The Viber Experience

Tired of using actual airtime to make your calls or send messages? Want to try out a free way to do this? Then get Viber here right now.

Ok so it uses an internet bundle over 3G connectivity to work so it isn’t exactly “free” but it is way much cheaper than making a regular call or sending SMSes the normal way. You can use the app over WiFi as well. 

Viber uses your phone number as your ID so you don’t have to worry about creating passwords. To connect to other people just check your “Contacts” list on the app and you will see all the contacts in your phonebook that also have the app installed on their phone. Viber also notifies you whenever a new contact also signs up. 

Viber is similar to other social messengers like Whatsapp, Telegram and BlackBerry Messenger but it’s the only one among those that allows you to place calls as compared to sending voice notes which is so typical of the other messengers. The good thing is you are not limited to calls within Zambia. You can make international calls as well as long as the person you’re calling also has the app.  Long distance relationships just got nipped in the butt!

The battle of the messengers

Like the other messaging apps you can also send (and save) files such as photos songs and videos to your friends and family and you can also share your location and make use of very cool stickers when messaging. There’s even free stickers you can download for use specifically on the Viber app.

You can connect Viber to your Facebook or Twitter accounts to get notifications such as birthdays and events as they happen.

Viber is great  because you can manage your contacts by blocking unwanted contacts (e.g your ex). They will not be able to send messages or call you using Viber but they will be able to see your messages in a third party situation such as a group chat. By the way, to create a group chat, go to the bottom of your screen list, click on the icon that which is a little picture of 3 people’s heads with a plus (+) sign, and add people to a conversation by ticking against their name and you’re good to go. 

If you don’t want to be bothered you can even hide the fact that you’re “Online” by changing your settings. If you don’t want the person texting you to know you’ve read their message, which normally shows the sender the “Seen” notice next to two ticks in the message they’ve sent you, you can also edit that in your settings, just to avoid the dramatic “Why aren’t you replying? Are you ignoring me?” questions.

Why should you get this app? For the free calling facility. Find out which platforms support Viber here.

Picture credits: Technoverse, HomeShopping and Writer’s Screenshots,