I can't activate Viber on Jolla Phone

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21

I have found (with ChatGPT assisting :slight_smile: ) another way to achieve the same result. Might be interesting to someone…

This was tested on my Jolla Phone (2026), Android AppSupport 15, with a Murena Fairphone 5 as the primary phone. (Yes, a degoogled phone! :slight_smile: )

Open the Jolla terminal and execute:

devel-su appsupport-attach /system/bin/sh

3. Temporarily switch to tablet-sized display mode

wm density 260

On the Jolla Phone (2026), this increases the effective smallest display width beyond Android’s typical 600 dp tablet-layout threshold.

4. Completely stop Viber

am force-stop com.viber.voip

5. Launch Viber again

Open Viber from the Sailfish launcher, enter your existing phone number, and follow the activation prompts.

Viber should now display a QR code for secondary-device pairing.

6. Pair with your primary phone

On your existing primary phone:

  • Open Viber.

  • Go to More and open the QR-code scanner.

  • Scan the QR code displayed on the Jolla.

  • Approve the pairing.

Verify that you can send and receive messages.

7. Restore the original display density

Return to the Android shell and execute:

wm density reset
am force-stop com.viber.voip

Restart Viber from the Sailfish launcher.

On my jolla, Viber remained paired as a secondary device and continued working normally at the original 380 dpi density.

22

How is that another way from what I described above?
Plus the dpi’s you mentioned are completely wrong.

Are you guys even checking what LLMs spit out?

2 Likes
23

Hi Kanthal,

First of all, my earlier post was my first comment in this forum being a brand now owner of a Jolla Phone 2026 and new to Sailfish OS. You could have not known that of course, but now I am not really feel really welcome here anymore. :frowning:

I specifically written “another way”, not a substitute of your solution. Yours is actually easier to achieve. I have just posted this to show there is a “command line way” to do this because I have found this an interesting solution. If I understand this right, we are changing different parameters to achieve the same result. And honestly why not share different experiences, this is why we are here no? To share ideas and experiences.

I usually do not post anything anywhere that I did not first do myself. Going thru the steps I have written, the resolution change worked, I was able to install and set up viber, it is working now, messaging and audio chats and all. So why would you call this bad? Even if setting whatever dpi value. So in conclusion: “I do really check what LLMs spit out”

I am finding that LLM-s being a very useful and effective guides solving my problems of work and hobby all the time. They can be very useful especially if I am doing new things. They are around. So why not use them?

Kind regards,

Tamas

24

The solution was literally 3 short comments above the one you posted.
We are not doing anything different, it is the exact same thing but your LLM assisted solution has the wrong dpi for the phone.

Anyway, If you want to feel welcome I would suggest you read and be truthful.
You can’t tell me that you didn’t see the messages right above yours and that you couldn’t reply to that by saying “guys I have a way to do this thing in terminal as well” if what you said was true. Who would be mad at that?

Anyway, please don’t be the next Polat.
Cheers

1 Like
25

I think this was a one big misunderstanding. When I wrote “another way” I meant command line instead of phone settings. But you are right, the method was the same (fooling viber by changing screen resolution) but we did change different settings (smallest width vs density) and did use different method to get there (phone settings vs CLI commands)

This is what I meant by “another way”. English is not my native language, so please take that too into account.

Yes, I did see your solution before I posted. I never said I did not.

When I found and tested my solution I thought it would be useful to post it here: I just wanted to help the community. I searched the forum to see if this problem was posted before, I saw this thread and saw your solution. I was considering not to post, but then I did it do it in the end, because in my mind my solution was different and I though people might be interested in seeing it. That was it, there was nothing more to it.

If my original post offends you I can delete it gladly. It is simply not worth quarreling over it. And for the record, I always try to be truthful and I do not want to deceive or offend anyone intentionally.

This is the best I can do to resolve this matter. I hope you can accept this.

And I do not know who Polat is, so I cannot say anything in this matter. :slight_smile:

26

I guess another case where LLMs and their translation as well completely change the meaning of what you want to say.

That makes more sense, my apologies.

2 Likes
27

Thanks for the workaround. I could successfully register my phone number on Viber!

One question: Do I have to keep my Android phone running with Viber (or even log in there from time to time) or can I switch it off and forget about it?

1 Like
28

I believe both WhatsApp and Viber need the primary device to connect once every 2 weeks or so.
Viber does have a vaguely defined way to change the secondary device to main device though, but I never tried it so I can’t really help!