Viber is an app that allows you to call and text anyone anywhere. You can also do audio and video calls, group chats, and send instant voice and video messages. The calling feature is not free, you have to pay for it and the price varies depending on where you live.
Personal data collected
Viber collects your personal information when you register and install the app. Some of the information Viber collects includes your name, email address, password, birth date, age, mobile number, and if you sign up for their paid services, you need to provide your payment information and billing address. For the app, the permissions include your contacts’ information, including their name and mobile number. Your name and photo (if you provide one) is available for viewing by other Viber members.
If you sign up for Viber through a third-party (Facebook, Twitter, or VK), you share the following information with them: your public profile, friends list, accounts you follow and who follows you, email address, birthday, work and education history, interests, current city, and video viewing. They also collect your activity within their app and website (which Viber users can see), including your connection status, if you have seen or received the messages sent to you, if you are currently on another call, and information related to calls and messages you have sent and received (length of call, who called who, who messaged who, and at what time).
When you interact with bots, Public Accounts, and Communities, Viber collects information about the messages you have liked, comments you have left, and websites you have viewed through links in them. When you use Chat Extensions and shopping solution they will know what items you searched for and shared. They also collect information about the accounts you have visited and content you have viewed.
Viber collects information about the value added services you are using over at Viber and apps (games) you have downloaded via Viber. This information includes if you are presently online, your personal preferences, and the way you use those services or apps (how often and how long). This information might be shared with other Viber users so Viber can recommend other services and apps to their users. They also collect information from your device used to access Viber, such as your mobile device’s unique identifier, operating system, browser information, GPS or location data, browser or operating system language, IP address, wireless network, and mobile carrier.
Personal data usage
Viber uses data to:
- Improve the relevance of their services.
- Make their services available.
- Register you for their app and create your user account.
- Create your profile and make it visible.
- Process your payments.
- Create Viber ID.
- Provide you with customer service, give you information about your account, and respond to your requests.
- Personalize your experience by providing content (such as games) and targeted advertising that may interest you.
- Read your contacts and let you know if any of them are Viber members.
- Sync your contacts with Viber.
- Understand network behavior and trends.
- Detect outages and technical issues.
- Prevent fraud and spam.
- Protect you from illegal activities.
- Comply with legal requirements.
- Send you communications.
Cookies and similar tech
Viber uses cookies, web beacons, clear GIFs, HTTP cookies, HTML5, flash local storage, embedded scripts, e-tags/cache browsers, and other similar technologies to track your use of their website/app and enhance your experience online. They can remember your login status and viewing preferences from when you last visited them. If you decide to disable cookies, their services may not function properly.
Viber account
Viber does not read or listen to the content of your messages or phone calls made privately. They do not store your messages on their server either once they are delivered. If the message isn’t delivered to its destination in two weeks, it is deleted from their server. They also allow you to delete messages even after you have sent it and it has been received. Viber is not recommended for children under the age of 13. In the EEA, default privacy settings will be applied to users under the age of 16.
When you deactivate your Viber account via smartphone or tablet, it will remove it from all other devices, including the desktop version. However, if you deactivate it from your computer first, you will have to do it again on your smartphone/tablet. They suggest backing up your message history if you’d like to keep it. If you end up getting a new phone number, you can transfer your message history to your new phone/number. When you uninstall Viber, it does not delete your account, it only removes the app from your device, deletes message and call history, and saves your information for when you decide to reinstall it. When you deactivate Viber, it deletes everything but your messages backup if you have made one. If you want to delete the backup, you will have to do it manually.
Data shared with Viber
How to protect your privacy
You can protect your privacy with Viber by:
- Adjusting your settings in your account to disallow some information from being shared.
- Changing the visibility of your online status in your privacy settings.
- Preventing others from knowing which apps and and games you are using in your privacy settings.
- Opting out of location based messages.
- Opting out of third-party advertisements.
- Disabling cookies.
- Opting out of Google Analytics.
- Deactivating Viber by opening up the Viber app, entering the more options menu, selecting settings, selecting account, selecting deactivate account, and then uninstalling the Viber app.
How to contact Viber about your privacy
You can contact Viber via email or through postal mail at:
Viber Media S.à r.l., Attention: Data Privacy Officer, 2, rue du Fossé, L- 1536 Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg