Hi all,
This is a member of the Viber Development Team.

I'm here to help you with all the questions or suggestions you might have for Viber!

Thanks.

Hi again,

Answers to your questions:

- Yes, Viber will support MMS-like features (pics, sounds, etc) in one of our future versions. I will announce it here once we have dates.

- Unfortunately, at this stage we won't be supporting HTC Wildfire, and that it is because we encountered severe issues when developing Viber on it. We apologize for the inconvenience

- About the battery drain: are you sure you isolated Viber in order to determine that this is the certain cause for your battery drain? We tested it here in our labs with several devices and except for when making a call (when it is natural for the battery to be used), we didn't notice any significant battery drain.

- ROMs: At this stage, we don't support custom ROMs with Viber (we might add support for *SOME* ROMs in the next several weeks). As you can see, running Viber on a customized ROM results in various side effects, some of which are severe, but unfortunately we can't afford to support ALL those ROMs at this stage. As I suggested in the past, you might want to contact the ROM developers and ask if any adaptations could be made there in order to support Viber.

- Viber needs to run in the background in order to receive/make calls. It is a communication app, and this is what it's meant for, when you think about it.... However, according to popular user demand, we might be adding an "Exit" button soon, that'll shut off the app.

- About the battery drain: are you sure you isolated Viber in order to determine that this is the certain cause for your battery drain? We tested it here in our labs with several devices and except for when making a call (when it is natural for the battery to be used), we didn't notice any significant battery drain.

- We are discussing adding an "Exit" button in the near future. We will keep you posted on that.

There is a known issue with identifying Viber contacts and we're working to fix that. In the meanwhile, please try this workaround:

Enter Viber and find a person you know has Viber in the "All" contact list. Enter his details, change a digit, save and exit. Then enter his contact again, change the digit back (to the original, correct number), save and exit. Wait about 10 minutes and see if he's recognized as a Viber user now.

If it doesn't work, please try manually dialing the number in its FULL format (including the "+" sign, the country code, area code, etc.)

This post has been edited by Viber: Jul 24 2011, 04:11 PM

- We support C2DM. It requires of course a Google account associated with your Androd and Android 2.2 or above. Recently there have been some glitches with C2DM. That's probably due to the huge number of people who downloaded Viber only within a few days, and we're checking it at the moment.

- Exit button is being discussed these days and will hopefully be implemented very soon.

- Support for SD cards is something we are considering. I will keep you posted should we have any news

You said you tested this battery drain -
Can you try and be more specific as to WHY you suffer from such harsh battery drain?

What does Viber do that other apps don't? why is this battery drain caused?

All,

We are investigating the battery drain issue and will hopefully be able to fix it soon.

Please make sure you "isolate" Viber in regards to the battery issue, and also - soon we'll release a newer version to Market that is expected to better when it comes to battery consumption.

It is a feature planned in the future, in the works right now.
For now, you have an indirect way of knowing it: if you call someone and it says "Ringing..", that means the call is literally ringing on the other side. If it only says "Calling.." that means the user is currently offline (this method has about 90% success rate).

Viber.

As mentioned above, "Exit" button is coming hopefully this week in accordance to user demand.

Will be in the future, it's in the works right now.

@mydragoon

About the privacy concern:
First, it is important to be accurate – we only collect names and phone numbers, nothing else. Naturally, we collect users' information not because we are curious of its content, but for functional reasons, and in order for us to enable the service we, as a company, promise to provide. Without that information, Viber cannot function. This is not different from any other major social network/communication service provider in our world nowadays.

I would like to clarify again: we DO NOT sell users' information to third-parties, and we keep this information WELL locked in our servers, with extremely limited access to it.

So why is Viber free?
For now, Viber's focus is on adding platforms, adding features (such as text messages) and improving overall system performance. At the same time, we are working on additional future premium services that will generate revenues. The basic Viber service - Viber to Viber phone calls and text messages - will ALWAYS be free.

How did I find LYN forums?
I simply Googled it My job is to find forums discussing Viber, and providing them with answers to technical issues or concerns.

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Added on July 27, 2011, 5:50 pm1. Are you using a custom ROM?
2. Did you try isolating Viber's effect? Please try rebooting, making sure NO application is running (even in the background), then trying Viber out.

This post has been edited by Viber: Jul 27 2011, 05:50 PM

@mydragoon

1. Calls and texts are not saved in our servers.
Calls are made directly P2P (they never even reach our servers to begin with), and texts go through our server, but the second they arrive at their destination, they're immediately and automatically deleted (so essentially, they are saved in the server for 0.000001 seconds)
In other words - you can feel safe using Viber

2. And how can you know I'm really a company rep?
You can send me a Private Message and I'll give you plenty of proof

3. Videocalls are planned, yep, but we still don't know when exactly it'll be ready.

4. The basic Viber service (calls+texts between 2 Viber users) will always stay free.


About battery drain:
As I said, we will soon release a version with an "Exit" button, and this might help the battery consumption issues some of you are experiencing. Also - we decided to reduce the request rate to our server, thus saving battery when your phone is idle at night.

This post has been edited by Viber: Jul 28 2011, 04:20 PM

Call quality - have them use Viber when both sides are connected to WiFi networks. If even then the quality is bad, then it might be a local connection issue. At any rate - we are constantly trying to improve Viber, and with time more and more call-quality issues will be fixed.

Yep, MMS (file-sharing) options will be included in Viber in the future.

@Dannyl -

1. Planned.
2. We will look into it and see what we can do.
3. There is a known issue with the identification mechanism. We're working to fix it righ tnow.
4. Released very soon.
5. Planned, but will not happen soon probably.

@mydragoon -

* MMS - sometime in 2011 It's in the works right now, but we don't want to give false estimations.
* Video - same.
* This option already exists, using the device keys. What device are you using?

@Joe2011 -

Please see the discussion regarding the battery issue previously in this thread. If you have more questions, let me know.

Use the device keys (the physical keys), just like you search in your native contact app.

If you want to browse by letter, hold and scroll the right-most side of the screen, and the scrolling will suddenly appear with the relevant letter shown.

A new version of Viber for Android has just been released: 2.0.1
What's new?

- "Exit" button. Note that shutting Viber off may result in unavailability to receive calls and texts.
- Important features, such as Proximity Sensor, are now enabled by default.
- Viber-contacts identification mechanism was improved.
- Many other bug fixes.

Please find the new version in Market. We'd love to hear your feedback!

@mydragoon -
Check it. Repeat a situation where Viber service is not running, and have a friend call and text you via Viber. Does it work? Please let me know.

@law_yew_wooi -
We don't know of a special problem with HTC Desire. Remove Viber, reboot your phone, reinstall from Market and see what happens.

@mydragoon

I understand what you mean now...

There is no "secret" or programming trickery
It's a service by Google called C2DM, and it's similar to Push Notifications with iPhones. This service is actually a command sent from Google's servers that can turn on certain applications on your Android. Some apps, like Viber, use this to REALLY be shut off, but still stay available for calls and texts.

In short - don't worry, the battery consumption is ZERO when you Exit Viber, but it can still stay available and "come to life" with C2DM's help.

About your suggestion for the contact list - we might be adding this letter scroll bar on the right side, but for now it'll stay the way you see it, since Viber's interface tries to adapt to ALL phones, not only galaxy.

@HeartRoxas

Thanks for your detailed test and report. I will be able to refer many users here to your message in order to see a thorough test based on empirical details

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Added on August 3, 2011, 10:48 pm
Hi everyone,

I'm excited to announce that according to preliminary results, it seems as though we managed to find and fix the collision problem of Viber with CM7 and MIUI ROMs (and possible the rest as well)
Both these ROMs "change" the device's identity (virtually, of course), preventing Viber from adapting itself correctly to the device's microphone configuration. This is why most of you with ROMs experienced the one-side audio issue.

Anyway - we are working on adding a fix to the new version that will hopefully be officially released next week to Market.

Updates soon,
Viber.

This post has been edited by Viber: Aug 3 2011, 10:48 PM

@Dannyl -
We haven't gotten reports of misfunctionality of the Exit button yet.
Are you using a custom ROM that might be causing your problem?

@Hico -
Viber pops up when you receive a call/text thanks to C2DM mechanism (similar to Push Notifications in iPhone).
This mechanism is used in many other apps as well, and it makes sure you are available to get texts/calls (otherwise - the point of the app is gone).
In order to disable your C2DM service, please contact Google - it's run by them.

On another note - could you please elaborate on the other scenario you described, with Viber running when you turn your WiFi on?

@dust -
Landscape mode is in the works these days.

@kuro0314 -
You need cellular reception only when registering, so we can send you the confirmation SMS with your code. After that, basically you can use your Viber on WiFi only. As HeartRoxas mentioned, you can also use it on 3G, but it uses MB from your data plan (0.5MB per minute of call). The amount you pay for your data is decided between you and your cell company, and has nothing to do with us. If you have a monthly pre-paid data plan, then you can use Viber freely without any concern of extra charges. WiFi, of course, is always free (and usually better for Viber calls).