App Guide

Yik Yak

Name: Yik Yak

Owned By: Yik Yak, Inc. 

Category: Social Networking 

Operating System: IOS

Available for download: Yes

Desktop version: No 

Approximate release date: 2021 (originally released in 2013, but re-released in 2021)

Age Rating*: Rated 17+ for the following:

  • Infrequent/mild mature/suggestive themes
  • Infrequent/mild sexual content and nudity 
  • Infrequent/mild alcohol, tobacco, or drug use or references 
  • Infrequent /mild profanity or crude humor 

Brief Description*: On Yik Yak, anonymously connect with everyone within 5 miles. 

It’s the same Yik Yak experience millions knew and loved, and now you can live it again. 

All you need to do to get started on Yik Yak is verify your humanity with a valid US phone number. 

Inside the app, your identity is a secret. This makes it fun and easy to jump into conversations without societal labels! Everyone is equal on Yik Yak.

*Information from the App Store

  • Anonymous posting

    Yik Yak allows you to post anonymously to a feed where others can interact with the post.

  • Location services

    YikYak will connect you with other users within a five-mile radius.

  • Inappropriate content

    Because of the level of anonymity, inappropriate content is commonly found on Yik Yak. Many users have reported they’ve seen racist and  sexaulized content on the app.

  • Cyberbullying opportunities

    Because posts are anonymous, cyberbullying is very likely to occur on the app.

  • Private chat

    All messages (known as a “yak”) are public. Other users can comment and share them.

  • Scoring system

    Users can upvote or downvote messages (also known as “yaks”) to like or dislike content.

  • Disappearing messages

    Messages do not disappear after a certain time limit. In the “Hot feed” the top messages from the last 24 hours are displayed.

  • Collects data linked to identity

    Yik Yak may collect location, user content, contact information, and usage data that is not linked to your identity.

Reviewed By: Ryan

Yik Yak is back. It was originally released in 2013. It quickly became popular on college campuses with its anonymous based feature. But with anything that allows for anonymous posting, it became filled with bullying, harassment and racist posts. Yik Yak attempted to address the issues, but eventually shut down in 2017.

Yik Yak allows you to post anonymously to a feed where others can comment on the post. The app uses your location and sets a 5-mile radius from where you are located. You will only be able to read posts at a local level.

I set up an account and as you can see by the screen shots, Yik Yak encourages positive behaviors on the platform and states that they will immediately and permanently ban anyone who breaks their Community Guardrails or Terms of Service. You can also see from the last screenshot only one of the four posts in my local area didn’t have something questionable in it.

I’m not sure if Yik Yak will become popular with youth, but if it does, I believe bullying could easily make its way to Yik Yak.

Check out this article about its re-release.

With any piece of technology, you should have a Technology Contract in place before they use it.

I would not recommend Yik Yak for anyone under 17 years old.