BBM: Any Good?

So, BBM, otherwise known as Blackberry Messenger, has evolved to smartphones. The idea of BBM is to have the option to talk to people, without sharing any personal details such as your phone number. There has been known to be a lot of controversy in the past over the quality of this service. It seemed to be like marmite – some people love it, some people hate it.

I do believe that there are a lot of positives to downloading this app onto your phone. For example, the privacy settings are quite good. People can only add you using your own unique pin, and even then you don’t have to accept. As it is always running in the background, you will always be aware when you receive a message. In addition to this, you can see when your message has been delivered and read. You can even share photos, files, documents and voice notes, which you can’t do for free in a text message.

However, as with every app, there are some negatives too. For instance, when BBM was first released for smartphones, after you downloaded the app you had to wait for a conformation email before you could use it. This is a real nuisance because for many people this took over a day, leaving them questioning whether or not it was even worth it. Furthermore, I have found that there are a lot of bugs. The app often freezes and closes, and there is an issue with not being able to accept contacts, but there has recently been an update to fix this.

Overall, I would not recommend BBM, as there are many other similar, more effective apps available such as Kik or Message Me. Although, there are qualities such as broadcasting which aren’t available elsewhere, so this is a point to consider if you are deciding between services.