Whether you’re also confronting the pandemic or not, having a reliable and useful video calling app at your disposal is always a great idea. Aspects like price, features, and devices targetted are all important criteria. While we all know that WhatsApp is by far the most heavily-used video calling app, popularity is not a synonym for quality.
Nobody’s saying that WhatsApp is a bad service, however. We still see the Facebook-owned app as a top app, but there are plenty of alternatives out there. Besides Zoom, Messenger Rooms, Skype, and others, there’s one app that we consider as being the best competitor for what WhatsApp has to offer to the users: Viber. Both Viber and WhatsApp offer voice messaging, video calls, end-to-end encryption, and a lot more. But let’s dive into more detail:
What Viber has that WhatsApp doesn’t
The fans of Viber will always be claiming that this app is better than WhatsApp, and they have the right to do so. While WhatsApp only offers Groups when it comes to group communications, Viber also has Communities and Broadcast lists, and they can turn out to be very useful.
Broadcasts lists allow the user to send messages to more than one contact simultaneously, while the Communities feature can let an unlimited number of users to participate.
When it comes to privacy, although both apps allow end-to-end encryption as mentioned earlier, Viber has some useful extra features. One of them is the Trust List, a feature that prevents messages from being intercepted by a third party.
If you’re very dedicated to games, you must also know that unlike WhatsApp, Viber offers some in-app games. Don’t expect some titles like Mortal Kombat 11 or FIFA 20, but only simple games like Viber Candy Mania, Viber Pop and Wild Luck Casino.
What WhatsApp has that Viber doesn’t
WhatsApp is totally free once you grab some WiFi signal, although you must be careful not to trust any WiFi network. Viber asks for some fees when you call someone who doesn’t use the app.
And although we might be subjective, WhatsApp has some better looks and a more friendly user interface than Viber.
Fees
The Facebook-owned app is free-of-charge when it comes to both video calls and messaging. WhatsApp calling can contact phone numbers from all across the world. Only if you don’t use WiFi connection and you exceed your data limit, you will have to pay anything.
On the other side, Viber is less generous. Although it requires no fees to download and install, you will be charged some minor amounts of money when you call someone who doesn’t use the app. Viber also charges the user some money if he wants some decorative sticker packs.
WhatsApp clearly wins this round with minor effort.
Conclusion
We believe that Viber has a slight advantage over WhatsApp, as it provides more features. And let’s be serious, there’s no need to take into account features like the in-app games or extra stickers. However, WhatsApp offers some unpaid opportunities that could tell the difference.
It ultimately depends only on you which app you choose. Both WhatsApp and Viber are high-rated video calling apps, and it’s a great idea to try them both out and see which one suits your needs better. Both apps are completely free to download.
WhatsApp is available for Android, iOS, and as a web version that could be accessed via browser from a PC after you installed the app on your phone.
Viber works for Android, iOS, but also for Windows, Mac, and Linux if you have the app installed on your smartphone. However, Viber doesn’t guarantee full functionality for devices that are running custom ROM, are jailbroken or have undergone a major alteration.
