Although sometimes it seems that in the instant messaging sector there is only WhatsApp, Telegram and little else, the truth is that this is not the case and in the Apple application store we can find a wide variety of apps that allow us to interact with our friends , family and contacts in general not only through text messages, but also by voice and even with free calls. This is the case of Viber.
Viber is one of the great unknowns when it comes to messaging. The name is probably very familiar to you, but who really uses Viber? The truth is that today has more than 800 million users worldwide and was one of the first, along with others like Line, to introduce free calls through the data network (years before WhatsApp). Now just released a new update that will allow companies to create corporate accounts through which users can interact with their favorite firms.
With Viber you can keep in touch with your favorite brands
Yesterday, the instant messaging application Viber, owned by the Japanese company Rakuten, launched a new business account format thanks to which companies and brands will be able to maintain communication with users from service.
Discuss public accounts with your favorite brands, businesses, and personalities. Follow them for news and updates and subscribe for direct messages
With the release of this new Viber feature, approximately a few a thousand public accounts have been released in the service. Among them, names such as The Huffington Post, Yandex, The Weather Channel, BBC and a very long etcetera stand out. These brands / companies now they will be able to send updates and all kinds of relevant information to users who decide to subscribe to them previously.
At the same time, Viber users will be able to share all this content and information with the rest of their contact lists.
Bot compatibility
These public accounts are also ready to introduce chat bots to the messaging service as Viber has implemented its scalable API for businesses that will include tools for bot developers.
Michael Shmilov, COO of Viber, pointed out that "we are focused on building the best chat experience with a scalable API, so we are not building bots ourselves […] we provide the tools for bot developers."
Public accounts come as a later addition to another feature that Viber introduced in 2014 and dubbed "public chats." This function allows personalities (or anyone for that matter) to engage in a conversation with the public, although only those who actually had their interlocutor added as a real contact were able to interact with him or her. However, unlike this feature, now users will be able to interact with new business accounts without adding them as a contact.
Other Viber features
Viber was acquired in 2014 by the Japanese company Rakuten and currently has its service headquarters located in Cyprus. It has more than 800 million users and among its main features include:
• Comprehensive encryption of all messages and all voice and video calls
• Send messages to your friends (texts can have up to 7 thousand characters)
• Make free phone calls and video calls with HD sound quality
• Share photos, videos, voice messages, places, contact information, rich content links, stickers and emoticons
• Download common and animated stickers from the sticker store to liven up your messages.
• Create group messages with up to 200 participants, "like" messages from others and manage your group chats as an administrator by modifying information and deleting participants
• Follow public chats: follow your favorite celebrities, personalities and brands closely, see how your conversations unfold in real time, where they comment "like" and share multimedia content
• Play games with characters from Viber, Violet, and Legcat. See how many coins you can earn
• Attach files: send messages with documents, presentations, archives and other files, directly through Viber
• Delete messages from all participants in the conversation, even after they have been sent
• Push notification ensures you never miss a call or message, even when Viber is offline
• Viber Desktop application compatibility on Windows, Mac, Linux and Windows 8
• Full iPad compatibility, including Split View and Multitasking
• Apple Watch compatibility: read, reply to messages, and send exclusive stickers right from your wrist
• 3D touch support
• iCloud access: send photos and videos directly from your iCloud storage location