The first 10,000 people who sign up can also lock in a discount $1.99 subscription for life.Ībove: Viber: Subscribing to a local numberĪchieving scale on messaging apps is a hard enough feat in itself, but once that scale is achieved, it’s not always easy to make money.

“From expats who need a local phone number that connects them back home, to global business owners who want overseas clients to feel they are located nearby, this new feature gives them a local presence no matter where they are.” Making moneyĪt launch, Viber Local Numbers can only be purchased for the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., but it said that it expects to add more markets to the mix soon. “The new Viber Local Number enriches our users in a way that makes Viber the most powerful communication app out there,” noted Viber CEO Djamel Agaoua. In effect, this means you can take business calls through your iPad. There are clear benefits to offering local numbers through a messaging app such as this: Business people can get themselves a local telephone number to deal with clients, even if they’re traveling on the other side of the world friends or relatives can call Viber users at their local rates, without being on Viber themselves and Viber users can access their Local Number across all Android and iOS platforms. The company told VentureBeat that it plans to make the number function bidirectionally in the future. So if someone messages you on your special Viber number asking a question, you won’t be able to respond. There are caveats with the service for now, though: Viber users can’t call out using their local number, and they can’t respond to text messages using their local number. With Viber Local Number, which has been in closed beta until now, users can pay $4.99 per month to access a local telephone number for anyone outside of Viber to call or text (SMS).įor the caller, it costs whatever their network rates are for calling a local number, while the Viber user doesn’t pay anything extra beyond their monthly subscription.

How does viber work out of country