Bharti Softbank-backed mobile messaging service Hike claims to have crossed 20 million registered users, up from 15 million in February 2014. This indicates that the company has added five million registered users in the last three months. However, note that these are registered users and not active users, which we feel is a true measure of a mobile messaging app. In response to a query from MediaNama, the company declined to disclose its active user base, although it mentions that close to 90% of its users are from India. Earlier in February this year, Hike founder Kavin Bharti Mittal had told Medianama that they've got a large MAU but they're not disclosing it just yet. In comparison, Hike's competitor WhatsApp had claimed to have crossed 50 million monthly active users in India last month. While none of the other players have disclosed its monthly active users base for India yet, LINE had claimed to have 18 million registered users in April this year, while Rakuten's Viber had claimed to have 15 million registered users in February this year. Tencent’s mobile messaging app WeChat hasn’t disclosed its India user base but globally it is the second largest mobile messaging app with 396 million monthly active users as of March this year, just behind WhatsApp. New Hike Features & BB10 App Coinciding with this announcement, Hike has also introduced a new 'Hidden mode' on its app, which allows users to password-protect their private chats. This is being positioned as a privacy feature for teenagers. Earlier this month, the company had also launched a BB10 app. In…
