When comparing Instagram Direct vs Hike, the Slant community recommends Hike for most people. In the question“What are the best messaging apps for Android?” Hike is ranked 25th while Instagram Direct is ranked 47th. The most important reason people chose Hike is:
It contains a wallet for money transfer, news update & sports update feature.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Video & photo messages
Photos have to be cropped to be square.
Pro Filters
That can be applied to photos and videos.
Pro Group messages
With up to 15 people.
Pro Lots of great features
It contains a wallet for money transfer, news update & sports update feature.
Pro Without data media sharing option within 100m
Pro Great sticker system
A very fast sticker suggestion based on key words typed. This helps to send relevant stickers quickly. Also when we press upon a sticker it opens a quick reply sticker option.
Pro Night-mode
Hike has an app theme & auto night mode(8pm-6am) inside to reduce strain on eye while texting at night.
Pro Has a timeline
It has a timeline(photo + text), which is similar to BBM.
Pro Photo editing feature
It has a selfie edit feature like Instagram, helps with editing selfies for profile photos & photo statuses.
Cons
Con Walled garden
Can't communicate with people outside of Instagram.
Con Security of user information
First of all, this is closed source software. It also lacks-end-to-end encryption. In today's time, irrespective of every other feature, encryption is the most important one. Because without it, rest of the features become risky to use and thus meaningless.