14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry has just announced that its BBM application has suffered some major changes in the latest update for both the Android and iOS platforms.
The Canadian company confirms the update adds many changes in regard to the look and feel of the app, mostly for iOS, but also for Android. Also, a new chatbot API has been implemented, along with additional analytics for the company's partners, and spam reporting.
Moreover, the developers have added the option to add a phone number to the user's profile. However, as mentioned earlier, the update is mostly meant to streamline the iOS user experience, so here is what you get if you're using an iPhone.
First off, the icons for Chats, Contacts, Feeds, Contacts and Discover have been updated in the main navigation menu. Then, the Discover icon has been relocated on the main navigation menu.
BlackBerry also announced that it moved BBM Channels from main navigation to the BBM Discover screen. The user profile picture, PIN, as well as other info on the user's settings, are now accessible from the “Me” menu.
New gesture, new Goups view, and much more
There's also a brand new gesture command that you can use to mute a conversation, as you can now do that by simply swiping left on items in the chat list.
BBM users will want to know that friend requests now appear on the Contacts tab, and the Group chat notifications include name of group members and group name.
Users on both the Android and iOS versions will notice that there's now a combined view of Groups and multi-person chats, as well as a new Discover menu in list format, which replaced the grid of icons view.
Also, when Android users update their profile pictures, these will now show up as a full image in the feeds. Both versions of BBM have been updated in the Google Play and App Store, so make sure to download the latest version in order to benefit from the new features.