Viber reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
A messenger that families and businesses across Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia stay locked into, but which turns more bloated with every update — AI, ads, dating, payments — while the core job of reliably delivering messages keeps slipping.
What users love
A regional anchor people have loved for years
For families and businesses across Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Myanmar, Viber is the default: people have used it for years and praise its simplicity, free calls and video, and stickers. A chunk of users still call it fast, reliable and a favorite «for a decade».
Been using Viber for a decade! It's amazing,fast and reliable to use for texting and calling contacts
Viber is an excellent messaging and calling app that I use daily to stay connected with friends and family. The app is super easy to use
I like using Viber. helped me with contacting my friends and loved ones. Been using this for decades.
What users hate
Forced ChatGPT that can't be removed
A recent update bolted a ChatGPT thread on top of the chat list that can't be muted, deleted or hidden. There's a «Disconnect ChatGPT» option in settings, but it just throws «something went wrong» every single time. Users read it as AI forced on them that nobody asked for.
adding chatgpt to the app with no way to hide or get rid of it is so dumb and tone deaf
what's the point of providing an option to disconnect chatgpt (which i never asked for or wanted) when it only says something went wrong every single time i try
I am forced to have ChatGPT enabled. Attempting to disconnect it from the settings results in an error stating to try again later. I did try again later and got the same error every time.
Number activation that fails for weeks
The activation call never arrives, arrives late, or hangs up without giving a code; entering the last 4 digits returns «incorrect». There's no SMS fallback and attempts are capped once a day, so registration drags on for days and weeks — including for people who need Viber for work.
for some reason I cannot activate viber. every time I enter the last four digits of the calling number it says the number is incorrect
i just spent 2 weeks trying to verify my phone and guess what i still haven't used the app because of that call code verification that doesn't even call
3days in a row without receiving verification code or call
Accounts blocked with no reason as «spam»
Long-time users get flagged as spammers and blocked for no reason, including work and school numbers. Recovery is only via a ticket and a 3-day wait, support often never replies, and the app you'd need to appeal through is itself locked.
today my number was blocked and the reason is they flagged it as a spammer. Seriously? using it for a long time then out of nowhere?
Account got suspended without any explanation. Viber says my account has been suspended and I need to request reactivation either via Viber chat or wait for 3 days
My account was blocked with no specific reason. Have this fixed, please.
Ads spill outside the app — over the dialer
After you hang up an ordinary call, Viber drops an ad overlay onto the system dialer and pushes you to Shopee, Lazada, even casino sites. Ads show up in the chat list, in settings and when answering calls — banners an older person could mistake for the system itself.
Viber now monitors my standard carrier phone calls and pops up an ad overlay on my Samsung dialer as soon as I hang up. Forcing ads outside of the app itself is a terrible user experience.
When I ended a viber call, the viber pops out their casino ads and automatically directed me to casino website in the google chrome
Always opening SHOPEE APP and LAZADA when making a call.. worst timing to give ads.. annoying BUSS INBOX
Notifications arrive hours late or not at all
Messages and calls land hours or even a day later, or with no notification at all, forcing users to open the app by hand. Sometimes it fires fake notifications about group messages that don't exist.
Message me on any platform and I will get a notification in seconds, message me on Viber and I might get the notification in three hours to a day (not a joke).
There's no call and message notifications at all, you need to open the app.
Phone keeps showing fake notifications about new group messages, Xiaomi 15T pro. Battery saver off. Notifications on.
The core — message delivery — became unreliable
Messages and photos hang on loading, send with lag, or never show up in history even though the sender's screenshot proves they were sent. Some have to reboot the phone after every message. The one core job of a messenger works worse than rivals.
I don't see messages people are sending me. it's there on their screenshots, but it's not in my history. The single core function is not reliable.
i have to restart my phone every time I sent a message only for the message to be delivered
the core thing, texting, barely works
Forced redesign with no way back to old colors
An update turned messages bright purple, dimmed the background and killed the calm grey bubbles and old themes (sand, forest, purple stars). There's no option to revert — and for light-sensitive users the screaming contrast is exhausting on the eyes.
You forced onto us new themes. I can not customize it without being too harsh for my light-sensitive eyes. I really don't need these screaming colors for my chat bubble, why can't we use old color scheme?
the option of having pleasant shades of grey on a black background in both our own and other people's messages. The contrast after the enforced use of bright colours is just eye fatigue.
dark mode does not mean change previously bright background to a muddy grey. it's horrible looking.
Support practically doesn't exist
There's no in-app support — you're routed through tedious website steps where the chatbot is broken and email replies are templated and ignore the actual issue. Tickets sit for days and weeks with no response, and the promised «within 24 hours» reply never comes.
It's all good until you need support to solve some problem. Terrible, unprofessional, no one to reach out to. Unbelievable. Officially support doesn't exist
the chatbot promised a reply within 24 hours. That was 24+ hours ago, still nothing.
Support is practically incompetent and fake stupid bots. Only email, repeats template response completely disregards what you have mentioned as your issue.
Switching phones loses your chat history
QR chat transfer doesn't work — after scanning it shows some JSON and stalls, and backup throws «Error». Between Android and iPhone the backup won't migrate at all, and people lose years of history when they change devices.
it is violent pain when you need to migrate to new phone. qr code method for transferring chats doesn't work
Successfully removed from parents device, because chat migration with qr scanner does not work. After scan, shows some json and nothing happens after it.
I’m having major issues with my chat history disappearing whenever I change my phone and log in to my account, and it just keeps saying 'Error' whenever I try to back up my data.
Bloated into a bazaar: dating, payments, wallet, business chats
The messenger is stuffed with dating, a marketplace, a wallet and payments that can't be turned off, plus it yanks you from a chat into Viber Dating, and ads pop up on holiday keywords. Business chats can no longer be opted out of by default. Users beg for a lite version — they only want messaging.
this app desperately needs a lite version, there's too much bloat ware for those who simply want to use it to communicate with people
viber dating kept on popping out too many times. are you forcing us into romance traps regardless of our needs and life status
They're enforcing business chats, you cannot opt out by default anymore! They also force the annoying automatic ads when you write specific keywords for holidays
Spam and scams Viber itself won't filter
Two or three scammers slide into DMs every day, and spam messages can't be deleted, blocked or reported via long-press. Meanwhile the app ships with 21 trackers and weak privacy — anyone with your phone number can find your profile.
scammer use the platform easily. every day, 2 to 3 scammers are messaging me.
why spam message not allowed to delete. you intentionally provide spam message into my inbox. long press the message but no show on delete, no report
Has like 21 trackers and does not respect your privacy at all.