How to Set Up Viber for Internet Chatting on Your Smartphone or Computer

Viber is a newish voice program that runs on smartphones, Windows, and Macs. It started out as audio only, and then added video. You have to have a cellphone number to use it.

To download and install the Viber program onto your computer, click the Get Viber or Download button, and follow the directions. To install it on your phone, search the Apps Store or Google Play Store for “Viber.”

When you run Viber the first time, you set it up:

1. First, Viber asks whether you also have the app on your phone; if not, you can’t use the system. Enter your cell phone number.

2. Viber sends a text message to your phone with a number.

3. Type the number into the Viber program on your computer, as a way to prove that the phone number is really yours.

4. Once you’ve done all that, you see the Viber window.

   

The first time you run Viber, it may already know about all your friends and coworkers, probably because it read them from the contacts list on your phone. On your Viber contacts list, you can see who else uses Viber by the purple “Viber” label. A phone number may appear under non-Viber users.

Click the name of the person you want to talk to, and then click Free Call (for a Viber-to-Viber call), Viber Out (to call their telephone number, which costs money), or Video. If you choose Viber Out, you’ll have to buy Viber credit. These calls aren’t free, but especially if you are calling overseas, they are a good deal.