BBM for iOS Updated With Voice Calls, Channels, Dropbox Support

iSayuSay said:

I don't really get your joke but Apple can learn a thing or two about messaging from Blackberry. iMessage is nowhere near as good because it's only an SMS with blue balloons.

BBM was a great ecosystem and I don't even know why would Blackberry give it away, along with the side dishes (BBM Voice, BBM channel, Dropbox support).

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I was playing the role of "Apple person that hates Blackberry", I think.

TBH, I barely use iMessage and rarer still for non-SMS features. I pretty much stopped using chat clients when I got out of primary school several years ago, mostly falling back on email and web apps for collaboration nowadays.

Too little, too late.

super tomtendo said:

BBM was awesome back in the day, but when iMessage came out, it defeated the purpose of BBM. Data text messages. However, iMessage needs to update and add more features, like.... Leaving a group chat....

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Oh ... it's awesome.

on BB10:
Send and receive messages.
Send media (voice notes - saved or created on the fly, pictures, video, but restrictions is 6MB a legacy restriction that is VERY annoying. I'm unsure if iMessage has this type of restriction).

What iMessage does NOT do:
Share a calendar with one or many users (separate from your own Calendars, yet the information is available),
no limites on group chat - iMessage seems to have a limit and gets messy, even in iOS7. (the bubble layout really seems childish I hope it changes because I love iOS)
Video Calling with Screen Sharing - this includes running applications, task switching - anything I do on my screen I can share to yours - this is HUGE for tech support.

There is so much negativity about an offering without any full knowledge of what the application is about.

techsmith said:

roadbloc said:

Haha I actually wouldn't know since I've never used either the iOS or Android app. I'm probably the only MacRumours user that actually likes to use a BlackBerry.

Pls don't hurt me!

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Me too! Love my Mac and love my Blackberry (Z10).

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Me three! Z10 user here, and a Canadian citizen, born and pretty much raised here, first of my family. I have used iOS and Android ... those early horrible reviews of BBM on Android outtages and such was due to BBM leaked almost a month on Android before launch and mutliple people using the same beta signing code so yes of course you're going to have issues.

Still BlackBerry took a LONG time bringing these features.

! - one KEY feature missing and 2 months overdue is Video Calling with ScreenShare! I've enjoyed this feature on my Z10 since launch and it was promised to be launched on both iOS and Android end of 2013 but didn't make it, still late.

zorinlynx said:

I hope VoIP support doesn't mean it'll sit in the background burning battery staying connected to the network like Skype does.

I had to stop using Skype on my phone because of this horrid behavior.

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If BBM suffered the same issues ... then you shouldn't be pointing to the APP as it is using Apple's API's just like other VOIP apps do for the same platform, same would be for an Apple app on Android/BB10.

Cuban Missles said:

I use iMessage exclusively, but that is because everyone I communicate with have Apple devices. But even is that was not true, why would you use BBM when there are so many other out there that may actually be around in a year or two? BB is being bought or going out of business. I would not commit to them at this point.

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I guess that's why the DoD in the US just bought 80,000 BB phones. What folks in this thread forget, BBM is more secure then any other messaging service.

Blackberry has already announced it's getting out of consumer products and will provide government and enterprise communication services to emerging countries

Nanasaki said:

But iMessage only available on iDevices and Mac. This is at least multi-platform. In which world are you living that everybody surrounding you only using iDevices?

And it seems have more features than iMessage anyway.

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Actually, I know very few people who can't use iMessage, but there's also Google Messenger, AIM, and about 9000 other alternatives. Anything that won't work in iChat/Messages is a no-deal.

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Avalontor said:

I guess that's why the DoD in the US just bought 80,000 BB phones. What folks in this thread forget, BBM is more secure then any other messaging service.

Blackberry has already announced it's getting out of consumer products and will provide government and enterprise communication services to emerging countries

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So we consumers won't be using Blackberry anything then.

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iSayuSay said:

Oh wait I cannot send iMessage to Android, Blackberry or Windows Phone.
Oh and I also cannot compress photos sent via iMessage
Oh and I also cannot determine whether my contact has his iMessage turned off or not
Oh and I cannot have conference/group chat with iMessage
Oh and I cannot put status on my iMessage. What a load of crap


Oh wait .. BBM on my iPhone can do all those with one app. And now it has BBM voice meaning it only can be better.

Tl;dr ... Epic fail joke on your side. While blackberry phone would not be my choice, but Bbm is waaay better than imessage

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Oh wait, nobody uses BBM, so all those features are in vain.
But iMessage is weak. Most of my close friends use AIM, which is a lot more feature-rich than BBM and iMessage.

OGDK said:

<Snip>

Oh wait, nobody uses BBM, so all those features are in vain.

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BB reported 80 million active users as of last November and reported in December that 40 million registered iOS/Android users are on BBM.

You have never used BBM have you?

Avalontor said:

I guess that's why the DoD in the US just bought 80,000 BB phones. What folks in this thread forget, BBM is more secure then any other messaging service.

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Nope.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/23/5338012/pentagon-absolutely-no-new-orders-for-blackberry-dod

techsmith said:

Me too! Love my Mac and love my Blackberry (Z10).

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cube said:

My first BlackBerry is a Z10

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Q5 user here. Fantastic phone for its price. BlackBerry have certainly proven themselves worthwhile with the new software and hardware.

Avalontor said:

I guess that's why the DoD in the US just bought 80,000 BB phones. What folks in this thread forget, BBM is more secure then any other messaging service.

Blackberry has already announced it's getting out of consumer products and will provide government and enterprise communication services to emerging countries

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It has been a while, but if I recall, everything for BB had to pass through its servers in Canada. Not sure if BBM is the same. In any case, having the US military depend on technology from outside of the US where the data goes to a foreign nation seems odd. I will give you that BB technology has often been stated as being highly secure. But in reality, is it really any more secure than iMessage. I think key are both using 128b encryption. And apple devices are now more physically secure. And then there is software like Good to limit the data on the device to an encrypted partition. So given all the advances made everywhere and the fact that betting on BB long term viability as an entity is risky, I just don't see this right now.

As I stated before, at my company, where we were exclusive BB, we saw the signs and decided to change. We went BYOD, and settled on Good for our platform. One year into the implementation, I believe we have about 1% still using BB devices.

Avalontor said:

Blackberry has already announced it's getting out of consumer products

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They did not. In fact, a low-cost handset for emerging markets will be announced soon.

I remember watching the keynote when Apple announced iMessage. The crowd went crazy and the forums blew up. I too thought it was going to be something like BBM. I was wrong. iMessage really is just a step above SMS messaging. There's nothing wrong with that but for people to say BBM is some inferior product because of the name behind it is ridiculous. iMessage is just simple messaging where as BBM is more of a tool. Whether you like BlackBerry, BBM or not, whether you plan on using it or not, you can't deny that.

decksnap said:

Nope.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/23/5338012/pentagon-absolutely-no-new-orders-for-blackberry-dod

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Actually this has been clarified to include more new orders, I just cannot find the link for it currently; and no I'm not making it up.

Also I forgot to mention BBM has two different corporate apps in BBAppWorld for Cisco VOIP connection/messaging, and one for MS Lync as well (voice and video), along with corporate calendar sync of video conference appointments which not only you can participate in (if using Cisco/Tanberg infrastructure connected to Exchange) but you can disable/enable video or mute the audio from you during such a corporate office VC.

Also BBM can connect to MVS for corporate SIP/VOIP connections.

I'm not sure how the purchase of DOD of BB or the deal between BB & the DOD has any significance in the thread of BBM being released for iOS/Android???

iMessage is incredibly stable for the most part in the past year compared to BlackBerry's BBM I can vouch for this personally as I go back and forth between iOS and BB10 often but at full stints at a time. But I'd like to see iMessage expanded ... maybe even unified between FaceTime and also with document sharing in a more seamless way.

Supa_Fly said:

iMessage is incredibly stable for the most part in the past year compared to BlackBerry's BBM I can vouch for this personally as I go back and forth between iOS and BB10 often but at full stints at a time. But I'd like to see iMessage expanded ... maybe even unified between FaceTime and also with document sharing in a more seamless way.

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I agree. Apple already has the features they need, albeit as different applications and they also have something BBM doesn't and that's an extension to desktops. iMessage for OS X is a complete joke and is half-assed. It's fine if you just want to send/read messages but it could be so much better...a lot better.

Avalontor said:

BB reported 80 million active users as of last November and reported in December that 40 million registered iOS/Android users are on BBM.

You have never used BBM have you?

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Those numbers are tiny compared to how many people are using the devices that support BBM. That is, if you want to contact someone, the chance of that person having BBM is very slim.

No, I've never used it. Never saw any need to considering that zero people I know use it; they're all on email, SMS, iMessage, Facebook, Skype (which I still avoid), Google Messenger, and AIM.

decksnap said:

Nope.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/23/5338012/pentagon-absolutely-no-new-orders-for-blackberry-dod

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I apologize, my source was wrong

a lot of ppl here use the phone so its needed on my iPhone - the update is really cool.

Still no way to have multiple devices connected to BBM... So I can't have my BBM account active on my iPhone and on my Blackberry... it is useless to me...

Nanasaki said:

But iMessage only available on iDevices and Mac. This is at least multi-platform. In which world are you living that everybody surrounding you only using iDevices?

And it seems have more features than iMessage anyway.

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my world

I only know 4 people who use android and no one who uses BB

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ladeer said:

iMessage is not only an SMS with blue balloons... i hope you were joking.

i personally actually prefer SMS, because it's more secure. you know if you send a message, it wouldn't show up on an iPad the recipient's wife might be using, or another iPad the recipient's kid is playing. You don't have to worry about security, privacy, and self-incriminating acts. you also don't have to worry about the lack of cellular data connections with SMS. in that regards it's way more reliable. i would 100% use SMS w/ my friends, if they don't always complain about their stingy text plan. seriously i don't get why don't all people have unlimited text plan now days....but i know my opinion is probably of minority as most people prefer the convenience of iMessage over privacy/security/control.

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I hope I did, but sorry I don't. Actually it's even worse than SMS. Aside from having read receipt and send voice/pictures, what can you get more of it? Blue ballons, right?

iMessage is the weakest messaging services of all. People use it just because its integration into Apple devices and a bit more convenient.
But like you said, it's very frustrating to manage which devices receive which messages. Especially if you manage an Apple ID with multiple person/devices, it becomes very buggy and messages appear where you don't want it to.

BBM is simple, secure, and ubiquitous than ever now it's on iOS and Android. I wouldn't consider buying a Blackberry handset, but BBM service is just awesome. Also there are more casual alternatives like Whatsapp, Line, etc. But in the end, they're all offer waay more than iMessage.

iSayuSay said:

I hope I did, but sorry I don't. Actually it's even worse than SMS. Aside from having read receipt and send voice/pictures, what can you get more of it? Blue ballons, right?

iMessage is the weakest messaging services of all. People use it just because its integration into Apple devices and a bit more convenient.
But like you said, it's very frustrating to manage which devices receive which messages. Especially if you manage an Apple ID with multiple person/devices, it becomes very buggy and messages appear where you don't want it to.

BBM is simple, secure, and ubiquitous than ever now it's on iOS and Android. I wouldn't consider buying a Blackberry handset, but BBM service is just awesome. Also there are more casual alternatives like Whatsapp, Line, etc. But in the end, they're all offer waay more than iMessage.

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Well, there's the advantage of being able to receive and send from multiple devices including a desktop computer (running one of the more recent versions of OS X). Not something that most messaging services provide and something that at least some if not more people can and do find quite useful.

Also, with BBM you see:

- When the message is sent
- When it is received
- When it is read

Nanasaki said:

But iMessage only available on iDevices and Mac. This is at least multi-platform. In which world are you living that everybody surrounding you only using iDevices?

And it seems have more features than iMessage anyway.

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percentage of people I text who use iMessage: ~90%
percentage of people I text who have a Blackberry or this Blackberry app: probably ~0%

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iSayuSay said:

I hope I did, but sorry I don't. Actually it's even worse than SMS. Aside from having read receipt and send voice/pictures, what can you get more of it? Blue ballons, right?

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Those are pretty useful things that SMS does poorly.

iMessage is the weakest messaging services of all. People use it just because its integration into Apple devices and a bit more convenient.
But like you said, it's very frustrating to manage which devices receive which messages. Especially if you manage an Apple ID with multiple person/devices, it becomes very buggy and messages appear where you don't want it to.

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Really? Because once set up properly, I'm using iMessage across 3 Macs and an iPhone and for the most part I have the same messages on all devices — the only exception being when I either text someone who doesn't have an iPhone or when one of us is off-network and it switches (automatically) to SMS as a backup. Either way, I open ONE app on my phone and everyone in my contacts is available there. I'm not app-hopping to keep track of conversations, thanks. The beauty of iMessage is that it goes seamelessly back and forth with SMS as needed.

BBM is simple, secure, and ubiquitous than ever now it's on iOS and Android. I wouldn't consider buying a Blackberry handset, but BBM service is just awesome. Also there are more casual alternatives like Whatsapp, Line, etc. But in the end, they're all offer waay more than iMessage.

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Ubiquitous? Sure, maybe among your contacts. But ZERO PEOPLE I know are using BBM or have even heard of it. I have ONE friend in China who uses WeChat, but that's it. Otherwise, you're vastly underestimating the value of using a messaging platform that people already have installed and running by default on their iPhone, iPad and maybe their Mac.

curmudgeon32 said:

Really? Because once set up properly, I'm using iMessage across 3 Macs and an iPhone and for the most part I have the same messages on all devices — the only exception being when I either text someone who doesn't have an iPhone or when one of us is off-network and it switches (automatically) to SMS as a backup. Either way, I open ONE app on my phone and everyone in my contacts is available there. I'm not app-hopping to keep track of conversations, thanks. The beauty of iMessage is that it goes seamelessly back and forth with SMS as needed.

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Actually my problem with iMessage is the message showed up where I DON'T want it to. When I leave my iPad or Macbook at home connected to WiFi, I often have other family members read MY messages because if I use the same Apple ID on several devices, the message show up on all of them.

OTOH, I can also read messages from my brother's contact on my device. Now that's a ****** annoying thing about iMessage. Oh and guess what? I cannot use multiple Apple IDs on an iOS device, hence the problem with messages appearing where I don't want it to. Would you call that secure and private?

Ubiquitous? Sure, maybe among your contacts. But ZERO PEOPLE I know are using BBM or have even heard of it. I have ONE friend in China who uses WeChat, but that's it. Otherwise, you're vastly underestimating the value of using a messaging platform that people already have installed and running by default on their iPhone, iPad and maybe their Mac.

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You may put it anyway you want, but BBM is free both on Android, iOS and BB10. You have the option to install it, your friend can too, and voila you can connect to people using it. Same case with WeChat, Whatsapp and most chat services out there.

Do you have THAT option with iMessage? Because you see, not everyone have device.

iSayuSay said:

You may put it anyway you want, but BBM is free both on Android, iOS and BB10. You have the option to install it, your friend can too, and voila you can connect to people using it. Same case with WeChat, Whatsapp and most chat services out there.

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Yep, you could say the same about Facebook messaging as well. There are a million out there. What I'm saying is that I (and I would suspect a lot of other people) am not going to try to lure my friends onto some other platform even if it is more flexible or whatever.

I know that if I open the Messages app on my iPhone, the person I'm messaging WILL get my message one way or another, either as an iMessage or as an SMS. While there may be a lot of flexibility in these other apps, the fact that they're not ubiquitous makes them non-starters for me.

Also, as far as your Macbook is concerned, you should probably be letting others use a Guest account, not your own? Fast user switching is totally painless and easy to set up, and you can let friends and family freely use your machine without having access to your messages, email, and everything else.