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Setting Up Viber

Connect a Viber bot to your Intercom workspace so messages sent to the bot land in Intercom and replies go back on Viber.

Written by Tarek Khalil

Before you start

You need:

  • A Viber account — the mobile app, installed on a phone with a verified number.

  • A Viber Business account (also called Viber for Business or Viber Admin Panel), created with your Viber phone number.

  • The bot token issued by the Viber Admin Panel after you create a bot.

  • Admin access to the Octopods workspace.

Note: This article covers Viber bots, which are the self-serve option. For Viber Business Messages (VBM) — the enterprise-tier service with higher volume, broadcast capabilities, and message templates — see Setting Up Viber Business Messages.

Step 1: Create a Viber bot

  1. On the Viber Admin Panel site, sign in with your Viber account.

  2. Open Create Bot Account.

  3. Fill in the bot details described below.

  4. Finish creation. Viber shows the bot’s authentication token on the confirmation screen. Copy it — you can retrieve it again later from the bot’s settings, but it’s easiest to grab it now.

The details Viber asks for are:

  • Bot name — visible to users who message your bot.

  • Bot URI — a unique identifier, lowercase letters and digits only.

  • Category and Subcategory — for Viber’s directory.

  • Description and Profile picture.

Warning: The authentication token is essentially a password for the bot. Treat it like one.

Step 2: Start the Viber channel setup in Octopods

  1. Open the workspace you want to add Viber to.

  2. Click the option to add a new channel.

  3. In the Add a Channel modal, select Viber under Popular Channels.

  4. A setup panel opens with a Viber Bot Token field and an optional Friendly Name field.

Step 3: Enter the bot token

  1. Paste the authentication token you copied from the Viber Admin Panel into the Viber Bot Token field.

  2. Optionally give the channel a Friendly Name to identify it in the channel list.

  3. Click Activate Viber Channel.

Octopods:

  • Validates the token by calling Viber’s API for the bot’s profile.

  • Retrieves the bot’s display name and avatar automatically.

  • Registers the webhook URL with Viber so incoming messages are forwarded to Octopods.

On success, the Viber channel appears in the channel list with a Connected status.

Step 4: Send a test message

  1. Open the Viber app on your phone.

  2. Search for your bot by its URI or scan the QR code on the bot’s profile page in the Admin Panel.

  3. Start a chat with the bot and send a message.

  4. Open the Intercom Inbox for this workspace. A new conversation appears with your message.

  5. Reply from Intercom.

  6. The reply arrives on Viber from your bot.

What Viber bots allow

  • Inbound messages from Viber users who start a chat with your bot flow into Intercom.

  • Text, images, video, files, stickers, and location messages are supported.

  • Carousel and rich media outbound messages can be sent from the Octopods API.

  • Proactive outreach to users requires them to have already started a conversation with the bot. Viber does not permit sending unsolicited messages from a self-serve bot.

Common issues

  • “Invalid auth token” — the token is wrong. Re-copy it from the Viber Admin Panel (you can regenerate it if needed) and paste it into Octopods again.

  • Messages don’t reach Intercom — use the channel detail page’s reconnect action. Viber overrides the webhook if another tool is using the same bot token.

  • Bot can’t be found in Viber app — confirm the bot’s profile is set to Public in the Admin Panel and that the bot URI is the one you’re searching for.

What’s next

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