Viber secret chat update#

With the global messaging space pretty settled as the apps of choice have solidified their positions in most parts of the world, Viber appears to be pushing its security credentials in a bit to differentiate itself from the rest. It named former mobile advertising executive Djamel Agaoua as its CEO last month - founding CEO Talmon Marco left the company some time ago he currently runs Uber rival Juno - while it has added a range of new features that include an e-commerce button, public accounts, one-touch video calling and disappearing multimedia. It’s been a fairly hectic past few months of news for Viber. It has a strong network of users in certain parts of Latin America and North Africa, and in Myanmar and the Philippines in Southeast Asia, but it is far from as universally popular as WhatsApp or Messenger. Viber has claimed for some time that its service has more than 800 million registered users, but it has kept silent on how many of those are actually active - that’s the all-important number. The new feature also alerts a user if the person to whom they are talking takes a screenshot - that’s another feature that Snapchat pioneered. Like Snapchat, Facebook, Telegram and many others before it, Viber now enables its users to set a timer for their messages, after which they will self-destruct.

Viber secret chat update#

Viber for iOS and Android got an update today that brings “Secret Chats” to the service for the first time. Unlike Facebook, which has thrown Snapchat’s 24-hour Story mode into all of its core mobile apps, Viber - which was acquired by Rakuten for just shy of $1 billion three years ago - has copied the original feature that helped Snapchat first make its name in messaging. Viber is the second largest messaging app in the Philippines next to Facebook Messenger, according to digital marketing agency We Are Social’s 2017 report on the digital landscape. – Rappler.Everyone is cloning Snapchat right now, but messaging app Viber has gone back to the old school by copying Snapchat’s core ephemeral messaging feature.

The new feature rolled out on Sunday, March 13. On Android, users will be able to take a screenshot of the messages iOS users, on the other hand, will be able to do so, but the app will send a notification to the message sender. Regular chats can be switched to secret chats and vice versa. The setting can be changed for each message. In the chat window, a timer button appears on the lower right portion which allows users to choose how long the message stays, ranging from 1 second to a number of hours to a week. Tap the “New Secret Chat” option, and choose up to 199 contacts with whom to communicate.

To activate the feature, tap the “+”sign on the “Chats” panel. It’s a feature that Snapchat pioneered, but has since been adopted on rival platforms WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram. Viber users are now able to activate what the app calls “Secret Chats”, in which users can set the amount of time that a sent message remains visible before it disappears. They will have the peace of mind that their text messages will be deleted automatically from the recipient’s device after a certain amount of time. The Viber secret chats feature will come in handy for those who are extra protective of their privacy. MANILA, Philippines – Messaging app Viber added a new feature that’s sure to raise a few eyebrows from Snapchat loyalists: disappearing messages. Viber has now confirmed that the secret chats feature has been rolled out.