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Following WhatsApp’s and other messaging app move to add end-to-end encryption to its platform, another renowned messaging company Viber has joined the wave of apps turning on expanded privacy features. Viber, a messaging app with 711 million+ users, yesterday introduced end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls on its platform, including group chats and a way to ‘hide’ chats on your account alongside its existing expanded deleting function. Viber’s encryption will come with varying levels of security, the company said, which will show up in the form of a color-coded lock on the right side of the screen.
As we know that the company was founded in Israel and was later acquired by Japan’s Rakuten in 2014. In an official statement, the company said that the new services will be rolled out globally in the coming weeks, starting today in four countries where Viber centers most of its R&D: Brazil, Belarus, Israel, and Thailand. The new privacy features will work across Android, iOS, PCs and Mac desktops, with the encryption coming with the latest app update (6.0) and a reauthentication of the app (via QR Code) to turn the feature on.
Nowadays, every big messaging app encrypts messages in transit but more secure features like end-to-end encryption mean that service providers cannot access the message at any point at all. Michael Shmilov, Viber’s COO, told that the company has been working on an end-to-end encryption feature for “years.” So the fact that Viber had not launched it until now — with only a gradual rather than universal roll out, and just weeks after WhatsApp’s news — is both a sign of the times (what users are increasingly wanting and demanding these days) but also a mark of just how competitive the messaging app landscape remains today, where everyone is making sure that no rival has more features that it does.
The company has also felicitated users with an option of selecting a green lock, which will mean that you can additionally authenticate users before each conversation or to continually monitor them to make sure the users are verified. This option is useful if you’re talking to someone who might share an account with another person — say a child or partner. It's noteworthy that along with the encryption, there are some other privacy features getting added into the latest version of the app. Hidden chats will give users the ability to essentially “hide” certain conversations from their usage log, accessible only if you know a specified four-digit PIN.
The Viber has earlier enabled delete feature, meanwhile, which is a way for users to wipe a conversation not just on their end, but on that of the recipient’s phone.
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