If you own a smart device (be it a smartphone, phablet or tablet), you most likely have or had at some time the apps Skype and Viber. The two apps are very popular social free apps, but how do we know which one is the best? If you’re looking to download any of these, keep reading for a comparison between the two applications to figure out which are their best suits.
Starting up the apps
When you first start up the Skype app, there will be three tabs where you need to enter your email address, username and password. To add contacts to your Skype you need to manually add them by their username/email address.
Viber goes through a little more in-depth process. You first have to submit your phone number, and a confirmation text message will be sent to that number. After entering the code received with the text, Viber will start downloading your list of contacts. You will be left with three categories of contacts: first is one filled with the contacts that have the Viber app, the second will be with the ‘Viber Out’ contacts – contacts that don’t have the Viber app installed, and the last one will have both categories.
Status and Availability
While both applications have the feature of showing what contacts are online, the supplementary features to this one are different for each app.
Skype, for example, gives you the option to get into invisible mode – which is perfect if you don’t want everybody to know you are online and just want to talk to certain people. Also, the app lets you change your status into “do not disturb” or “away” to let people know why you are not responding.
While Viber doesn’t have those, it does let you know when a certain person was last online and if they saw your messages or not. If you don’t want these features, you can always change them in the Privacy Settings menu.
Features
Viber provides many features for communicating: you can chat, send emojis (maybe too many sometimes), share your location and make free calls. While all of these features are great, Skype does have the upper hand with the video calling feature it is well known for. It’s a great feature to have and a pretty handy one too if you have a loved one at thousands of kilometers away. We have to admit, it’s nice to see a person’s face once in a while, not only hear their voice. Also, some versions of Skype hold the group video call feature which is even more convenient.
Blocking contacts
While we know that the Skype app gives you the option to go incognito, sometimes that doesn’t stop some… clingy people. If you have someone that keeps contacting you when you’ve made it clear that you don’t like the approach, maybe it is time to block that contact out of your list. Both apps give you the option to choose which contacts you get messages from to ensure a pleasant experience.
Viber Out vs Skype Out
Let’s say that the person you want to call does not have a smart device – and so he/she cannot download the Skype/Viber app. Well, Skype was the first app to come with the idea of Skype Out which means that for a certain sum of money you can call people outside of Skype. Viber also has this feature now, and with lower rates than Skype.
To do this, you need to first get app credits which at Viber you can get with either $0.99 or $4.99, while Skype credits can be found at $4.99.
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