Kik deletes all messages that are over 200 messages old. Is there an android alternative that lets you archive old messages (and preferably also use avatars)?
Have you tried Hangouts? I use the stand alone app and via gmail. You can see the entire archive via gmail or scroll back forever on the app and it has avatars.
Does Signal do what you want? Truly secure, but I don’t know if it exactly matches the features of Kik.