Hike is an India-based instant messaging app which was launched in December 2012 with a promising start as the app featured unique stickers that made chats more interactive and gave WhatsApp stiff competition, especially in the country of its origin. However, that momentum fizzled out soon after Facebook acquired WhatsApp in February 2014 and began aggressively pitching it in leading markets worldwide.
Although not as huge as its estimated potential at the time of launch, Hike has managed to stay in business. Its Sticker Chat, which was launched earlier this year has over a million weekly active users. The app also boasts of auto backup, messenger on web and 128-bit AES and 2048-bit RSA encryption, as well as SSL-pinning for secure communication.
According to its founder, Kavin Bharti Mittal, “Hike is a messaging app focused on privacy and expression”. And this expression isn’t limited to when your friends are online but you can also send them a free SMS to their phones via Hike. Below, we’ve put together a simple guide to help you send SMS in Hike.
Also read: How to delete your Hike account and hide chat history?
Enabling free SMS via Hike Settings
Before you can send a free SMS in Hike, it’s important to see if sending free SMS is enabled in your Hike chat or not. Follow the steps below to enable free SMS in Hike app.
- Tap on your profile picture, located at the top-right corner of the app.
- Scroll down the menu and tap on Chats.
- On the next page, scroll down until you hit SMS Settings sub-heading. Then turn on the toggle button so that it appears blue.
This will turn on the free SMS to offline contacts service. Note that you can only send free SMS to offline contacts in India. Below the toggle button, you’ll also see the number of remaining free SMS.
Also read: Top 7 20,000mAh power banks
How to send free SMS in Hike?
Once you’ve got the settings in place, head over to the offline contact who you wish to send a free SMS in Hike and follow the steps below.
- At the bottom of the contact’s message page, you’ll see a Send Free SMS prompt.
- Tap on Next.
- Then select the messages that you wish to send to the offline contact.
- Once selected, tap Send.
An SMS will be sent to the phone number of your contact.
Also read: Where are CeX stores located in India? Contact numbers and business hours
