The Viber messenger is a very popular program for correspondence among Ukrainians. It allows you to correspond for free with your loved ones and friends, send photo and video files, make calls, etc.
Using any program for communication, be it a messenger, a social network, or a mailbox, users are interested in complete confidentiality of correspondence. This is where the need for account passwords arises, as the need to protect personal space and your privacy.
Viber is no exception. Active users of the application, who correspond in it almost constantly, are especially interested in the account password.
Correspondence in Viber is very safe for users. Messages sent to you and those sent by you are securely protected by end-to-end encryption that is stored only on your phones. Even the company does not have access to ciphers, and messages are not stored on Viber’s servers. That is, from the company’s side, your privacy of chats is 100% protected. But access to Viber on your devices remains open. We would like to advise you to set a password for entering Viber in order to block access of third parties to your personal correspondence.
In what cases should it be done:
- When your smartphone is often unattended, and relatives or close people are interested in getting into it.
- As a precautionary step in case you lose your phone yourself, or it is stolen from you. In this way, third parties will not be able to access information in Viber.
- So that your correspondence is not read on the computer, if you set up your Viber account on it as well. If it is a home PC, then it is your relatives, and if the work computer is in the office, then anyone has the opportunity to get into your private life.
Is it possible to set a password on Viber?
The developers of the Viber application did not include the function of creating a password and blocking access to the account using it. You won’t find it in the program settings. Neither in the computer version of the application, nor in the smartphone version.
The application has only the “hidden chats” function in its arsenal. This is one of the possibilities for you to hide some particularly confidential correspondence. You can put a PIN code on them. The problem will be solved only partially, because all other correspondence, not “hidden chats”, will be publicly available.
Another reliable way to solve the access problem is to install third-party programs specially designed for these purposes on your device. They are guaranteed to give you the opportunity to secure your correspondence using a PIN code.
Only for owners of Xiaomi smartphones, the Viber privacy problem is solved in an elementary way – by the settings of the smartphone itself. They do not need to invent anything else.
We will talk regarding all the above solutions today in more detail in our article and teach you how to set a Viber password on a smartphone and computer.
Partial solution to the problem using the hidden chats option
Although the Viber program does not provide the function of creating a password for the account or for entering the application, there is a function of “hidden chats”. It makes it possible to hide not all correspondence from prying eyes, but only some of them. You can choose a community in Viber or a separate correspondence and make it “hidden”. No one but you will be able to see them – there will be no “hidden” chats in the general list of chats, and you will not receive notifications regarding emails sent to you. This applies to both your smartphone and tablet, etc.
An exception is a computer or laptop. The PC versions of Viber do not have the “hidden chats” feature. You won’t even be able to view classified correspondence in it. But this is good, because all family members can use your home computer. In this way, your “hidden correspondence” will remain reliably protected from prying eyes and will be stored only on individual devices.
How to set a PIN code for hidden correspondence (this applies to both dialogues and group chats).
To create a PIN for correspondence, follow the instructions below:
- Log in to the application and select the desired chat.
- For an Android smartphone – click “More”, for an iPhone – click on the name of the contact.
- Then “Information” – “Hide chat”.
- The program will prompt you to set a 4-digit PIN code. Write it down.
How to change the password for hidden correspondence in Viber.
The program allows you to change the old PIN code to a new one if necessary. Here’s how to do it:
- Enter Viber’s “Settings” menu, the “Privacy” section.
- Next – “Hidden chats” – “Change PIN code”.
- Write the new 4 digits and secure your correspondence in a new way. We recommend that you change the PIN code numbers from time to time for reliability.
iPhone owners, in addition to the PIN code, have another option of protection to choose from – with the help of the fingerprint system, the Touch ID option.
How to restore the PIN code in Viber if you forgot it
The application allows you to create a new PIN code if you suddenly forgot the old one. However, you must first reset the PIN code, and then register a new one. The only unpleasant nuance for you will be that at the moment of resetting the PIN code, all correspondence that was hidden will be deleted by the program without the possibility of their reproduction. This step is provided by Viber so that a random person who suddenly wants to see hidden chats cannot reset the PIN code and then create a new one, while gaining open access to your secret correspondence. Simply put, Viber protects your privacy in this way.
To personally reset a forgotten PIN, do the following:
- Log in to Vibeg and click “More”.
- Then – “Settings” – “Privacy” – “Hidden chats”.
- Select the Reset PIN option and click Confirm.
How to set a Viber password on a Xiaomi smartphone
All owners of Xiaomi smartphones have the opportunity to set a password on Viber simply by using the device settings. This privilege is available only to them and does not extend to owners of other Android smartphones. Xiaomi has its own built-in function, which is called “Application Lock”. It allows the owner to put a password on any applications in the smartphone, including Viber, to ensure the confidentiality of correspondence. You can also hide notifications with the content of messages that you receive on the locked screen.
In order to set a Viber password on a Xiaomi phone, follow these instructions:
- Go to the “Settings” menu on your smartphone.
- Next, open the “Application Settings” section. It has “Application Lock”.
- Choose Viber from the proposed list of programs and click “Set password”.
- Next, you should create a cipher – graphic key and click “OK”. This will restrict other people’s access to your Viber account on your smartphone.
As you can see, owners of Xiaomi smartphones have a good opportunity in their functionality. They don’t need to download third-party apps to block Viber, clogging up the device’s memory.
And for owners of other brands and models of phones, to ensure the privacy of correspondence in Viber, we still recommend using specially developed software. We will talk regarding him later.
Setting a password on Viber using special programs
It is still possible to protect the privacy of all your correspondence, not just hidden Viber chats. Only this should be done with the help of specially developed applications by visiting the Play Market or App Store. Such programs allow you to set passwords for messengers or other programs, they are also compatible with Viber. We recommend that you use the following applications – LOCKit, Smart AppLock or iAppLock. Smart AppLock is an application for Android smartphones, and iAppLock is for iPhone.
You will be able to deal with programs on your own without third-party assistants. Just download the application from the store to your smartphone, open it, come up with a password, then select all the applications for which you want to set a password and check them. That’s it, now remember the numbers for entering Viber, as the program will ask for them all the time.
We will describe step by step what the user will need to do in order to encrypt his Viber using the AppLock program separately for Android users and separately for iPhone users.
Setting a password with Smart AppLock.
1. Search for the Smart AppLock application in the Play Market and download it to your smartphone. Enter the program.
2. Enter the PIN code that you came up with in advance. Remember it.
3. Click the check mark at the bottom of the screen and confirm the password.
4. Next, the “Programs” menu will open, click “+”.
5. Among the proposed list, find Viber and click “on”.
6. By pressing “+” once more, you will go back – Viber will already be there.
This completes the Viber password setting procedure. Check whether you have done everything correctly by logging into the messenger using the newly created PIN code.
Setting a password for iPhone users – the iAppLock program.
1. Install iAppLock on your iPhone from the App Store.
2. Enter the downloaded program and create a PIN code or graphic key to unlock Viber – of your choice.
3. After that, a list of available programs will appear. Find Viber in it.
4. Next to the program name, click “on”.
5. Now your Viber is “under lock and key”. It remains only to check whether you have done everything correctly. Try logging into the messenger. The application should ask you for a password. In addition, a green lock icon should appear opposite the “Viber” shortcut.
To undo your previous actions and make Viber available to everyone once more, simply remove AppLock from your smartphone. If you forgot your PIN code, the way out of the situation is the same – uninstall AppLock.
How to protect your correspondence in Viber on a computer
There is also no password for the computer version of Viber. Also, there is no hidden chats feature. Therefore, you will not be able to protect even selective correspondence from third-party users.
However, solutions also exist for Viber on PC. This is creating your own additional account on your computer and logging into it only with a password that only you will know. Another way is with the help of a special program for PC.
Creating an additional account with a password on the computer
So that only you have access to your Viber, you need to create another, so-called “guest” account on the PC and set the password to the main one. The algorithm of your actions to create an account is as follows:
- Enter “Start”, there in “Control Panel”.
- In it, find “User accounts…” – “User accounts”.
- Click on the option “Manage another account”, in it – “Create an account”.
- Now you need to give a name to the new account and choose the status “normal”.
- Then confirm your actions. This will complete the account creation.
Now let’s move on to creating a password. Here is the scheme of your actions:
- We go through the path once more – “Start” – “User accounts…” – “User accounts”.
- Here we choose another option – “Create a password for your OS”.
- Create your own password and password hint and click the Create Password button.
Now your Viber messages on a PC are securely protected by an account password.
A third-party solution is the Game Protector program
If you don’t want to create an additional account on your laptop, you can use the Game Protector program. To install it, you need to visit the official website of the application, or find the program in the Windows application store. Here’s what you need to do next:
- Download and install the program on your laptop.
- Open it and click the “Open” button.
- Next, find the Viber program file on your computer with the extension .exe. The path is as follows – “Computer” – “C Drive” – ”Users” – “Username” – “AppData” – “Local” – “Viber”.
- Next, enter the previously prepared password and click “Protect”.
- At the end of your actions, check whether it is really not possible to enter Viber without entering a password.
Of course, all the methods described above are effective and will help you protect your personal space in Viber. However, the best thing you can do is to prevent others from using your gadgets or PC.
Source: itech.co.ua
