Some people prefer Viber for their instant messaging needs. Those pondering leaving Viber might be wondering if they can deactivate their account and delete their data. In a word, yes. In this tutorial, we’ll tell you everything about deleting a Viber account, guide you through the account deactivation process, and inform you about what happens to your data after the account is killed.
Uninstalling the Viber app vs. deactivating your account
Keep in mind that simply removing the Viber app from your device is not the same as deactivating your account. But if you do delete the Viber app, the following will happen:
- Your Viber address book gets removed from the servers after 45 days.
- Your phone number, which is your Viber account number, will be decoupled from the service after one year of inactivity.
To instantly deactivate your Viber account, follow the steps outlined further below.
Deactivation of a Viber account can only take place within the application itself. If you have already uninstalled Viber and would like to deactivate your account, you will need to re-install Viber in order to do so.
Ensure that you have the latest version of Viber for iOS or Viber for Mac prior to deactivating your account.
What happens after I deactivate my Viber account?
This is what happens after you deactivate a Viber account on your device:
- All of your data is cleared off this device, including your call and message history, groups, and downloaded stickers, both free and purchased.
- You will no longer appear as a Viber user to your Viber contacts.
- All other accounts linked to your Viber account, like Twitter, Facebook, and so forth, will be unlinked from the service.
- Any purchased Viber Out credit will remain on this account, but you can contact Viber support via email and request a credit transfer to a new Viber account.
- When you deactivate Viber on your primary device (the one on which you registered with the service), the app will be deactivated on all other devices.
- For more details, have a look at this Viber support page.
Important: Once your account is deactivated from your iPhone, there is no way to restore any of your user data even if you reactivate your account (which means re-creating a Viber account with the same phone number). Viber does not store any of your message histories and is unable to retrieve lost data. Re-registering to Viber with the same mobile phone number will not restore the previous account history on iPhone.
However, if you back up your Viber chats to Google Drive from your Android phone, you’ll be able to restore the chats after reactivating your account. The Viber support page tells you about this.
Having said that, here’s how to back up your Viber chats (in case you don’t plan on deactivating or, if someday in the future, Viber supports restoring chats on iOS).
Back up your Viber chats
Follow the steps outlined below in order to create a full backup of your chat history prior to deleting your Viber account:
- Launch Viber on your iPhone and tap More from the bottom right.
- Select Settings > Account.
- Tap Viber Backup.
- Finally, choose what you want to include in the backup and tap Back Up Now.
Deactivate your Viber account on mobile
- Open the Viber app on your iPhone and tap More from the bottom right.
- Go to Settings > Account.
- Tap Deactivate Account.
- Enter your phone number and tap Deactivate Account once again.
- You will be warned that continuing with the deactivation process will permanently delete your data. Tap Deactivate if you’re sure.
You can now delete the Viber app from this device.
Deactivate your Viber account on desktop
- Launch Viber on your Mac, Windows, or Linux PC.
- Go to Viber Preferences by clicking the word Viber in Mac’s menu bar and choosing Preferences. You can also click your profile picture from the top right and choose Settings.
- Click Privacy & Security.
- Click Deactivate under Deactivate Viber on Desktop.
- If you are sure that you would like to proceed, choose Deactivate.
This will remove all of your data and deactivate Viber from your desktop only.
You can now drag the Viber app from your Mac’s Applications folder into the Trash. Viber will remain active on your primary device (your iPhone), so you’ll need to deactivate the app there, too (steps already explained above).
How to reactivate your Viber account
- Download and launch Viber on your iPhone.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to re-register your mobile phone number with the service. This will reinstate the previous account on your new device. Your message and call history will not be restored.
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