Viber

Is Viber safe?

For private conversations, mostly yes. Viber encrypts one-to-one chats, group chats and one-to-one calls end to end by default, and says it deletes each message from its servers as soon as it is delivered. That puts it well ahead of Telegram for everyday chats. The weaker side is the business model: Viber is free because it sells ads, and its privacy policy describes tracking and profiling that go further than most messengers. We score it 58/100, below WhatsApp (67) and above LINE (44).

Viber is run by Viber Media S.à r.l. in Luxembourg and owned by Japan's Rakuten Group.

What does Viber encrypt, and what not?

Viber's help centre lists three things as end-to-end encryptedEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary: one-to-one chats, groups and one-to-one voice and video calls. Its protocol is based on Signal's double ratchet, with Viber's own implementation. You can add people to a Trusted contacts list to check that nobody is sitting in the middle of a conversation.

The list of what is not end-to-end encrypted is just as important:

• Communities and Channels, because new members can see the whole history
• chats with bots
• group voice and video calls
• Viber Out calls to ordinary phone numbers

These are protected only in transit, so Viber can technically access them. Viber's teens privacy guide says chat backups to iCloud or Google Drive are no longer protected by Viber's encryption, so a backup is only as safe as that cloud account.

We found no reported breach of Viber users' messages. Account takeover is the more realistic risk. Viber offers a six-digit PIN for 2-step verification, asked for when someone activates your number on a new phone, but it is off until you set it up.

What does Viber do with your data?

The message content stays out of reach, but almost everything around it is used. Apple's privacy label says Viber may use your location, contact info, browsing history and identifiers to track you across other companies' apps and websites. Its privacy policy, updated in September 2026, says Viber infers your gender from your name, your interests from the Communities and Channels you follow, and even your income level from your location, travel patterns and device. It shares device identifiers, age range and inferred gender with advertising partners.

Viber says it never sells personal data and does not use sensitive data for ads. It also keeps your phone address book for as long as your account exists, and holds data about people who are not Viber users so you can reach them. If you delete the app without deactivating your account, the account may be deactivated after two weeks, but deactivating it in settings is the cleaner route.

In Hungary, the competition authority (GVH) closed a case in May 2024 after Viber committed to clearer privacy information in Hungarian, more consent-based defaults and an ad-free Viber Plus subscription that stops ad use of your data. The GVH did not find an infringement.

Scams and strangers on Viber

Viber's public spaces are where most trouble starts. Communities and Channels can be joined by anyone and are searchable, and scammers use them, and direct messages, to push fake jobs, investment schemes and prize offers. Because private chats are end-to-end encryptedEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary, Viber cannot scan them; it relies on users to block and report accounts. Strangers cannot see your phone number unless you message them first, and you cannot see theirs in Communities.

Viber is not meant for under-13s. In the EEA and the UK, teenagers get stricter defaults, such as profile photos visible only to contacts. Viber Dating and business accounts are limited to adults.

Why Russia blocked Viber

Roskomnadzor blocked Viber on 13 December 2024, saying it had not met Russian legal requirements meant to stop the app being used for terrorism, extremism, recruitment or drug sales, and citing "illicit information". Russia had fined Viber more than 1.8 million roubles in total, including 1 million roubles in 2023 for not removing content about the war in Ukraine that the authorities called false. These were content and censorship rulings, not privacy findings, so we do not count them against Viber's privacy record.

How to use Viber more safely

1. Set up 2-step verification in Viber's privacy settings and add an email address so you can recover the PIN.
2. Keep sensitive talk in one-to-one or group chats. Do not share it in Communities, Channels, bot chats or group calls.
3. Check the encryption lock in Chat info, and add close contacts to Trusted contacts.
4. Turn off personalised ads and data collection options in Viber's privacy settings, and limit your phone's ad tracking.
5. Treat job offers, investment tips and prize messages from unknown accounts as scams, and report them.

How we scored it

Security (72) is Viber's strongest factor: default end-to-end encryptionEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary for private and group chats and no known message breach, held back by the gaps in Communities and group calls. Privacy (40) is the weakest, because of ad tracking and inferred profiling. The regulatory record (75) is clean on privacy fines; Russia's block was about content control.