Install Viber – A Free Video Calls and Messaging App in Linux

Viber is a user-friendly cross-platform Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) instant messaging and video calling application for smartphones created by Viber Media. The Viber was firstly released for smartphones later they have made client available for Windows and Mac desktop operating systems including Linux.

Viber is very much similar to Skype in letting you to make free video/voice calls, send free text/video messages, photo sharing, group conversations, sync contacts, share location with one-anther. With Viber users can also make HD calls to any Viber users on Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Windows, Mac, BlackBerry, iOS, Linux and many more over using 3G/4G or WIFI connections. Currently Linux version is in development, and only they offer client for 64-bit systems.

Viber for desktop allows you to do everything like you do on your smartphones and even it lets you to transfer ongoing calls between devices. Isn’t it pretty cool?. Here is the demo video of Viber desktop support.

As I said above, the official version currently available for Windows, Mac and beta for Linux (64-bit) systems. So, Linux users still needs to wait some more time for official release. But, 64-bit users can install Viber using following commands.

For 64-bit Systems Only

# wget http://download.cdn.viber.com/cdn/desktop/Linux/Viber.zip
# unzip Viber.zip
# cd Viber
# ./Viber.sh

The other Alternative is to use Wine to install the Viber client on Linux computers. Wine is an open source application that let’s you to install and run Windows based applications on Linux platforms. To install Viber client, you must have WINE installed on your system. Follow below links to install Wine on the system.

1. Install Wine in Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora
2. Install Wine in Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Once Wine installed, download the Windows version of client from Viber website or you may use following “wget” command to download.

# wget http://download.cdn.viber.com/cdn/desktop/windows/ViberSetup.exe
# wine ViberSetup.exe

Follow on-screen setup wizard and Click on “Accept & Install” to accept Viber’s End User License Agreement.

Downloading installation files…

Installing Viber….

Welcome to Viber. Click “Yes” if you already have Viber on your phone or Click “No” to Get it Viber on mobile device.

Once you have Viber installed on your mobile device. Activate Viber on your desktop. Enter your mobile number.

An activation code was sent to your mobile phone, enter the code below.

Once, activate you will be presented with screen shown below. And All your Viber contacts will be in sync automatically.

Reference Links

1. Viber Homepage