“Worst messenger ever, full of AI bloatware, full of adds and useless trash notifications that I don't asked for.”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 2,562 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-06.
4.1 ★17,512,466 ratings
1B+Downloads
12+Age rating
448 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
Rakuten Viber is a secure, fun, and exciting messaging and calling app, connecting over a billion people worldwide!
You can do it all with Rakuten Viber: group chats, disappearing messages, reminders, and more:
Send messages for free Staying in touch has never been easier. Send a free text, photo, sticker, GIF, voice or video message, along with many other types of files.
Make free audio and video calls Enjoy unlimited Viber-to-Viber calls to anyone in the world for free. You can even call up to 60 people at the same time! Great for connecting with friends, family, and colleagues :)
Experience end-to-end encryption On by default for all 1-on-1 calls, chats, and group chats, end-to-end encryption allows to you to communicate with confidence knowing that all messages will remain private. No one, not even Rakuten Viber, can read your messages.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 28.11.2 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 28.11.2, updated 2026-10-01.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 28.7.0.0 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version VARY, updated 2026-09-29.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to at least 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
2 themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
65–79% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 28.7.0.0, scanned 2026-09-30.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
6 or more requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
3 or more found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
10 or more found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
The catch list 1
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Multiple ad networks bundled
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
What we saw: Bundles 15 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: AdColony, Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, BidMachine and 11 more
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 3
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Aggressive ad load: raised by 16 distinct reviewers (0.8% of 2029 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Tracking and data collection concerns
The app ships session-recording or a wide tracking stack, holds permissions that read personal data, or is reported by users to sell, leak or over-collect it. The evidence line says which of those was observed.
What we saw: Data & privacy concerns: raised by 6 distinct reviewers (1.1% of 533 reviews scanned)
In the app's own text: A plan is pre-picked as 'recommended'
The purchase screen arrives with one plan already framed as the recommended or most popular choice, so the default is the app's preference rather than the user's. We do not compare the plans' prices, and only the app's own text evidences this, so it is shown, but never counted as a charge.
What we saw: Purchase screen steers the choice: "Best Value"
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Viber's ads are out of control, they even show me ads while I'm on cellular call. It's just unbelievable.”
“Too many adds — Every time I get rid of a add I get another one of viber plus which makes it even more frustrating than the original add”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 28.11.2.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.