Start with the split, not the switch
The practical question is not “should I share my birthday?” but “which of three separate controls do I want on?” Viber’s own documentation describes sharing the user’s birth date and birthday reminders/notifications as different settings, so changing one does not automatically decide the other.
Viber separates sharing the user’s own birth date from showing reminders and receiving notifications about contacts’ birthdays. Source
That separation is the reason a worksheet helps: you can record each control, its current state and the reason for your choice, instead of toggling something and hoping the rest follows.
The three-control worksheet
This is a proposed reader checklist, not a test we ran. Fill it in for your own account, then revisit it if you change phones or reinstall the app.
| Control | Where the brief places it | What you are deciding | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Own birth date sharing | Privacy > Share your birth date | Whether your birth date is shared at all | Whether you see reminders about other people |
| Reminder display | Notifications > Show birthday reminders | Whether birthday reminders appear in the app | Whether push notifications arrive |
| Push notifications | Notifications > Get birthday notifications | Whether birthday notifications are sent to your device | Whether another person has shared anything |
The menu labels above come from the editorial brief; confirm them in your installed version before relying on them. If a label differs, record what you actually see rather than assuming the path is unchanged.
Setting it up in a sensible order
- Open Privacy and locate the birth date sharing control. Decide whether you want your birth date shared, and note the state you chose.
- Open Notifications and locate the birthday reminder display control. Decide whether you want reminders shown in the app.
- In the same Notifications area, locate the birthday notification control. Decide whether you want push notifications for birthdays.
- Write all three states down. The point of the worksheet is that the three can legitimately differ: sharing your birth date without reminders, or reminders without push notifications, are both coherent choices.
There is no need to change all three together. Treat each row as an independent decision.
Why reminders can be missing even when settings look right
Birthday notices are conditional. They depend on contact and interaction conditions as well as both users’ settings, and age and regional restrictions apply. Viber also states that the notification does not reveal the person’s age.
Birthday notices depend on contact and interaction conditions as well as both users’ settings, with age and regional restrictions; Viber says the notification does not reveal the person’s age. Source
This has a direct consequence for how you read an absent reminder. If you expected a birthday notice and none arrived, the honest conclusion is that the conditions were not met or the feature was not available to you — not that the other person is a particular age, is not your friend, or has configured something in a particular way. A missing reminder is not evidence about another person.
Similarly, do not change a real birth date to work around an age or regional restriction. That misrepresents your information and does not create eligibility the platform has not granted.
Failure paths and what to do
- The menu path is not where the brief says. Check the current app version and record the labels you see. Menu layouts can change between versions; the worksheet still works with your observed labels.
- One control is unavailable. Age and regional restrictions can affect availability. Note the control as unavailable rather than substituting a workaround.
- You shared your birth date but see no reminders for others. These are separate controls, and reminder visibility also depends on the conditions above. Recheck your own reminder setting, then accept that the remaining conditions are outside your control.
- You want reminders but not to share your own date. Because the controls are separate, review the sharing control on its own and leave the notification controls as you prefer.
What this worksheet cannot do
It cannot tell you why a specific contact’s birthday did not appear, and it cannot confirm anyone’s age or relationship status. It also cannot be delegated to a username search: TraceSeek is a separate public-username lookup app and does not change Viber settings, recover private accounts or verify identity.
If your wider concern is which public accounts are associated with a phone number rather than birthday visibility, that is a different task — review the related account task after you have finished the three-control worksheet here.