Viber has about 820 million monthly active users. It has enabled end-to-end encryption since April 2016. Viber’s security technology creates an environment where two devices communicate using a secret code instead of plain, understandable text.
Only the device sending the message and the device receiving the message have the key to decipher the code. Not even Viber can read and understand this code, and anyone who tries to hack or spy on this communication will not be able to understand it.
The app has end-to-end encryption on all its available platforms (Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android) and also color code your chats based on how secure they are: gray denotes encrypted communication, green means encrypted communication with a trusted contact, and red means the authentication key has an issue. Viber also supports self-destructing messages in its secret chats feature.
End-to-end encryption means that data (all types of messages, photos, videos, voice and video calls) is encrypted (or scrambled) the moment it is sent from one device until it reaches the intended recipient. This data can’t be picked up in the middle by anyone else, not even Viber.
How To Secure Your Viber Account In 2024
You need to make sure that what you share is safe and secure, so we’ve put together a few simple steps to ensure your data can’t be accessed.
Hide Your Online Status
This may seem like a rather simple step, but there’s no need for your contacts to know every time you open the app to read an old message. In order to hide your online status in Viber, go to the settings section, select “Privacy” and untick “Share ‘Online’ Status”.
Make Viber Photo Hidden From Unknown Contacts
Having a profile photo on Viber helps your contacts recognize you quickly and easily, but you can just as easily keep it hidden from unknown users. All you need to do is open “Privacy”, choose “Profile photo” and select “Nobody”.
Modity Your Seen Option
If you don’t want your contacts to know when you have seen or read their messages, you can change the option by going to the settings, then “Privacy”, and take the tick off the “Share ‘Using App’ status” line.
Use A App To Lock Viber
If you are unfortunate enough for your smartphone to land itself in the hands of another person, you can ensure they aren’t able to read your private messages by using a password to block access. The app itself doesn’t come with any locking device, but you can easily download a password app that you can use with Viber for free.
Block Unwanted Contacts
You can block any number who you don’t want to be able to contact you in the future. Once you have blocked them, they can’t call you or send you messages. If you are in a group with them, they will be able to see any messages you send in the group. Block a Viber user from inside a chat, from the chat info screen, or from the block list in your settings.
As a user, you can change some of your Viber settings to limit what other users can see. Update your privacy from the Settings section of the app.
The settings in this section include:
- Share online status
- Show screen status
- Manage your block list
- Manage your hidden chats
- Show your photo to other users
- Clear trusted contacts
- Allow Viber to collect anonymous data about your usage
How Does End-To-End Encryption Work?
With end-to-end encryption, only the people involved in a conversation can read the messages or hear the calls exchanged between them. This includes both 1-on-1 and regular group chats.
Viber’s security technology creates an environment where two devices communicate using a secret code instead of plain, understandable text. Only the device sending the message and the device receiving the message have the key to decipher the code. Not even Viber can read and understand this code, and anyone who tries to hack or spy on this communication will not be able to understand it.
Keep Your Chats Secure
Make sure you have maximum protection on Viber:
- Always update your app when a new version comes out. End-to-end encryption is only guaranteed on the latest version
- Block messages from numbers you don’t know. You can always unblock them later
- Do not open messages that you think are suspicious
