14 DAY TRIAL // The free Viber application capable of placing and receiving free calls over WiFi and 3G has gained text messaging functionality, which is also free among owners of the free iOS application for iPhone.
“Viber now has free text messaging!” the developers have announced on the app’s official iTunes page.
Viber Media suggests that version 2.0.1 is a must download as it lets users send and receive free text messages to and from all their Viber contacts.
“We’ve added a new tab called Messages. To send a text, simply select a contact from your list, and start texting for free,” the company explains.
However, that’s a function that applies to all your contacts. The one that lets you send ‘free’ texts is behind the new ‘Free Text Message’ button, Viber Media says.
Added to Viber contact details, the button lets users send free messages to all those who use Viber in your Address Book.
“Viber will also notify you about incoming messages so you won’t miss a word single text,” the developers uphold.
The second major change is a relocation of the Favorites tab. To view their ‘Favorites,’ users must now go to the contacts tab, and tap the Favorites button at the top.
An improved calling mechanism is also part of the 1.0.2 update.
Users now know the status of their outgoing calls at all times, and once a call is placed, a “Calling” state will indicate that Viber is connecting to the other party.
“Once a connection is established, a ‘Ringing’ state will indicate that the other party’s Viber, is now actually ringing (note that a call can still be established even if you don't see the "Ringing" state),” the release notes reveal.
A new option to deactivate your Viber account has been implemented. This has been done so that users can easily reactivate Viber with a new phone number, the developers say.
To round up the list of new additions in Viber 1.0.2, the makers list a few squashed bugs, as well as improvements to the Viber recognition engine, Badges, and the calling mechanism which sometimes got stuck on answering.