The official BBM for Android and BBM for iOS are now available for download. BlackBerry released the popular messaging app about 1am Malaysia time today.
BlackBerry Messenger, better known as BBM was an exclusive social messaging application only available on BlackBerry devices, till yesterday. There are 60 million BBM for BlackBerry users worldwide and the BlackBerry infrastructure handled approximately 30 petabytes of data traffic each months.
Last month, the unofficial version of the BlackBerry for Android & iOS was leaked online causing “back end issues” on BlackBerry servers. Despite it crashed the BlackBerry servers, the leaked BBM app was downloaded by nearly 1.1 million Android users.
As of last week, more than 6 million Android and iPhone customers had pre-registered for the launch.
Key features of BBM for Android/iOS below:
Chat with friends on Android, BlackBerry and iPhone:
- BBM is always on and always connected – no app to open
- Know when messages have been delivered (D’s) and read (R’s)
- Share photos, files, documents, voice notes and more
- See when contacts are responding to your message
- Emoticons for every mood and emotion let you express yourself
BBM lets you protect your privacy. You control it:
- You chose how to share your information – BBM uses PINs instead of phone numbers or email addresses so that it’s more private, and you always control who can contact you
- You chose your contacts – 2-way opt-in means you have control over who is able to message you
Chat and Share with many at once:
- Groups – BBM groups help you share pictures, lists, and appointments with group members. You can even be in a group with people who aren’t part of your own BBM contact list.
- Multi-person chats – Invite multiple contacts to have a chat together.
- Broadcast messages – Send a message to multiple BBM contacts at one time.
Create your own BBM profile:
- Post a profile picture using images, pictures or even animated pictures (GIFs).
- Update your status to let people know what you’re up to or how you feel
BlackBerry said that they are implementing a simple line-up(queue) system to ensure a smooth roll out. “If you are among the millions that took the time to sign up at BBM.com, you can start using BBM immediately without waiting in line. If you didn’t sign up in advance, don’t worry – we are focused on moving millions of customers through the line as fast as possible.”
The BBM for Android app weighs about 13MB while the iOS version is about 31MB. BBM requires Android version 4 and above to work, as for iOS, version 6.0 or later.
Once the BBM application is installed, Android and iOS users are required to sign in with their email or register a new BlackBerry ID. After that, users will be issued a device PIN number which can be used to add contacts. The BlackBerry ID only works on one device at a time, so if you already have a BlackBerry, all your contacts will be moved to Android /iOS if you sign in with your existing BlackBerry ID.
At the moment, two popular features are missing on BBM for Android/iOS, they are BBM Voice and BBM Video. BBM Voice is currently available on BBM for BlackBerry and it allows free calls over 3G and WiFi. BBM Video allows Internet video calls and screen sharing, it is currently available only on BlackBerry 10 devices.
[Source]– BlackBerry
