KakaoTalk gaining back users after losing them due to widespread system crash

KakaoTalk is said to be gaining back the users it lost because of the system crash that happened more than a week ago. The blackout created many issues as well as controversies because the mishap uncovered the fact that millions of people and companies are relying only on Kakao’s various services including communication, ride-hailing, and even music streaming.

In any case, one of Kakao’s popular service offerings is its messaging app called KakaoTalk which has lost a huge number of users following the blackout that lasted for an unexpectedly long time. Almost 52 million people in South Korea are said to be using the chat app but they quickly abandoned it after the service disruptions that occurred in mid-October.

According to Pulse News, KakaoTalk is recovering as its daily active user record showed that people are returning to the platform. As of Oct. 25, the count was said to have returned to 40.99 million after it slid down to 40.12 million on Oct. 15. The lowest number was 39.05 million and this was one day after Kakao’s system went down.

Many people jumped over to rival messaging apps such as Telegram and Naver’s Line. KakaoTalk only stopped losing more users when its operations returned to normal. Based on tracker data reports, Kakao’s chat app lost a total of two million users before it starts gaining users again this week.

“Telegram has become one of the most downloaded apps in South Korea,” an official of Telegram said via social media as they recorded new sign-ups. “We welcome our new Korean users and hope they will enjoy the stability of Telegram’s multiple data center infrastructure.”

The Korea Herald reported that losing its users to leading competitors was disappointing but as it gains users again, KakaoTalk is making sure that its service will be stable. It has also vowed that the incident will never happen again.

Kakao already started implementing measures to avoid a similar incident. It is working on improving its system and setting up a unit that will manage unexpected events.