What is Viber you ask? Yeah, I wasn’t exactly familiar with it either but over 1 billion people around the globe depend on Rakuten’s messaging platform for chat, calls and even video conferencing.

The app itself looks really inviting and it appears to offer similar features to WhatsApp and many other chat apps.

Where Viber stands out is its ability to make voice calls internationally for quite less than standard phone plans and calling cards. You can chat with people on the Viber app or you can make calls that are referred to as “Viber Out” by adding money to your account balance and dialing just as you would with most applications. The one shortfall of Viber is that it does not offer a web-based interface like WhatsApp, Android Messages, Hangouts and the list goes on. I don’t know the reason for this but it is likely due to the fact that Viber prides itself as the “most secure” messenger on the planet. That’s not to say Viber isn’t cross-platform. In order to use Viber, you will have to install the Android or iPhone application, link your phone number and then, you can install the desktop client on your Mac, PC or Linux device and sync them with a QR Code. Sadly, that does not include Chrome OS because there isn’t a web client. If your go-to device is mobile, this is really a non-issue but with so many people now working from home, installing Viber on a desktop can be a big productivity boost for tan eams using the messaging app. That brings me back to my weekend conversation with the user of an HP Chromebook x360 14. After a little back and forth about the specifics of his situation, he told me he needed Viber for work and really wanted to use it on his Chromebook. My initial question was “why not use the Android app?” After installing and attempting I confirmed what was told to me by my inquisitor. The Viber Android app installs just fine. The problems arise when you attempt to minimize the app.

Install a viber