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KakaoTalk to roll back friends tab redesign after user backlash

Published: 29 Sep. 2025, 17:14

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

Hong Min-taek, Kakao's Chief Product Officer speaks during a press conference on updates to the KakaoTalk app at the company's AI campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Sept. 23. [KAKAO]

Kakao said Monday it will reinstate the original friends list as the default view on the KakaoTalk Friends tab, reversing a recent update after user complaints.

The change is expected to be rolled out within the fourth quarter of this year as part of a broader improvement plan for the Friends tab.

Since KakaoTalk rolled out a bold redesign on Tuesday, the default view of the messenger app has changed to a feed that shows all profile updates from friends, similar to Instagram.

Users expressed dissatisfaction with the redesign, with some saying that KakaoTalk had lost its function and identity as a messenger app. An analysis of more than 1,000 reviews posted on Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store since the redesign showed that 42 percent of users expressed dissatisfaction, according to UX survey firm pxd.

The transformation also dealt a blow to Kakao’s stocks. On Monday, Kakao's shares closed at 60,300 won, up 1.69 percent from the previous day, but compared to the closing price of 66,400 won on Sept. 22, a day before the redesign was rolled out, the figure represents a drop of approximately 9.3 percent in just one week.

Kakao also said Monday that it has streamlined procedures for protecting underage users.

On Saturday, the company added a new menu option to report and request protective measures for minors within the app’s short-form video feed.

“We are continuously working on various user experience and user interface improvements beyond the Friends tab,” a Kakao spokesperson said. “We remain committed to actively listening to user feedback and making KakaoTalk more convenient for everyone.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LIM JEONG-WON, JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]