How to completely clear Viber on Android: delete cache, chats and junk files

Viber is one of the most popular instant messengers, but over time it turns into a real “memory eater”. High-resolution photos, videos, voice messages and cache accumulate in gigabytes, slowing down the smartphone. If your Android starts to slow down, and in the storage settings Viber takes up a suspiciously large amount of space, it’s time to do some general cleaning.

In this article we will look at all the ways to clean the messenger: from basic deleting the cache to deep cleaning while saving important data. You will learn how to free up space without losing correspondence, which files can be safely deleted, and which files should not be touched. And also - how to configure Viberso that it no longer clogs up the memory.

Why does Viber take up so much space?

Even with active use, the messenger can “swell up” to 5–10 GB - and this is not the limit. The main culprits:

• 📸 Media files: photos and videos in original quality (especially from group chats). One video 1 minute long Full HD can weigh 100–200 MB.
• 🎤 Voice messages: saved in format .opus and occupy from 50 KB to 5 MB per minute of recording.
• 🗑️ Cache: temporary files for quickly loading stickers, animations and media previews. Can weigh up to 1–2 GB.
• 📄 Backups: automatic saving of chat history in Google Disk or locally.
• 🔄 Updates: residual files after installing new versions of the application.

The most insidious feature Viber is by default saves all incoming media files to the smartphone gallery. That is, each photo from the chat is duplicated in the folder DCIM/Viber, taking up space twice. And if you are in active group chats, the amount of garbage grows exponentially.

Method 1: Clearing the cache through Android settings

The fastest and safest method is to delete temporary files without affecting correspondence. The cache does not contain important data, so it can be cleaned at least daily.

Instructions:

1. Open Android Settings → Applications (or All applications).
2. Find Viber in the list and tap on it.
3. Go to Storage (or Memory).
4. Click Clear cache. If there is a button Space management —use it for detailed cleaning.

This method will free up from 50 MB to 1 GB space, depending on activity use. However, it does not delete downloaded media files —for this you need the following method.

Method 2: Manually removing media files from chats

To get rid of unnecessary photos, videos and documents directly in application, follow these steps:

1. Open Viber and go to any chat.
2. Tap on ⋮ (three dots) in the upper right corner → Chat information.
3. Select Media, files and links.
4. Click Select in the upper right corner and mark unnecessary files.
5. Tap on trash icon (🗑️) to delete.

To speed up the process, you can sort files by type (Photo, Video, Documents) or date. Please note: deleted files will disappear only from this chat, but their copies can remain in the smartphone gallery (folder Viber in DCIM).

Method 3: Bulk clearing of all chats

If the correspondence contains thousands of messages, delete files by alone is unrealistic. In this case, the function mass cleaning will help:

1. Open the side menu (swipe to the right or tap on the icon Viber open the side menu (swipe right or tap on the icon ☰).
2. Go to Settings → Account → Privacy.
3. Select Clear history.
4. Specify the period (For the last month, For all time) and types of files to delete.
5. Confirm the action.

Important nuance: this function does not delete text messagesonly media files and attachments If you need to erase all correspondence, use Delete chat for each dialogue separately.

⚠️ Attention: Mass clearing does not affect files saved in Google Drive or on the memory card. They will have to be deleted manually through the file manager.

Method 4: Deleting backups

Viber automatically creates backups of chats if synchronization with Google Driveis enabled. weigh hundreds of megabytes, and they are often duplicated.

To delete them:

1. Open Google Drive on smartphone.
2. In the search bar, enter Viber.
3. Select unnecessary backups (they are called Viber backup [date]).
4. Click Delete (🗑️).

If you do not plan to restore old messages, you can disable automatic backup:

• In Viber: Settings → Account → Backup → Disable.

Method 5: Cleaning through a file manager

Not all files Viber are visible inside the application. Some of them are hidden in system folders. To delete them completely:

1. Install a file manager (for example, Files by Google or Solid Explorer).
2. Go to the folder Internal Storage (or Internal memory).
3. Find and open the directories:
   • Android/data/com.viber.voip/files — basic application data;
   • DCIM/Viber — media files from chats;
   • Pictures/Viber — saved images;
   • Viber Media —downloaded files.

Important: do not delete the folder com.viber.voip entirely - this will cause the application to crash. Clear only its contents (except for files with the extension .db, if you don’t want to lose your correspondence).

⚠️ Attention: On some firmwares (for example, MIUI or EMUI), access to folders Android/data is limited. In this case, use ADB or root access.

adb shell pm clear com.viber.voip

Method 6: Reinstalling Viber with a full reset

If the previous methods did not help, there is a radical solution - full reinstallation. This will delete all application data, including cache, media and settings.

Step-by-step guide:

1. Save important files from chats (photos, documents) to the cloud or on your PC.
2. Open Android Settings → Applications → Viber.
3. Click Delete (or Uninstall).
4. Install Viber again from Google Play.
5. Log into your account - correspondence will be restored from the last backup (if one was created).

This method is guaranteed to free 1–5 GB places, but has a disadvantage: you will have to re-configure notifications, themes and other settings.

💡

Reinstallation is the most effective method, but use it only if other methods have not worked. Viber it will work faster, as after the first installation.

Method 7: Optimizing settings to save memory

So that Viber no longer clogs up memory, configure it correctly:

• 📥 Disable media autoloading: Settings → Media and files → Autoload → select Never or Only via Wi-Fi.
• 🖼️ Compress photo before sending:

  In the same menu, enable the option Compress photos - this will reduce their weight by 2–5 times.

• 🗃️ Limit backups: Settings → Account → Backup → set the interval once a month or disable it completely.
• 🧹 Enable automatic cleaning:

  In some versions Viber there is a function Clean up old files (in Settings → Storage).

These settings will reduce the load on the smartphone's memory, but do not forget check the folder periodically DCIM/Viber —even if autoload is disabled, some files can be saved there.

What to do if Viber is still slow?

If after cleaning the messenger continues to lag, the problem may not be with it, but with the system. Check:

• 📱 Free disk space: Android requires a minimum 10–15% free space for stable operation. If there is less memory 1 GB, clear other applications.
• 🔄 Updates: Install the latest version Viber and firmware Android. Older versions often have caching bugs.
• 🛠️ System optimization: Use the built-in utility (for example, Optimization in MIUI or Device care in Samsung).

If all else fails, try clear the cache partition via Recovery Mode:

1. Turn off the smartphone.
2. Hold Power + Volume up (the combination may vary).
3. In the menu Recovery select Wipe cache partition.
4. Restart the device.

⚠️ Attention: The interface Viber and the location of the settings may differ depending on the version of the application. If you do not find the specified menu items, update the messenger to the latest version in Google Play.

FAQ: Frequently asked questions about clearing Viber