Get the best deals with Viber, WhatsApp, PingChat! and Skype while keeping your data private

With the iPhone currently being sold in 88 countries all with their different carriers, one of the first things customers need to choose is a calling plan. Mobile operators tend to sell minute bundles but depending on the contract, some might be charge for the cellular data used or even charging calls by the minute. Choosing the right option for you can be daunting as every alternative is a universe on its own with its own small print. But don't worry. There are apps out there that can help to save you money. 

One of the questions I get asked more often is about apps that complement your calling plan. I make international calls on a daily basis to catch up with relatives and friends living abroad. As a seasoned Skype user, I have always used the service to call foreign mobile and fixed line numbers to save some money. However, new alternatives have arrived to the App Store that can help you to save even more. 

Let's get texting for free

The first thing iPhone switchers coming from a Blackberry smartphone will miss will be the free messenger service BBM. The iPhone does not have any native free solution, all you get is the standard SMS app, which sends paid messages to your contacts. PingChat! (formerly called Ping!) and WhatsApp fill in the gap. They both allow users to exchange multimedia messages for free across iOS, Blackberry and Android devices. You just need to download the app, create an account and add your friends with their username to start texting for free. The catch is that these apps use your 3G/EDGE to send and receive information, which means that if you are on a limited data plan, you might want to monitor your usage. Using Wi-Fi, it will cost you nothing. 

Using either PingChat! or WhatsApp is really useful for have quick chit-chats with other users and it can represent a big saving compared with sending SMS and MMS abroad. They both use push notifications, so the actual user experience is still there: every time someone texts you, you will see an alert on the screen and a count badge in the app's icon. 

So far so good, but just like some other users, I have my concerns about the registration process in PingChat! and the use of my contact's data with WhatsApp. If you don't want a third party app picking up your contact's details to see who is using the service, I recommend PingChat!, where you only have to share a nickname. 

"We do not use your phone number or email address or other personally identifiable information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may, however, use your email address without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major WhatsApp Site or WhatsApp Service changes or for customer service purposes)." from WhatsApp Privacy Notice 

PingChat [iTunes Link] - Good for group texting. Keeps your mobile number private.

WhatsApp [iTunes Link] - Identifies quickly who's got the app installed from your contact list.

I personally like PingChat! better as it has been around for longer and in my case I have more contacts using this than WhatsApp. They equally reliable, although some networks and home routers might have the ports closed. 

Free voice calls? Where's the catch? 

While I have been using Skype since it first arrived to the App Store, we can't deny that the promise of free calls is appealing to everyone. The Skype app as it is is an excellent companion to the desktop app that you might have used before for cheap voice calls, video conference and chatting. I still have struggled to cope with some of the earlier issues, such as Skype keeping logged on for the whole day and receiving chat messages from my contacts as push notifications. The addition of videocalls over 3G makes it a very strong contender for Face Time and the option to call international numbers for a small fee, made me stick to it.  

A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to Viber, an app which allows you to call other users for free. Some of my friends quickly installed it and well, it worked! But what is the difference with Skype? When you install Viber you allow the app to go through your contact list stored on your iPhone for the app to see you is already using it. Just like with WhatsApp, you are identified by your mobile number and not with an username. The app pulls this info and displays who is using Viber in a neat way, but I still had a lot of reservations about it. 

I was happy to see that Liad Agmon blogged about his reasons not to use Viber and that the company CEO, Talmon Marco, had to join the conversation to make things clear. In a comment on that blog post, he explains that while Viber copies your address book names and mobile numbers and keeps it on the company's servers, it promises to use it just to tell you when your friends are online, indicate who is using Viber and display the contact name in the push notifications. 

"The copy of your address book (names and phones) is stored on a live database. This database does not have a "historical backup". If you delete the address book from our servers (more about this below), it will be deleted instantly and permanently." from Viber's Privacy Policy

The company says that they won't sell your info to anybody and that they have enough funding to make Viber calls for free without using any ads. Viber has decided to keep all your call history information indefinitely, while Skype is not clear about it and moil operators in Europe do so for 36 months maximum. It's fair to say that it is a new company and needs some time to fine tune everything. However, the fact that they had to change their privacy policy so fast and deployed a group of people to explain the situation, says a lot about them and their reputation. iOS users know about the huge opportunities for companies doing business in the AppStore and offering something for free with no apparent compensation, is going to look very conspicuous.

Viber [iTunes Link] - Quick setup, privacy concerns over agenda backup on the company's servers.

Skype [iTunes Link] - Huge user base, able to call any number (paying), video calls.

Let's admit it, you get what you pay for. I'm currently using both Skype and Viber for different needs. I have noticed that older iPhone users are more comfortable with Viber, as you don't need to wait for the app to sign in and finding your contacts is plain easy. Despite the criticisms, I found the call quality quite decent although I experienced frequent call drops. I'm using Skype to call mobile phones, fixed line numbers as well as other Skype users who are online. These guys have my PayPal account but have a good track as a respectable and innovative company. 

Comments

[viber]

Hello,This is a member of the Viber Development Team!Thank you for your review of Viber. we are very happy that so many people worldwide are interested in our application.I would just like to add that Viber will soon be available also on other devices, and not only iPhone. the next one is Android, and it will happen in March.Viber will also allow to send Text Messages very soon (February).If you have any question about Viber - please feel free to ask.Thanks!the Viber Team.

[appfreak]

Thanks for letting me know. I can see you guys are monitoring everything is being said about Viber on the interwebs, which is always a good thing. One of the points I raise is how your company is going to monetise the service in a medium-long term. Could you give us some hints? Again, thanks for popping in

[viber]

For now, Viber's focus is on adding platforms, adding features (such as text messages) and improving overall system performance. At the same time, we are working on additional future premium services that will generate revenues. The basic Viber service - Viber to Viber phone calls, and soon text messages - will ALWAYS be free.Further, I’d like to reiterate the five commitments we made when we launched the company:1. The Viber software will always be free.2. Viber for iPhone (and soon Viber for Android) will never display any ads.3. Viber to Viber calls will always be free.4. Viber to Viber text messages (coming soon) will always be free.5. We will never sell, rent or in any other way abuse your personal information.

[yaffa]

Question re Viber: If I and a friend are both on AT+T and Viber, won't this call (previously a free mobile-to-mobile call) NOW use up data plan mgs? With a limited data plan, these seems like a bad choice when speaking to a fellow AT+T user. How can I revert to a "regular" phone call when calling from the road in a case such as this?

[Viber]

yaffa -First - you can always choose to make "regular" phone calls by simply using your regular iPhone app, and not Viber.Secondly - Viber can also be used on WiFi networks, and that, naturally, does not use up data plan minutes.Lastly - Viber can also be used for international calls, calls from iPod and iPad, and next month - also users with Android. Furthermore, Verizon is expected to allow purchasing iPhones soon, and that will expand your option to make free calls to friends from other networks as well.So as you can see - the advantages are numerous :)Hope this answers your question,Viber.

[yaffa]

Another question re Viber if you don't mind. How much data does, say, an hour long phone call use if i am calling away from a wifi spot? I am not sure how to compare these units?

[Alon]

Another Viber advantage is that it's using Apple's push notifications. This means that even if the viber application is closed, you will get a notification with a ringtone on an incoming viber call which will open once clicked the viber application and connect the call. Skype does not do that, and requires it to be open all the time (which seems to drain the battery much faster).

[yaffa]

That's great. What about the use of data for a phone call? Since I got the iphone 4 I do not have unlimited data, so it is important to know how much data a phone call uses when someone is talking on viber. Thanks!

[viber]

yaffa - Viber uses about 0.25MB/minute in and out (during a Viber call), which means 0.5MB/ total both ways. that's about 2MB every 4 minutes. Very low, as you can see.Viber.

[appfreak]

I have reset my iPhone cellular network data in General>Usage>Sent Received to track the use Viber makes of this (plus many other apps using the 3G service). I will update with results after a week.