After Kakao launched a sweeping overhaul of its mobile messenger KakaoTalk on 23rd, user complaints grew, and the company decided to restore the first screen of the Friends tab—changed into a feed like Instagram—back to the friends list. However, there are outcries that Kakao's response is too slow for a service with the status of a national messenger. Kakao said it will restore the friends list exactly as before while also adding a feature that lets users choose a feed style, which it says will take time.
According to the industry on 1st, Kakao is said to have begun additional development to roll back the KakaoTalk Friends tab to the exact friends list from before the upgrade while also allowing users to switch to a feed style with a click. This would work like the current third tab in KakaoTalk, where users can choose to view Open Chatting and short-form video in one tab. A Kakao official said, "We're not just reverting it as is; it takes time when considering development and testing schedules."
Earlier, Kakao said it would reflect user feedback and restore the old friends list that disappeared after the upgrade within the fourth quarter of this year. But among users, responses include, "It's October now, which is the fourth quarter, so when will it be rolled back?" "Why is reverting this taking so long?" and "The current feed style is too burdensome; I want to change it as soon as possible."
Online, tips are circulating on how to avoid inconveniences if you have already updated. First, the most inconvenient part after the upgrade is that when I change my profile photo, it appears prominently to people I'm not close with. To prevent this, tap my profile photo, then the three dots on the right, and then Settings; in the middle, there are "Show posts to friends only" and "Only me for profile updates." Checking these will stop my photo from being forcibly displayed in the feed.
It is also burdensome that someone without my number can search for me. To block this, tap my profile photo, then the three dots on the right, then Settings, tap "Search my profile," and uncheck the "Allow searching my profile" section. Previously, you needed my ID or phone number to add me, but after the update, any KakaoTalk user can find my profile through profile search without ID search or adding a friend by phone number.
Many users also complain about videos auto-playing. To fix this, tap the gear icon at the top right, go to "Others," where "Auto-play videos" is always checked as On, and change it to "Off." That way, you can prevent videos from auto-playing when you tap the third tab.