hike

Hike messenger, today announced that its users are exchanging over 1 billion messages per day, amounting to over 30 billion messages per month.

The numbers have grown by 50% in a span of just 3 months, since the company’s previous announcement of 20 billion message exchanges in August this year. The upsurge in messaging volume was observed after the launch of latest version of hike 4.0.

The company recently crossed 70 million users in October this year; on an average a user spends also over 140 minutes per week on hike messenger, said hike in a statement.

Hike had introduced several updates with the roll-out of their new update—automatic sticker suggestions, hike direct, which allows users to chat and share files without the internet, 500 member group chat with multi-admins, free group calling with up to 100 people, news in English and Hindi, coupons from over 100 brands and special photo filters and doodles.

 “We’re now doing over a billion messages per day. That’s no small feat. We got there quicker than we expected. It’s incredible how well hike 4.0 is doing. The year still isn’t over and there’s a lot still more to come. Stay tuned,” said Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder & CEO hike messenger.

Hike has introduced new features in its updated version. One key feature is Hike Direct, which allows users to chat, exchange stickers, transfer photos and heavy files of any type,  without Internet and without incurring data charges but only within 100 meter radius.

Hike Direct allows mobile phones to connect with one another directly within a 100 meter radius completely by passing the telecom networks. Users can then chat and share files directly up to a speed of 40Mbps with very low latency.

Kavin Mittal, Founder & CEO hike messenger added “Today is the day we completely redefine messaging. Hike Direct has been built on breakthrough technology that adds a whole new dimension to messaging enabling hikers to chat and share files with their friends without the internet and without incurring any data charges. One can get speeds up to 40 Mbit/sec when chatting and sharing files through hike direct. Data or no data, hike will always work. It’s incredibly powerful.”

Android users can get this feature by upgrading to the latest version of hike, version 4.0.6 and above. Hike Direct on iOS, Windows to follow next year.

The company also announced that it crossed 70 million users last month with 20 billion messages being exchanged per month making it by far the 2nd largest messaging app in the country. An average user on hike spends over 140 minutes per week on the application.

Hike today announced the launch of its free group calling feature that can connect up to 100 people in a call. Users can avail this feature by upgrading to the latest version of hike.

With the introduction of group calling, hike has officially dropped the beta tag on VOIP. Currently, the feature is extended only for Android users and is expected to roll out on iOS and Windows later this year.

Users need to simply tap on the Hike Call button existing in group chat. Once initiated, hike calls out to every member in the group automatically and the call starts as soon as one person gets connected.

Hike has a strong pipeline of new features planned for release and users can expect at least one new feature every month.

Hike has just announced more than 5000 ‘free stickers’ in over 30 languages to make messaging a fun visual experience, making it the largest repository of local Indian stickers amongst any messaging app.

The update featured in Hike 4.0 will recommend the perfect sticker for every moment based on what the users type. The sticker packs has colloquial expressions, playful slangs, movie dialogues, popular expressions used in social occasions, greetings, wishes and much more emotions.

Furthermore, hike has optimized the feature to support 2G– making it data efficient, an attractive proposition for consumers across the country.

“Messaging is undergoing a profound transformation…. Stickers are a big hit with users and it’s becoming clear that it’s hard to go back to simple text once you’ve witnessed the deep emotion offered by stickers,” says  Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder and CEO, Hike Messenger.

Instant messaging app maker Hike has announced the launch of the Hike 4.0 update which it claims to be 5x faster than the previous version of the software.

The company also used the occasion to announce that it has crossed the 20 billion messages per month threshold, claiming to grow by 100% in less than 1 year.

The Hike 4.0 update has been optimised to run on low-end smartphones and particularly poor network conditions, perfect to reach entry-level users in India.

Users will now be able to transfer any type of file up to 100MB in size through Hike. The app also gets photo filters and doodles, basically more social features.

Apart from this, Hike has also introduced News, which as its name suggests is a service that pushes bite-sized news to users in less than 100 characters. Within 24 hours of its launch, Hike claims its News service has 1 million users.

Last August Hike had announced that it was registering 10 billion messages monthly. The company has doubled the number of messages sent on its platform in less than one year.

With the app now being lighter and more suited for low-end devices, the company hopes to aggressively onboard new users.