BBM Drops its Beta Tag and Goes Public on Windows Phone

BlackBerry Messenger is now officially available on Windows Phone after more than a month of beta testing. The app provides access to almost all of the BBM features you know and love, including groups, multi-person chats, and broadcast messages.

BBM for Windows Phone is unique in that it has its own clean and colorful user interface specifically designed to fit Microsoft’s smartphone platform. In comparison, BBM for Android and iOS was designed to look as identical to the BlackBerry 10 version of possible.

There are some downsides to the Windows Phone release, however, such as a lack of BBM Channels, no voice or video calling, and no Glympse integration. BlackBerry will be working to add these features in later, however, and the basic BBM functionality is still here.

In addition to standard one-on-one chats, you can enjoy multi-person conversations; the ability to send photos, voice notes, and your location; broadcast messaging; and BBM Groups, which lets you organize your contacts into categories like family, friends, and colleagues.

If you’ve been using the BBM beta release on Windows Phone, you should find the public version loads faster and is more responsive overall. It also fixes an issue for Spanish-speaking users that sometimes caused the app to load in English instead.

If you haven’t installed BBM on your Windows Phone device yet, you can find it in the Windows Phone app store now by following the link below.

Download BBM from Windows Phone Appstore

Source: TechnoBuffalo

BBM on Android and iOS Updated With “Find Friends” Feature

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) got off to a rocky start when it made the jump to Android and iOS, but at this point the app appears to be running pretty smoothly. Today, the Canadian company introduced a new “Find Friends” feature to help you add more contacts to your BBM account.

The new feature should be available starting today. Once the app has updated, you can use it to scan your phone for any contacts who are already using BBM. You can then send out individual invites to chat or simply add everyone you know with a single tap. And of course, you’ll also be able to invite your friends who aren’t already on BBM to join the service. That alleviates any need to fumble around trying to exchange BBM PINs.

With BlackBerry’s smartphone business hanging by a thread, the company’s fondly remembered messaging service may be its best chance to stay relevant. The company hasn’t revealed how many active users the BBM app has been able to grab, but helping current users find and invite their friends should help the service continue to grow.

Source: BlackBerry

BBM for Android beta app update brings BBM Channels, BBM Voice and more emoticons

Weeks after BlackBerry teased that it'd be bringing BBM Voice and BBM Channels to BBM for Android and iPhone users, the company has done just that. However, the rollout is limited to members of the BBM for Android beta testing group for now.

BlackBerry today updated its BBM for Android app in the BlackBerry Beta Zone with support for both BBM Voice, which allows two BBM users to conduct free voice calls, and the BBM Channels social network that lets users follow and interact with their favorite brands and people. The updated BBM for Android beta also includes improvements to file sharing and more than 100 new emoticons.

BlackBerry previously only said that it would be bringing BBM Channels and BBM Voice to its Android and iOS apps sometime in 2014, so it's good to see that the device maker is rolling out the new features to its BBM for Android beta app less than a week into 2014. There's no word yet on when the goodies will be pushed to the public versions of the BBM for Android and iOS apps, but here's to hoping that since the Android beta app now includes them, it won't be long before testing is complete and they're pushed to us regular folk.

Source: Phonedog

BlackBerry bringing Channels and Voice Chat to BBM for Android and iOS next year

Remember how excited you were for BBM to hit Android and iOS and then BlackBerry continued to fake us all out with imminent releases? Thankfully, that's now all in the past and BBM is a reality for those of us not on BB10 devices, but still its feature set leaves something to be desired. The good news is that BlackBerry intends to flesh out BBM in 2014, though not just for the app.

So what's up ahead? Arguably, the most significant changes are coming to Android and iOS users in the form of BBM Voice and BBM Channels. Think of BBM Voice as you would Skype or Google Hangouts -- it's essentially a way for you to chat with your contacts without touching your allotment of minutes. And Channels, if you'll remember from our preview this past summer, is basically BlackBerry's spin on the social network. Both are already available for current BBM users running BB10, so this addition really just brings the rest of BBM's outsider base up to speed.

BlackBerry's also looking to make sharing with BBM a less cumbersome process in the new year. Though the company hasn't elaborated fully on just how it intends to make photo and voice note sharing that much speedier, it seems as if the process will soon require less fussy UI interactions. Users will even be able to divulge their whereabouts with BBM, albeit on a temporary basis and make use of over 100 new emoticons. All of this is coming "in the next couple of months," so if you need something to sate your curiosity now, check out the video after the break.

Source: engadget