Forgotten WhatsApp rival passes 1 billion downloads on the Play Store

You might not use — and maybe not even know about — Viber messenger — but the app today reached the incredible milestone of 1 billion downloads on the Play Store. While less popular in Brazil than competitors WhatsApp and Telegram, Viber is not far behind in features, offering Giphy integration, stickers, and video calling support.

Viber does not even appear with a significant market share in surveys carried out in Brazilian lands. Around here, the name of the messaging app is mentioned mainly when rivals, especially WhatsApp, get involved in serious controversies or are temporarily inactive for some reason. Interestingly though, Viber surpasses the first billion downloads before Telegram.

You can attribute the huge amount of Viber downloads to two reasons: its growing popularity in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and the boost provided by the covid-19 pandemic. With social distancing, friends and family became much more physically distant from each other, so messengers were the most immediate solution to keeping in touch.

From the same level

The messaging app offers a vast amount of tools. In addition to the basics (group video calls, stickers, and support for sending files), Viber allows you to create groups with up to 250 people, opens space for communication with public profiles (just like Telegram), has hidden chats for the most delicate moments and a strong call for security and privacy.

If you're looking for a cool option to chat with colleagues, but want to get away from the more popular ones, it's worth giving Viber a chance. The app is available for download from the Play Store and the App Store.

Esquecido rival do WhatsApp passa de 1 bilhão de downloads na Play Store - Canaltech