Skype Qik is a video messaging service built from the bones of a vanquished foe

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Mobile By Ryan Whitwam Oct. 14, 2014 2:03 pm
You’ve probably used Skype at one time or another to engage in a real-time video chat, but now the Microsoft-owned entity is trying its hand at quick video messaging called Qik. Maybe that name sounds familiar — Qik was a competing video chat service that Skype acquired a few years back. Now the brand is being resurrected as a supplement to the main Skype product.
So, how does it work? Just open Qik, record a message, and send it to your friends. Whether or not they are delighted or amused by this prospect will depend greatly on the kind of friends you have. Of course, you need the app to receive Qik messages, but new users in your address book will be sent a text message telling them how to get Qik up and running. It’s not clear to me if*people actually use video messaging services, but Qik has a low barrier to entry, as setup only takes a few seconds.
When recording a message, you can switch between the front and back cameras as needed. The entire video can only be five seconds long, which ensures you aren’t using Qik as a replacement for Skype. Hey, Skype already had to stop you from doing that once by buying and closing Qik. They certainly aren’t going to let that happen again when then already own it. The app also allows you to pre-record snippets of video that can be inserted into conversations in a few taps.
The videos you send will be kept in threaded conversations for you to access at any time, and you can delete them whether or not they’ve been watched by the recipient. Even if you don’t get embarrassed and delete them, all videos are purged after two weeks. That’s not to say there isn’t a way for your videos to remain floating somewhere in the ether after you think you’ve deleted them. Use your best judgment.
Qik is available on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. The feature set and interface are more or less the same, with the exception of contact blocking. That feature isn’t yet available on iOS, but should be in the coming weeks.
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