# Viber privacy rating

Messenger owned by Rakuten for chats, groups, voice and video calls, communities and channels, tied to a phone number. Private chats, groups and calls are end-to-end encrypted; the app is funded by ads.

## Summary

Viber scores 22 out of 100 (grade F) on the messengers criteria. It meets 1 of 8 criteria: end-to-end encrypted by default. It partly meets no phone number needed. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, independent audit, metadata protection and decentralized. It is based in Luxembourg: Not in the Five, Nine or Fourteen Eyes; EU member (GDPR).

- Website: https://www.viber.com
- Jurisdiction: Luxembourg. Not in the Five, Nine or Fourteen Eyes. EU member (GDPR).
- Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux
- Home page trackers: Google Fonts (not scored), Google Tag Manager, Mixpanel, OneTrust (not scored)
- Category: [Messengers](https://privacyratings.com/messengers/)
- Grade: F (22/100)

## Criteria

| Criterion | Answer | Note | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | No | Closed source. |  |
| No trackers or telemetry | No | Exodus finds 21 trackers in the Android app, including Google AdMob, Facebook Ads, AppLovin, Adjust and MixPanel. | https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.viber.voip/latest/ |
| No ads or data sales | No | Funded by advertising; the privacy policy describes personalized ads based on Viber activity and data from third parties. | https://www.viber.com/en/terms/viber-privacy-policy/ |
| Independent audit | No | No independent audit is published. |  |
| End-to-end encrypted by default | Yes | One-on-one chats, group chats, calls and media are end-to-end encrypted by default; public communities and channels are not. | https://www.viber.com/app/uploads/viber-encryption-overview.pdf |
| No phone number needed | Partial | A phone number is required, but people met in communities or through name search can chat without seeing it. | https://www.viber.com/en/security/ |
| Metadata protection | No | The server sees who talks to whom, and the privacy policy lists activity and device data used for advertising. |  |
| Decentralized | No | One central service run by Rakuten Viber. |  |

Source: https://privacyratings.com/messengers/viber/
Edit: https://github.com/privacyratings/privacyratings.com/edit/main/ratings/messengers/viber.md