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Korean people use KakaoTalk as a daily tool to keep in touch with their friends, colleagues, and family members so every expat in Korea should also know how to use this app. You can hardly find any Korean that doesn't use KakaoTalk. If you find this article helpful, leave a comment below! You can check out how to use other services by the Kakao group in our articles on “ How To Add the KakaoMap App English Language Feature” and “ How To Use KakaoTaxi For English Speakers“.KakaoTalk is the most popular free call and messaging app in Korea. Note that entire chat histories, photos, and videos will not necessarily be saved, but at least you won’t have to go re-adding all of your friends and other contacts.įor additional support, see Kakao Talk’s English help page. This way your chats and contacts will be saved and accessible if your phone is ever lost or stolen. It’s also recommended that all Kakao Talk users regularly log into their account on a second device. How To Back Up Your Kakao Talk Account & Get Help ‘Cancel’, on the other hand, won’t return him or her to the list, but only enable you to receive the messages. If you press ‘Add’, anyone previously blocked will return to your list of friends and be able send you messages. Here, you may choose to unblock, meaning you’ll be able to receive messages from this specific person again. Select the ‘Windows’ or ‘Mac OS’ version according to your OS. Type ‘download kakaotalk pc’ in google or any other search engine and it should be one of the first links you see. Kakaotalk is available on every major app store, just type ‘kakaotalk’ on your mobile’s app store and follow the directions. How To Use KakaoTalk Download KaKaoTalk to a Mobile Device or PC – App Store – Apple KakaoTalk: Free Calls & Text – Apps on Google Play Is KaKaoTalk banned in China?Ĭhinese authorities actively block myriad applications ostensibly to fight terrorism, including KakaoTalk and LINE, so if you want to use either in China, you’ll need a virtual private network (VPN) or some other means of circumventing the Chinese Communist Wall. Users should note that the speed of transfers and quality of calls will depend on internet connections at either end of the communication. Yes, if you have internet access, which means KakaoTalk is free to use for sending messages, photos, and videos along with making voice and video calls. This is not a default feature, however, so users must select Secret Chat mode to use E2EE, which is also only available for mobile users of the app. In response, Kakao began offering an end-to-end encrypted chatting option (E2EE) that ensures the privacy of messages. While most citizens found the decision appropriate, it did lead to increased privacy concerns.
Is KakaoTalk safe?Ĭoncerns surrounding privacy arose over 2014-2015 when the then-president Park Geun-hye was under investigation and KakaoTalk’s parent company agreed to provide her chat history to prosecutors. Moreover, the app has tons of popular games, banking features, on-line shopping, Daum Mail, maps, and numerous other platform links, which makes it even more convenient for users. The best thing is that most of KakaoTalk’s functions are free. Works on almost any device with an internet connection, also syncs across devices using the same ID.Make voice and video calls over the internet, no need to burn data.Customizable UI with themes, fonts, background photo, etc.Use any number of interesting and unique emoticons.
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Send or receive photos, videos, links, and files.Koreans are proud of KakaoTalk being a homegrown product, but it’s also full of convenient, enjoyable features. This free app is so ubiquitous at home that it has become a neologism, with many Koreans frequently abbreviating the product’s name to a verb, such as, “I’ll Ka-talk you” or “Ka-talk me later.” ‘Ka-talk’ is an abbreviation of Kakao talk, why use three syllables when two will do? It’s almost guaranteed that members of BTS and every other popular K-pop figure use the app as well. KakaoTalk messenger app dominates in South Korea, and after launching in March 2010, the service gained around a 90% domestic market share in 2015.
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