Viber deletes contents of Downloads Folder on Mac!

Sadique Hassan•Updated Apr 26, 2023

It seems Viber is deleting the contents of the Downloads folder on numerous Macs. Viber is one of the most popular cross-platform voice-over IP and instant messaging software and has been in use for over a decade across numerous devices. However, a few Mac users have reported a rather worrisome issue with this app.

Viber is deleting contents of the Downloads Folder on Mac!

According to many users, initially, when they had installed the app on their PC, they gave it access to the Downloads folder so that all the files downloaded from the app would be placed under that one single roof. However, much to their surprise they noted that Viber has silently deleted all the files present in the Downloads folder on their Mac.

For some, this issue first came to light right after they had updated the app whereas for others, it happened once they deactivated the account. To make the matter worse, none of the deleted files are present in the Bin either [though it has all the other deleted files]. So is there a way to recover these files?

How to Recover Downloads Files Deleted by Viber

Your only bet is to restore a Time Machine backup. You don’t need to restore the entire backup as it will unnecessity take up additional time and effort. Instead could simply restore the deleted files from the Downloads folder. Here’s how:

Open Finder and go to the Downloads folder.
Then open Launchpad > Others > Time Machine.
Use the arrows and timeline to browse the local snapshots and backups.
Now select the items you want to restore and hit Restore.

That’s it. As of now, this is your only bet through which you could recover the contents deleted by Viber in the Downloads folder on your Mac. A similar issue was reported a couple of years back but it’s still left acknowledged to date. And there’s every chance that this report might go silently under the radar as well.

As far as the official stance on this matter is concerned, the developers are yet to acknowledge this issue, let alone give out any ETA for the rollout of a fix. As and when any of these two things happen, we will update this guide accordingly. In the meantime, the aforementioned workarounds are your best bet.