Sidechat turned acquired Yik Yak into a college-email clone, and users revolted

Yik Yak and Sidechat are anonymous campus chat apps; Sidechat is built by Flower Ave., which raised over $10M in 2022.

That absorbing Yik Yak's audience and rebuilding it as a verified college community would help Sidechat dominate anonymous campus apps.

Yik Yak, which launched its current version in 2021 under anonymous new owners, was quietly acquired by Sidechat, an app working to build private communities for colleges.

Initially Yik Yak pushed users to move to Sidechat. Then its own app was overhauled to resemble Sidechat, announced on Instagram, with both apps seemingly on the same servers. The update required a college email, removed saved locations and the five-mile radius, and dropped the Android version from Google Play.

Users petitioned (about 182 of a 200-signature goal) and complained; Yik Yak acknowledged a 'long week'. TechCrunch judged the deal didn't look to be paying off if angry users simply left.

Sidechat appeared to want Yik Yak's user numbers to dominate the anonymous college-only app market.

Requiring a college email let Sidechat verify school membership, but users feared it made them easier to track and for data to be shared; TechCrunch said it was unclear whether such plans existed.

Both apps seemingly sharing servers meant the Yik Yak community was effectively merged into Sidechat.

Buying a rival's audience only works if you keep what the audience valued; rewriting an anonymity app to require identity breaks the promise that attracted users.

As of 3 April 2023, the revamped Yik Yak was live, the Android app was gone from Google Play, and complaints continued on Twitter and in the app. Sidechat did not respond to TechCrunch's requests for comment. TechCrunch noted a competitor, Fizz, was growing quickly at Stanford.