Literally everyone (93% of the population) in Korea uses KakaoTalk, the messaging app. More and more people outside Korea and even Obama uses the app with which you also can interact with companies or bands, do shopping and read the news! This article will tell you everything about the important things of KakaoTalk – it is the ultimate guide. The contents are:
- The company KakaoTalk
- How to download KakaoTalk
- KakaoTalk web
- Kakao Friends
- Emoticons
- About the app KakaoTalk
- Gift shop
- How to find friends
- Log out
- KakaoTalk advertising
- What is the # (sharp) button for?
- Types of chat
Let’s dive in!
The company KakaoTalk
Kakao is the corporation that developed the KakaoTalk app. Kakao company is a merger between Daum and Kakao. Daum is Korea’s third largest search engine / portal. Its rival Naver is Korea’s biggest search engine. In truly Korean fashion, the app (which launched in 2010) took Korea virally by storm. You could even argue that Kakao is Korea’s most successful startup. Its company culture is open and has a flat hierarchy. Tencent, the legal name of Chinese app WeChat, owns 13.5% of Kakao. Kakao’s subsidiaries are:
- Kakao M (owned 76.40%)
- Kakao Games
- Kakao Friends
- Kakao Mobility
- Path, Inc.
- Lycos, Inc.
- Ground X
Besides the app KakaoTalk, the company publishes other apps like Daum, Daum Cafe, Daum Webtoon, KakaoMetro, KakaoBus, KakaoMap, Tistory, Brunch, KakaoMusic, KakaoHairshop and KakaoStory.
How to download KakaoTalk
There are multiple ways to download and install KakaoTalk, all of them are free.
- Android
- iOS
- PC (Windows and Mac)
- APK (warning: APK files may not be safe, they are not authorized by Google Play!)
Things to watch out for when installing the app:
- You don’t need a Korean mobile phone number to use KakaoTalk – but many functions like # and shopping / gifting may not work without a Korean phone number.
- Also, always back up your chats if you change numbers / device etc!
- You cannot ever change the email address that is associated with your KakaoTalk account. So choose your email address carefully!
KakaoTalk web
You can download the web application of Kakao and login to KakaoTalk on your desktop or laptop. It is not possible yet to use Kakao in your browser. A screenshot of Kakao PC is below.
Some features of the PC version are:
- Send files
- Chat room with an Excel look
- Change chat room transparency
- Remote log out
- Lock mode for privacy protection
- Voice call / video call
Kakao Friends
Part of KakaoTalk’s identity and attractiveness comes from its emoticons, the funny and cute Kakao Friends.
Perhaps the most famous “Friend” is Ryan, the lion without a mane – who is not a bear (shock)!
Ryan: A male lion whose complex is his absence of a mane.
“He is often misunderstood because of his large build and impassive expression, but in fact, he has an unexpected charm with the sensitivity of a young girl! Ryan was originally the successor to the throne on Dung Dung Island in Africa, but he escaped for a life of freedom! He is the reliable advisor among the Kakao Friends. His tail is short because it would be easy for him to get caught if it was long.”
If you want to use Kakao Friends stickers in your chats, there are simply too many sets to choose from! You can purchase them or send them as a gift. But don’t worry, many emoticons are also free and come automatically with KakaoTalk as soon as you download it.
You can also buy old fashioned adhesive stickers, that you can buy from Amazon, for example. Or, what about these cool looking enamel pins?
When in Seoul, you may have seen the photogenic Kakao Stores. Follow the link to check the locations of the stores. Not in Seoul? No problem, you can also find all kinds of the merchandise online.
The KakaoTalk emoticons are so popular, that many companies design their own custom sticker sets for their promotions. Brands create their own stickers and give away coupons to grow their Kakao Channel (which is similar to a Facebook Page).
Emoticons
Kakao emoticon studio
Do you want to create and sell emoticons for Kakao? That is possible with Kakao emoticon studio. You can sign up for Kakao emoticon studio with your Kakao ID. You can submit regular, moving and big emojis.
You cannot give away your emoticons for free, people have to pay for them to Kakao. The only emoticons that are free are emojis that were created by brands and special promotions.
Kakao emoticon shop
How to buy emoticons? You can visit the Kakao store in the app on your smartphone or via the website: https://e.kakao.com/. You can gift or purchase emojis there. You can use bank card (the card connected to your app / store account when on mobile) or Kakao Pay. Kakao Pay is not available yet for foreigners.
About the app KakaoTalk
Gift shop
One of the functions in KakaoTalk is sending gifts. There are many kinds of gifts that you can send. Below is a screenshot of the gift shop. Like mentioned before, you may need a Korean phone number to send gifts.
How to find friends
How to find friends on KakaoTalk? You can sync your phone’s address book with KakaoTalk. So if your contact has Kakao, that person will automatically show up. If you want to add someone new, there are 4 ways to do it, like in the screenshot below.
Just added a contact but (s)he is not in your friends list? Follow the steps below to update your contacts and to make your new friend appear.
- Tap the gearbox in the top right corner
- Manage friends
- Refresh
Log out
Logged into a public device (desktop or laptop), but you want to log out? Grab your smartphone and follow the steps to log out remotely.
- Click the gearbox in the top right
- Go to “General Setting”
- Go to “Privacy”
- Go to “Manage Devices”
- Go to “Registered Devices”
- Remove the device you want to log out from.
Kakaotalk advertising
Besides creating your own custom made emoticons, there are many ways to promote your company in KakaoTalk. First, you need to make a “KakaoTalk Channel“. This is a company page where you can:
- Post updates (with text, images and links)
- Attract followers
- Send messages to followers
- Chat with followers (live or chatbot)
- Post frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- Start a shopping channel
- Give away coupons
- Advertise your channel / website / app
Check out the media kit and services to find out more about the advertising options!
Interested in a Business Channel? Read this blog post for more info: https://punchkorea.com/kakaotalk-business-channel/.
What is the # (sharp) button for?
In the Kakaotalk mobile app menu, one of the four icons in the bottom is #. Doesn’t it remind you of a hashtag in Instagram? It is a little different in Kakaotalk.
Click it and you will see various media released news and entertainment contents such as news, shopping, movies, or sports appear. These are all sourced by ‘Daum news’ and the online community service ‘Daum Cafe’ (a Cafe is similar to a Facebook Group or subreddit).
You will also find “#” right next to the text box and emoticon button in your chat room. Press # then type in a word you want to look up. It will search and return results in people, news, images, websites from Daum’s search engine.
Have you ever had to switch apps to a browser or search engine to look something up while in chat with your buddy? In Kakaotalk chat you don’t need to do that at all. You can just do your search right there in the chat without going back and forth. Sharing the result with your contact is easy. Just press the yellow speech bubble buttom in the below. How convenient!
Note: the sharp (#) menu is only available if you use KakaoTalk with a Korean mobile number OR if you change the app language to Korean!
Types of chat
Besides the regular chat we all are familiar with, there is also a little unknown “Secret Chat” and fascinating “Open Chat” in Kakaotalk.
Firstly, secret chat is used to protect privacy in a 1 on 1 chat. Ideal for any user who is privacy conscious. Similar to secret chat in Telegram, Kakaotalk secret chat also uses end to end encryption and leaves no traces on their server. It just saves the data in your mobile. Secret chat is not accessible from Kakaotalk on your computer (like WhatsApp). It won’t show a preview of messages or photos unless you click and enter in that specific secret chat room. Instead of preview, it simply says ‘secret message’.
Next, there we have the bursting Open Chat. Open Chat room is a place where any Kakaotalk user can join and interact with others. Users are free to join and create a new chat room of their own interests. For example, there is an English Premier League Fan chatroom, a doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals chatroom and a Tesla model 3 owners chatroom – these are just few to name.
It seems certain that the open chat creates a new space where users share and connect with people beyond their contact lists. It has also become a hot place where marketing and advertising is very active.
Authors: Sohee So and JK Song
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Is kakaotalk available in Nigeria?
You would have to check Google Play / App Store!
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is kakaotalk available in the us if you are not a full korean? i downloaded it but signing in, it didn’t show me an option matching me.
you should be able to use Kakao without a Korean number
im a foreigner, and i cannot fillup the user identification because it need the korean phone number and citizenship… and how to check my kakao id is?
you don’t need a Korea phone number to use Kakao
How do I get Korean friends in kakaotalk
Why can’t I join groups,or even read current trends on Kakao. Is it because I’m a foreigner? I want to be able to see trends on my feed like others
Have a similar problem. User identification requires e.g. Resident registration number. Also, what is SKT, KT, LG U+? When I translated it from Korean by google translate, it is a ‘cheap phone’
Hi, I’m an Indian kako user but I don’t see the option of creating a kaktalk ID. It asks me for resident registration 🙁
Thanks for sharing
Hi, my name is Alex John and I m a Nigerian. I want to connect my cowcow app to Kakao but is displaying Korea language. I can’t read Korea how can I change the language to English.
I received message “You are currently not allowed to send messages to a user who you haven’t sent messages before in accordance with our user protection policy”. How can I resolve this issue. Thanks.
Hello, i cannot register without a korean id number, is there another way to register?
Thanks for this very useful and informative article! It’s a big help for me who is a new Kakaotalk user. Thanks again!
Can u please tell me why i am not able to use webtoon option and not able to enter in open chats in kakaotalk
Wie kann ich eine Freund aus der Freundeliste entfernen, ohne ihn blockieren zu müssen?
I will be visiting Korea soon and learned that Find My Friends is not supported there. How can I share my location using KakaoTalk – or is that a separate app?
Hi, you can use the Naver maps or Kakao maps app to find your location and share it with the KakaoTalk app.