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You might have heard earlier this week that BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 leaked and is available for download. We didn’t post a link at first, because we almost immediately heard complaints about the device bricking certain phones. Most of those issues seem to be in the past, so we’ll throw up a link at this point, but please, please understand that this can still harm your BlackBerry. Many people have had a smashing success with BBM 5.0, but not everyone will. Don’t do this unless you feel comfortable doing so, and feel confident that you can get your Berry back to normal if something goes awry. That said, let’s run through the download and install process.

Download and sideload

You’ll need two bits of software to install BlackBerry Messenger 5.0: BBM itself and BlackBerry Desktop Software. If you’re a Mac user or don’t want BDS, we’ll go over the OTA process in just a minute. Until then, head to BlackBerry Rocks to get the links. If you’re going to download the files and use BlackBerry Desktop Software to load them, make sure to download the .zip file. You cannot install .jad files from the desktop. If you don’t have BlackBerry Desktop Software, you can download it here.

Once you have downloaded it, unzip it to a place you’ll remember. Then open up Windows Explorer and go to the unzip folder. There should be a For 4.7.0 (or something similar) folder. Move the cod files from there so they’re in the main unzip folder, along with the .alx file.

Then fire up BlackBerry Desktop Software and run Application Loader. Select Add/Remove Applications, and then hit browse. Head to your unzip folder, and then select the .alx file. Hit Next, and you’re home free. Desktop Software will install the software and give your BlackBerry a reboot. You should be set to start playing.

Thanks to BlackBerryOS for the install tip.

OTA

There are now a number of over-the-air download links for BBM 5.0. The BlackBerry Rocks post will have them as well, for almost all compatible devices. Navigate to the link from your BlackBerry browser (I tend to email myself links like this, but BB Rocks has them in shortened URL form, so you can just copy them into your browser). A lot of them are dead, but this one worked. You’ll need 1.5 MB of free space on your BlackBerry.

Just click the download link and install as you normally would. You should now have a working version of the newest BlackBerry Messenger. Again, there could be problems. Not every installation will go perfectly — in fact, there’s a good chance something can go wrong. We state again that you should not do this unless you are sure you can get it right and deal with any problems along the way.

If you’re experiencing any problems, you can visit the official BBM 5.0 help thread at BlackBerry OS. There’s tons and tons of information in there.

Happy messaging.

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