Viber: Free Calling and Messaging.
Messaging has never been used so much earlier. The costly messaging pack provided by network provider coming with limited 100 messages per day and many people owning a smart phone in today’s era, we have seen many messaging apps that has been used by people, especially for messaging and for calls if applicable.
Viber is one of such messaging apps which provides free messaging in terms of both text and voice, as well as it provides free call service. In India, it is not widely used by people because of presence of WhatsApp which also provides free text and voice messaging service.
There are few other messaging apps also, but I am going to review Viber because of its few features which I don’t find in other apps. Let me state them and in the case you have not used. And if you have used it, please be free to share your experience.
I am using Viber since last one year for messaging and call.
Free Messaging:
I have also used other apps like Facebook messenger and WhatsApp for free messaging, but because of my busy time and frustration, I keep deleting Facebook account. Hence I have Whatsapp and Viber. I use Whatsapp for the more reason because I have many of my friends here, still want to let you know Viber is also equally good. More ever, unlike whatsapp which charges 1$ from second year onwards, Viber is completely free. Money is not the issue, and free service of Viber is not the only good part of its service, there are few more also. I will let you know more about its feature in ’privacy section’
Installing Viber:
Installing Viber is easy, what you all need is one mobile number to be verified and your mobile number will be the primary id that will link your friends with. Viber can be installed even in simless tablet/device where you don’t have mobile features. You can even install them in your Ipad and other device where WhatsApp is not supported. But at the same time, there are many Symbian and Asha series of Nokia where you can’t install this.
Free Calling:
Unlike other messaging service which has the feature of only voice messaging, Viber gives free calling to viber users throughout the world. They haven’t mentioned any such condition regarding the length of call while its data use consumption is low. Call quality is very good and it is audible. Skype is also good option for free calling, but in slow internet of 2G, I have found Skype running with interruption. So, I prefer Viber for free calling.
There are the option of Viber out where you can call the non-viber user but you need credit for this and I have not used it. So I can’t comment anything about it.
Privacy Updates.:
Let me tell you what happens in Viber. As it runs behind the screen also, it will keep delivering you message till you have internet connection. Once a message is delivered, it shows you that you are online. If you are out of connection, it will show you, online xx minutes ago. When the message you have send is delivered, it shows as delivered and when the receiver sees it, it shows as ’seen’. So this will aware you about if the message you have send is delivered and seen or not.
But there are privacy option where you can hide your online status. This means you can’t see online status of any of your friends. This setting can be changed only once in 24 hour. So unlike WhatsApp, if you don’t want anyone to see you online, you can opt for this. But when message is delivered to you, it will show as deliver once it reaches your device. Similar is the feature for ’seen’. You can opt for this feature to bare sender from letting you know that you have seen their message, but at the same time, you will also be bared.
Ease of using Application:
The application can be confusing to new users, but once you are familiar to it, it is easier to use it. Once you install the application, the contacts get synchronized and you will be updated with info who is already on Viber. Once any of your contact joins Viber, it will give notification. For calling, when you dial any number from contact list, it asks you if you want to call through Viber or general. So, calling is also easy here.
Group Messaging:
It is easy to add other friends in your conversation and start group messaging. It is quite secure than WhatsApp which shows the mobile number and phone number of all contacts of group. Though messaging in group is bit boring here and hence I prefer in WhatsApp itself.
Window version.
Viber is not only on your tablet or smart phone, but it can also be installed in your desktop or laptop. For this, you need to have Viber installed in tablet/Smartphone and it will synchronize the messages and contacts with the previous application. With this, both application will be active and you can use in any of them with your easiness. So, calling/messaging through Viber (laptop) to Viber (mobile) will give you another good reason to use it.
Beside all these, they have many stickers and few are premium which you need to buy. But I never felt the need of buying any sticker, so I am using this free service on my laptop through Bluestack that runs the android application.
Recently, I have seen notification of call for internship in Viber (in internship website). This shows they are interested in expanding their market. Their coming strategy might be to be a good competitor of WhatsApp in messaging part also. But for voice call, you can use this application as one more installed application shouldn’t be burden to your smart phone unless you have non-expandable-limited memory phone.
My rating 3.5 out of 5.
Keep enjoying. Keep sharing.
Regards,
Suraj.