It feels so good to get in touch with your people who are far away from you once in a while. Doesn’t it? And what else could be better than free calling and texting? Viber lets you do just that and many more. Viber, which is operated by Japanese multinational company Rakuten is a cross-platform instant text messaging and calling online application. This software was originally developed by Israel-based Viber media in 2010 and was later bought by Rakuten in 2014. With around 1 billion active users at present, Viber is the leader in this digital paradigm shift connecting registered users with their friends, family, and community members throughout the world.
Viber is free to download and allows users to text, make calls, send photos and videos and chat with other Viber users. It works on both mobile and PCs and it lets you connect with people all around the globe. Viber started in many ways as a direct competitor to Skype. Looking at the statistics now, Viber has completely sided Skype.
Mobile Product Manager at Viber Danny Odes says,” What keeps users coming back to Viber is that it is a fun and seamless product that keeps them feeling connected with their loved ones and favorite brands.” “I want to create products that help people i make more meaningful connections.”
How Does It Work?
Viber app is pretty easy to download and doesn’t ask you much information. It can be downloaded directly on mobiles and computers and users only need to enter their phone number to get started. For Viber, your identity is your mobile phone. So as to verify your account, Viber sends you a PIN via SMS on the number you provided to activate your account. It’s not that hard you see.
Main feature of Viber:
Here are some of the main features of Viber.
- Free messaging
- Free voice or video calls
- Group Chat ( up to 100 participants)
- Public Chat
- Stickers and Emoticons
- Business or Conference Calls
- Viber Games
Features of Viber That Make It Different From Other Messaging Apps
Viber has evolved quite well as the best messaging app since it was launched in 2010. Viber doesn’t just have regular features like other messaging apps, it also offers a whole lot of other features like emoticons and stickers that allows for more customization and makes Viber much more fun. Here are some features that make Viber stand out from other messaging apps.
1.Enables Smart Notifications:
It’s actually quite distracting and annoying when you keep on receiving every single notification of the messages sent to you by your friend, even if that friend sent it consecutively. Viber has the solution for that. Just turn on the Smart Notifications to let Viber combine those messages into one notification instead. You can do that by following these steps.
- Enter the chat room of your friend and swipe to the left.
- Tap on the Smart Notifications to enable it.
2. Block and Unblock Mobile Numbers on Viber:
If you have someone you don’t want contacting you, you can add them to the block list. The person that you blocked cannot have a one-on-one conversation or call you using Viber. To block or unblock someone, us these steps:
Block Mobile Contact Number:
- Enter the conversation tab of the person you want to block and swipe left of the screen.
- Scroll down to where you will find ‘Block this contact’ and tap on it.
Unblock Mobile Contact Number:
- On the app’s main page, tap on the ‘More’ icon at the bottom of the screen and go to the Settings.
- In the settings, you will see ‘Privacy’ option. Click on it and scroll down until you see ‘Block List.’
- Tap on the block list where you will see the numbers you have blocked. Tap on the Unblock beside the phone contact.
3.Hide Seen and Online Status:
There are times when you don’t want people to see when you are ‘online’ and when you have ‘seen’ someone’s messages or the other person has ‘seen’ your messages. If you want a little more privacy, you can disable this feature. To hide your ‘online and seen’ status, follow these steps.
- Go to the app’s main page and tap on the ‘More’ icon at the bottom of the screen.
- Then go to the settings and click on ‘Privacy.’
- The first two options you see is what you need. Untick both the options.
4.Turn off Notifications:
Sometimes, you want to make sure you don’t want to receive any notifications from Viber, especially when you are at work. For that, all you need to do is turn off the notifications from within the Viber app and you are good to go. Follow these steps to turn off the notifications from Viber.
- On the app’s main page, click on the ‘More’ icon and go to the settings.
- Click on the notifications and turn off every notification related settings like Show message preview, Contact joined Viber, New message popup, etc.
5.Turn off Light Screen for Messages:
If you don’t want your device to light up every time you receive messages, you can disable it. This way your device screen won’t light up every time you receive a Viber notification. To disable this feature,
- Click on the ‘More’ icon and go to the Settings.
- Tap on the ‘Notifications’ icon and untick Light Screen for Messages.
6.Delete Messages In a Conversation:
Sometimes, you mistakenly send messages that were meant for a conversation to another conversation. Or you want to delete something you sent to someone or someone else sent it to you or a group. Viber has a solution to this.
- Enter to the conversation tab where you want to delete something and long press the message you wish to delete.
- Then, many options will pop up. Select ‘Delete for everyone’ or ‘Delete for myself.’
7.Change Wi-Fi Sleep Policy:
Viber will always keep your Wi-Fi active on your device to prevent you from going offline by default. Follow these steps to change the Wi-Fi Sleep Policy on Viber.
- On the app’s main page, click on the ‘More’ menu and go to the Settings.
- In the Settings, you will see ‘General’ as the last option. Click on it.
- Scroll down where you will see ‘Wi-Fi sleep policy’. Tap on it and tick the options.
8.Doodle on Any Photo:
You can doodle any photos in your device or photos your friend sent it to you. If you want to doodle on any photos, follow these easy steps.
- Go to your friend’s conversation tab and swipe left to see all the media you have shared with each other.
- Choose the one you will to doodle and tap on the three dotted icons.
- You will have the option ‘Doodle this photo’. Click on it and start doodling.
- If you want to doodle the photo you want to send, tap the photo icon below the Type a message tab in your friend’s chat box and click on the photo you want to doodle. Once you do that, edit icon( a pencil icon) will appear, click on it. At the top right of the screen, there will be the doodle icon at the end. Click on it and start doodling. Or simply just doodle in a blank page with the doodle option.
9.Access Conversation Gallery:
You can always look into the photos and media you and your friends have shared later. For that,
- Go to your friend’s conversation tab and swipe left of the screen.
- You will see all the recent media you shared. Click on the ‘View All’ icon and get access to all the shared media.
CONCLUSION: Viber has been successful in connecting people all around the world and has been the go-to place for anyone who
