Hike Messenger, a joint venture between Softbank and Bharti Enterprises was launched on 12th December 2012. An internet based instant messaging App for smart phones which enables users to exchange emoticons, videos, files, contacts, graphical stickers, images, audio, voice messages and user location. It is the first messaging platform to be grown in India. Hike messenger reports over 70 million users as per September 2015 records, making it the second largest free messaging app in India. The messenger is available on Android, iOS, Windows and on certain versions of Blackberry like BB10, S40, S60.
Hike brings the most wanted and popular features- a new user interface and file sharing facility to the app for phones powered by 8.1 operating system in an updated version Hike 3.5 released recently. The company claims an easier navigation and better looking interface for the users. The app has introduced 10 new exciting chat themes in the upgrade which allows user to set a tone for every conversation. It also brings file sharing to Windows 8.1, earlier available only on android. The app enables users to share unlimited files and attachments in all formats- ZIP, PDF, Audio, MP3, APK, Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint- up to the size of 100 MB.
Hike 3.5 also allows users to form a group with 500 members and has multiple administrators to manage such groups. Hike also enables texting in Indian languages like Gujarati, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu. Hike 3.5 is five time faster and is optimized for extreme network conditions. The CEO and founder of hike messenger, Kavin Bharti Mittal expressed happiness and excitement in getting this update which is the 2nd largest platform into the hands of Windows users eagerly waiting for this new version release. He claims it to be the biggest ever update to be released for Windows and says people are going to love it.
