Viber : Free Messages & Calls (for Android)

Viber : Free Messages & Calls (for Android)

Editor Rating: Excellent (4.0)


Viber : Free Messages & Calls (for Android) - Viber : Free Messages & Calls (for Android)
  • Pros

    Free calls and texts to Viber's users. Sends video and photos. Seamlessly transfer to desktop. Easy to set up and use.
  • Cons

    No call blocking. Tied to your existing phone number. No tablet support.
  • Bottom Line


In the beginning, there was text messaging, and it was good—except that it frequently cost money and messaging people overseas was prohibitively expensive, if not actually impossible. And then came the over-the-top messaging services that use data, instead of your cellular connection, to send messages. Prominent among these tools is Viber, a powerful Android app that lets you text, call, and make video calls with anyone on the service. A recent update has added end-to-end encryption, but it feels like this app has lost a bit of ground against the competition, as I'll explain.

Starting Up
Viber is available for free on the Google Play store, and I had no trouble installing it on my Nexus 5x. This is a cross-platform service, so you can install it on your iPhone or Windows Phone. There are desktop apps as well, but note that you can only have one phone associated with each account.

Setting up Viber is a snap on Android: Just enter your phone number and a user name, and Viber more or less does the rest. Most messaging services that use your phone number, such as WhatsApp, confirm your account by sending a text message to your phone. Viber handles this authentication behind the scenes. I was prompted to enter a confirmation number when I tried to install Viber on my Nexus 7 tablet but didn't see such when setting up my phone with Viber.

You can't really use Viber on a tablet because, for better or worse, your Viber account is tied to your existing phone number. This means you have to deactivate your Viber account and export your message data when you get a new device with a different number. It also means you can only be logged into one device at a time.

This is in stark contrast to Google Voice, which lets you create a new, independent phone number that will redirect to the devices of your choosing. Viber is focused more on communication, so look at Google Voice if you want to merge multiple phone numbers behind a single number. Note that Google Voice has more or less been absorbed by the excellent Google Hangouts app.

New Look, Same Vibe
Viber's interface has changed a lot since the last time I looked at it, and all for the better. The app now sports a look more in line with Google's material design aesthetic. A large blue plus button, for example, pulls up a list of all your contacts that use Viber so you can quickly start a new one-on-one or group message.

Your current chats are shows in the far left tab. Interestingly, if you make a call to another Viber user, this also creates an entry in the Chats tab. Complete call information, including whether the call was incoming or outgoing, is in the far right Calls tab. The center tab, Contacts, mirrors your phone's contact list. Viber users are marked with a purple icon, and tapping one gives you the options for free calls, free messages, video calls, and a Viber Out call—which basically means a normal phone call. Tap on the entry of someone who doesn't use Viber and you have the opportunity to invite them or make a Viber Out call.

If you could send standard SMS messages from Viber to nonusers the same way you make Viber Out calls, you could use it for everything. But you can't. Signal, on the other hand, does work as a total phone and messaging replacement, and adds excellent encrypted voice and text messaging to boot. It also encrypts your SMS messages while at rest on your phone, adding a unique layer of protection. Interestingly, there is a setting that allows Viber to receive non-Viber incoming calls, although it did not work for me in testing.

Viber (for Android)A quick note about Viber Out: Calls made through this service require credits, but only if you're calling outside the US. Calls to other countries are charged by the minute and range from 1.3 cents per minute to call China to 2.3 cents per minute for calls to India.

Two other changes: Viber previously used the default Android contact editor. This was a visually jarring experience and a bit confusing. The process has been greatly streamlined. For example, you can scan a special QR code on other Viber users' phones to add them to your Contact list. Viber has also introduced a Games section since I last looked at the app. These aren't games you play through the app, but rather links to games on Google Play made by Viber and others. The only Viber integration that I can discern is that the games let you challenge your Viber contacts.

Get the Message
Viber still maintains a solid core as a texting app. Conversations are threaded, and the app shows when a message has been read but not when other parties are typing. The service supports emojis, but it places more emphasis on stickers. These are similar to emojis in that they are images intended to spice up conversation.

Viber was the first messaging app I encountered with stickers, but they've since become a common occurrence. Editors' Choice winner Facebook Messenger has an enormous catalog of stickers featuring everything from Adventure Time characters to a business man whose head is a fish. Telegram, despite being a security-focused app, lets users create and share their own sets of stickers. By comparison, Viber's sticker offerings feel too limited. The vast majority of Facebook's stickers are free, and feature a cavalcade of unique artistic styles. Furthermore, you'll probably end up dishing out actual cash for the most impressive Viber stickers.

In addition to text, you can attach files, three minutes of video, 30 seconds of audio, doodles drawn with your finger, photos, your current location, and something called a Wink, which is an ephemeral messaging similar to Snapchat but unfortunately requires an additional app. You can also search your messages for specific words or users, and Viber will refine the results as you type. This is especially useful for when you remember what you said, but not who you said it to.

Viber (for Android)When you're not in the Viber app, new messages appear as pop-up windows complete with a text field. This means you can dash off a quick reply, even when the phone is locked. Viber took some flak a few years ago when a researcher found that these windows could be used to bypass the Android lockscreen. Thankfully, this behavior has been fixed in the current version. If you're not into these kind of alerts, you can turn them off in the app settings.

In addition to one-on-one messaging, Viber supports group chats and Public Chats. The former works much as other chat apps. Members of the group can chat with each other in a shared space, with access to all of Viber's bells and whistles. I'm happy to see that Viber has included tools to mute and leave a group you've tired of. Though a call button is visible, it can only be used to call one participant at a time.

Public Chats are a little more confusing. These seem to be more like channels related to a theme, a cause, or famous individuals. Some participants exchange messages and images on the set theme of the public chat, but I wasn't able to join in. Perhaps I'm not famous enough.

Ring, Ring, It's Viber
Viber created a custom answer screen for calls so you can ignore it, respond with a text message, or answer. Weirdly, when you ignore a call the caller's phone will continue to ring until they hang up. I first noticed this problem when I reviewed the app several years ago, and I'm perturbed to see it today.

Calls to other Viber users aren't handled by your cellphone carrier, but instead routed through Viber's VoIP network. In my hands on testing, I was disappointed by the call quality while calling an iPhone 6 over a FiOS Wi-Fi connection. When the quality indicator said that I had an excellent connection, I enjoyed an excellent experience. There was little latency, and call sounded better than the average cellular call. But after walking a short distance, the quality dropped to Average and the voice on the line became unintelligible, like a robot being tossed into a blender.

In addition to voice calls, Viber can also make live video calls. These looked surprisingly good on both devices, but just as with the voice calls, issues of bandwidth got in the way. Anecdotally, I can say that Google Hangouts seemed to work better for voice and video calls. That app also supports multiple participants (up to 12) for a video call. Viber does not.

Off the Hook
One of the most impressive features of Viber calls is seamlessly transferring a call from your phone to the Viber desktop app. The two work together brilliantly, suppressing notifications on one if you're using the other to avoid irritating notifications.

Viber (for Android)

I tested this feature using a Macbook Air. Installing the software was simple, but it did require me to go outside the Apple App store. Once it was installed, I entered the phone number associated with my Viber account. A QR code appeared on my computer screen, which I scanned with my phone. That's it! The two devices were now linked. Messages from recipients, and those that you send will appear in the desktop app, and you can respond from either device.

The process is similar to how WhatsApp and Telegram work with their desktop utilities, but with a few differences. WhatsApp creates a link directly to your phone, meaning that the messages are relayed to your computer. Telegram, which is focused on secure messaging, will only sync its least secure messages between devices. Secret messages, by their nature, are device specific. 

A Quick Note on Encryption
When I met with Viber years ago, they were cagey about how their service was secured. They'd only go so far as to say that, "a lot of things in the system are encrypted." That has changed, and for the better.

Viber recently rolled out complete end-to-end encryption, meaning that your messages are secured from when they leave your phone until they arrive at their destination. A padlock icon indicates that your message is secured. In the company's documentation, Viber says that the messages are secured in such a way that the company cannot decrypt them. That's a little surprising, since most messaging services that allow you to view the same messages from different devices require the company to hold the encryption keys, giving them the ability to read your messages. 

More and more, I'm seeing services that used to consider security an afterthought put it at the forefront. WhatsApp, for example, recently partnered with WhisperSystems to roll out service wide encryption. It's great for consumers, but we should all remember that a service might not be as secure as they claim. When sending sensitive missives, I'll stick with applications like Signal, Wickr, and Telegram.

The Viber Vibe
Viber is a solid service. You'll have no trouble chatting, whether it's by text, audio, or video. Its standout feature is, by far, the ability to seamlessly transition any kind of conversation to a desktop and back again. It's incredibly smooth and makes a strong argument for how this service could be truly useful.

That said, I feel like Viber hasn't managed to keep pace in the rapidly growing mobile messaging arena. Facebook Messenger, for example, is simpler to use, has a beautiful interface, and connects you with over a billion other users. WhatsApp, probably the closest direct competitor to Viber, introduced robust security features and a similar hand-off feature but only for text messages.

If you're already a Viber user, or have family and friends on the service, there's no really compelling reason to leave. But if you're new to mobile messaging, I would recommend investigating Google Hangouts, as well as Editors' Choice winners Signal and Facebook Messenger first. Hangouts and Messenger have great designs, numerous (but useful) features, and are already integrated into the lives of billions. Signal is built from the ground up for security and can take the place of your dialer and messenger apps.