BBM 2.0 adds a wealth of features, won’t save BlackBerry

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Published 13 Feb 2014

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BlackBerry’s phone business may be teetering on the brink of collapse, but the popular BBM messaging service keeps trucking along. In December, Blackberry announced over 40 million people use the iOS Android versions alone. A new BBM 2.0 update for ione Android, due today, adds voice calls, location sharing, file attachments, Dropbox integration, more. Oh, all that stuff is coming to both of the customers running BlackBerry OS 10 phones in the form of BBM 10.3, too.

The update is expected in ay  the iTunes Store later today. Among the features it adds are:

bbm quick share glympse

Glympse integration allows temporary location sharing with your contacts.

BBM Voice: BlackBerry 10 users have had the ability to make voice calls from within BBM, but now the capability is coming to Android iOS users. It works over either -Fi or your data connection, but is otherwise free.

BBM Channels: Another feature that already exists for BlackBerry OS users, Channels are sort of like a cross between chat rooms forums. They follow brs or businesses, or just personal topics of interest.

cation sharing: wered by Glympse, you can share your location with a BBM contact. And, just like Glympse, you can set a timer for how long you want to share your location for. Glympse is one of our favorite location-sharing services, this is a nice addition.

Attachments: You can send a photo, voice note, or file attachment to your contacts now. Amazing.

Dropbox integration: You know those file attachments we just mentioned? They can come straight from your Dropbox, if you’re on the receiving end, you can save it straight to your Dropbox. st another reason why Dropbox is our favorite online cloud storage syncing service.

New emoticons: There are more than 100 new emoticons. One. Hundred. Try not to freak out too much.

bbm20 emotes

BBM 2.0 adds a bunch of new emotes. st what you’ve always wanted.

rger BBM groups: You know how you’re always saying to yourself, “This group message pinging me notifications every 20 seconds isn’t annoying enough. I wish I could have up to 50 people in here!” ll, now you can.

l kidding aside, BBM is a well-loved very popular messaging service, these are welcome additions that help bring it up to snuff with the competition. BlackBerry promises the 2.0 update will hit the App Store ay later today. BlackBerry’s YouTube video walks you through the features.