personal data will be shared with its parent company Facebook.
Hike StickerChat is shutting down
12/ Today we're announcing that we will be sunsetting StickerChat in Jan'21.
We thank you all for giving us your trust. We wouldn’t be here without you ❤️
All your data will be available to download in the app. Your HikeMoji will continue to be available in both Vibe & Rush!
— Kavin Bharti Mittal (@kavinbm) January 6, 2021
Hike Sticker Chat Messenger has millions of users spending approximately 35 minutes a day on the app. It was launched back in 2012 with trendy and quirky stickers along with HikeMoji (similar to Bitmoji and Animoji) that was introduced in 2019. Hike users can download all their data, and once the app shuts down, HikeMoji will continue to be available in both Vibe and Rush.
The company has also revamped HikeLand to ‘Vibe by Hike’ that debuted in June last year. Vibe by Hike is a community based social platform that can only be joined by applying on the company’s website or here. Mittal stated that the company has already received 1,00,000 applications and had clocked 3,00,000 conversations last month.
The second platform from the company is an online gaming app called Rush by Hike. It offers a series of games to users like carrom and ludo to play with friends online. The company says it will introduce more games in the future. The Rush by Hike app is available for iOS users on the App Store and is expected to go live for Android in the coming weeks.
In the light of WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, several users are switching to Telegram and Signal. Kavin Bharti Mittal, CEO and Founder of Hike also mentioned in his tweet that India won’t have its own messenger unless it bans Western companies.