Private Chats, Edit Message, Publish in Feed, more

Jun 1, 2015 21:23 GMT  ·  By

A few days ago BlackBerry teased that something cool is coming to BBM users, and today the Canadian company announced a major update for BBM for Android.

Keep in mind that this update is exclusively available for Android users since it contains features that are only available in Google's mobile platform. However, some improvements will be implemented in other versions as well.

First and foremost, BlackBerry added Material Design to BBM for Android. The application has been redesigned from the ground up, using Google’s new design principles.

BlackBerry promises a more colorful BBM experience thanks to Material Design. But that's not the only major change included in this update.

Developers also announced a few new features which are likely to be available on other platforms as well.

First of all, BlackBerry has added Private Chats, which will enable BBM users to hide their name in a private chat. Also, the new message notifications are turned off in private chats.

All-new design and more features now available in beta version

Moreover, BlackBerry has drawn inspiration from Snapchat and announced that chat would be automatically deleted after a short time, or when the user ends the private chat.

Another new feature included in this update is meant to complement the message retraction ability that's only available with a monthly subscription. It provides users with the option to edit a sent message.

Last but not least, Publish in Feed is a new feature that has been included in beta versions of BBM for BlackBerry 10 and iOS. It allows users to share status updates faster, directly from the BBM feed.

All new features introduced by BlackBerry today are now available in the beta version of BBM for Android and will be rolled out in Google Play Store later on. If you want to get a taste of what's to come, you can now sign up for the beta.