Blackberry may not be making big waves in the market with it’s products, but from a services point of view, BBM remains perhaps only second to whatsapp as the best known IM service. Although BlackBerry had bet big on BBM going cross platform and being the game changer, things have not really worked out as planned for the once giants of consumer tech.
However, in an attempt to bring the old glory back and to bring the Android and iOS versions of BBM on parity with the BlackBerry counterpart, a new update was released on Android and iOS which bought some of the much requested and sought features.
The latest update is live for both iOS and Android via their respectable App Stores and available for free. It brings BlackBerry Channels, Voice Messages and 100 new emojicons to the table. So yes, if emojis are your thing, BBM is suddenly a whole lot more attractive than ever.
Apart from these features, there is also the ability to share locations via BBM, so no longer you would need to hop to Whatsapp in order to let your friends know where exactly you are. The group size too has been increased to 50, so get ready for more engaging chats right on BBM.
On Android, the latest version of BBM is 2.0.0.13
The detailed changes as reported on Google Play by BlackBerry themselves is as follows:
- BBM Voice – Free voice calls between BBM contacts
- BBM Channels – join conversations happening now with BBM users, brands, businesses, communities and more
- Faster, easier sharing – quickly add photos, voice notes, files and attachments to your BBM chats from your smartphone or Dropbox account
- Location sharing – Share your location temporarily, powered by Glympse.
- 100 new emoticons
- Larger BBM Groups – You can now chat and share with 50 people in your BBM Group
