For over a decade, BlackBerry Messenger was kept limited to the company’s own handsets. It was only later when the company realized that it needed to take the messaging service cross-platform or risk losing more than it already had to rivals like WhatsApp and Kik. BBM has done relatively well since it arrived on iOS and Android. BlackBerry has now updated the app to make some BBM privacy features free for all users.
These BBM privacy features were previously a part of a subscription plan with which the company aimed to raise revenue from its messaging service. It appears that the company has decided that it needs to offer these features for free in order to attract more users to its service.
The features, now available to all BBM users on BlackBerry, Android, and iOS, will enable users to retract a message from both the sender and recipient once it has been sent. They also get the Timer feature which lets users set time limits on how long a photo or message can be viewed.
BlackBerry was previously charged $0.99 per month for these features as part of a subscription plan, and now they’re free, alongside features like message editing and Private Chat, a privacy-focused chat mode which removes names and avatars from the thread.
Filed in . Read more about BBM and BlackBerry. Source: blogs.blackberry