"Do We Have to See Unwanted Updates?"... KakaoTalk Faces Another Friends Tab Controversy

Feed-Style Screen Appears Even When Friends List Is Selected
Kakao Explains: "Test Targeted at Some Users"

KakaoTalk Feed-style Screen. KakaoTalk Homepage

KakaoTalk, which faced backlash from users last year over its major "Friends Tab" update, has once again come under fire for issues related to the Friends Tab display. There have been increasing reports that, even when users set the Friends Tab to display as a list, the app arbitrarily shows a feed-style "News" screen upon launch. Users are responding by saying, "It ignores user settings and forces the screen on us," and "Is this the start of another redesign experiment?" Some users have even gone so far as to say that "KakaoTalk is in a power struggle with its users," expressing strong dissatisfaction.

Will the previous "redesign controversy" be repeated?

Previously, Kakao revamped the KakaoTalk Friends Tab last year into a format similar to a social networking service (SNS) feed. The company aimed to expand the feature so users could check updates from their acquaintances through the Friends Tab, functioning more like an SNS.

However, immediately after the redesign, users complained that "updates from people I don't want to see are displayed automatically, causing fatigue," "the core structure of the messenger has become disorganized," and "it is copying Instagram." Methods to block automatic updates were widely shared online, especially on SNS platforms.

In the end, about a week after announcing the redesign, Kakao said it would implement improvements to revert the Friends Tab to its original format. At the time, Kakao stated that, considering the development timeline, the improvements would be applied within the fourth quarter, and the changes were implemented in about three months.

Hong Min-taek, Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Kakao, announces the KakaoTalk redesign. Yonhap News

However, recently, there have been repeated instances where the News Tab is once again appearing prominently for some users, raising suspicions of a "stealth patch." Some allege that Kakao secretly updated the app by introducing a specific algorithm so that the News Tab page would appear more frequently, without any official announcement, in order to avoid criticism.

Kakao: "Conducting tests to improve the service"

Kakao maintains that this is a limited test for service improvement. The company explained, "We are conducting experiments with a group of users who frequently use the news feature," adding that there are no set plans regarding expansion or when the test will end.

Within the industry, this move is interpreted as part of a strategy to increase user engagement time and boost advertising revenue. In fact, Kakao has continuously revised its service to strengthen content consumption within its platform. However, given the strong backlash during the previous redesign, there are concerns that repeating similar experiments could again amplify user dissatisfaction.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.