By Viber Media
Report updated May 7, 2026
Rakuten Viber Messenger
For global users requiring secure, cross-platform communication and low-cost international calling capabilities.
Rakuten Viber Messenger is an established communication app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.2/5 rating from 17.6M reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate clear and reliable voice call quality keeps users connected with family members globally, though account activation failures prevent new or returning users from accessing their profiles remains a common concern.
What is Rakuten Viber Messenger?
Rakuten Viber Messenger is a secure communication app for global users, providing messaging, voice, and video calling services across iOS and Android.
Users hire the app for secure, cross-border communication and low-cost international calling to landlines, a utility that standard messaging apps lack.
Current Momentum
v27.8 · 1d ago
Active- Integrated AI bot utility agents.
- Enhanced group management tools.
Active Nemesis
WhatsApp Messenger
By WhatsApp
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
CommunicationNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User MoodAI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?
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What Are The Key Features?
International calling service for landlines and mobile phones via purchased credit or subscription plans
Default privacy protocol for all 1-on-1 and group chats, preventing third-party access to message content
Public-facing group spaces for broadcasting content or topic-based discussion with unlimited members
How much does it cost?
- Free messaging and calling
- Viber Out paid international calling credits and subscriptions
Freemium model relies on ad-supported messaging and voice/video traffic, supplemented by direct revenue from international calling services.
Who Built It?
Viber Media
Facilitating global communication through secure messaging and international calling. Connecting users across devices with a focus on privacy and community.
Portfolio
2
Apps
Who is Viber Media?
Viber maintains a unique hybrid position by bridging standard OTT messaging with a PSTN-based 'Viber Out' service, allowing them to monetize international calling alongside traditional social features. Their primary moat is a massive, established user base that relies on the platform for both personal and professional communication, creating a strong network effect that is difficult for smaller entrants to replicate. The strategic tension lies in balancing their legacy as a communication utility with the need to evolve into a broader ecosystem, particularly as they integrate public Communities to drive engagement beyond simple one-to-one messaging.
Who is Viber Media for?
- Global users seeking secure
- Cross-platform messaging
- Cost-effective international voice calling solutions
Portfolio momentum
Released 15 updates across 2 apps in the last 6 months, indicating a high-frequency maintenance and feature-rollout cycle.
What other apps does Viber Media make?
What do users think recently?
High confidence · 100 reviews analyzed · Based on 100 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate clear and reliable voice call quality keeps users connected with family members globally, but report account activation failures prevent new or returning users from accessing their profiles.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
What is the competitive landscape for Rakuten Viber Messenger?
How's The Communication Market?
How does it evolve in the Communication market?
Viber maintains a massive user base, but the Android rating of 4.13 lags behind the iOS rating of 4.60, signaling that technical regressions are disproportionately impacting the majority Android user segment.
| Country | Category | Chart | Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇩🇿 Algeria | Communication | AndroidFree | #7 | |
| 🇺🇸 US | Communication | AndroidGrossing | #19 | ▼1 |
The rivals identified
The Nemesis
Head to Head
Viber must double down on its unique 'Viber Out' utility and community-building features to differentiate from WhatsApp's ubiquity. Focus on becoming the 'all-in-one' communication hub to prevent users from migrating to the simpler, but more limited, WhatsApp experience.
What sets Rakuten Viber Messenger apart
Offers 'Viber Out' for direct-to-landline/international calling, a feature WhatsApp lacks
Provides more robust community management tools and public channel discovery features
What's WhatsApp Messenger's Edge
Meta ecosystem integration allows for seamless business-to-consumer commerce and discovery
Superior technical reliability and media loading speeds across low-bandwidth global networks
Peers
Superior persistent voice channels and low-latency streaming for communities
Highly customizable server structures and role-based permissions
Direct connection to the Facebook social graph for easy contact discovery
Strong focus on casual social features like AR effects and shared watch parties
Supports significantly larger group sizes and highly sophisticated automated bots
Cloud-based architecture allows for seamless multi-device use without requiring a phone to be online
Non-profit status and open-source protocol provide higher trust for security-focused users
Zero-knowledge storage ensures that no metadata is collected or stored
New Kids on the Block
Session - Private Messenger
★4.6 (24K)Session Foundation
An emerging threat in the privacy space that removes the need for a phone number, addressing a key privacy limitation of Viber.
No phone number or email required for account creation, ensuring total anonymity
Uses a decentralized onion-routing network to hide user metadata
The outtake for Rakuten Viber Messenger
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Default end-to-end encryption builds high user trust
- Viber Out utility provides a unique revenue stream
Critical Frictions
- Account activation failures block new-user onboarding
- Intrusive ad-redirects during calls drive negative sentiment
- Sluggish media loading times impact daily retention
Growth Levers
- Expansion of business account product advertising
- Integration of utility-focused AI bots for transactions
Market Threats
- WhatsApp Meta ecosystem integration creates superior commerce funnel
- Beeper aggregator model commoditizes the standalone app experience
What are the next best moves?
Audit account activation logic because activation failure is the top complaint → reduce new-user churn
Activation failures are the #1 complaint theme in sentiment data.
Trade-off: Pause the AI bot utility sprint — activation fixes have higher immediate impact on user acquisition.
Remove ad-redirects during active calls because they are the #2 complaint theme → stabilize call-retention metrics
Users report being forced into external apps during calls, which is a major frustration.
Trade-off: Accept a temporary dip in ad-inventory revenue — call-retention is a more critical long-term asset.
A counter-intuitive read
The reliance on ad-supported messaging is a structural weakness that makes Viber more vulnerable to Beeper's aggregator model than to direct feature competition from WhatsApp.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Cloud-based multi-device usage without phone-online requirement (available in Telegram)
- Zero-knowledge metadata storage (available in Signal)
Key Takeaways
Viber holds its category lead through unique international calling utilities but bleeds users to technical friction, so revenue growth hinges on stabilizing the core activation and calling experience.
Where Is It Heading?
Mixed Signals
The communication market is consolidating around platforms that prioritize technical reliability over aggressive ad-insertion. Viber's current posture is exposed: the technical friction points in the latest release are eroding the trust built by its encryption features, so the PM must prioritize stability to prevent a permanent shift of the user base to more reliable competitors.
Account activation failures in the latest release block new-user access, which accelerates churn before the first session is even completed.
Intrusive ad-redirects during calls disrupt the core communication loop, which drives negative sentiment and reduces the reliability of the app.
The latest release added AI bot integrations, signaling active feature investment rather than maintenance mode for the platform's utility layer.