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In our year and change of operating BBGeeks, we’ve written a number of BlackBerry guides for all sorts of applications. Yet we haven’t touched on the most basic one: BlackBerry Messenger. Over Memorial Day weekend I rode the bus with my cousin from New York City to my parents’ place in Jersey. On the way she was furiously typing away at her BlackBerry. “Texting?” I asked, more in hopes of conversing than getting the answer I thought I knew anyway. “No,” she said, “it’s actually BlackBerry Messenger. You use it, right?” Of course, but not as furiously as her apparently. For the next 10 or so minutes she talked about how much better BBM is than texting. It was then that I knew I had to do a guide for it.
Setting up BlackBerry Messenger
The best part about BlackBerry Messenger is that it comes preloaded on your BlackBerry. All you have to do is find the icon for BBM. It will look different depending on the theme you use, but in general it should look like the BlackBerry logo inside a dialog bubble. Kinda like the image to the right.
Unless you deleted BBM, your phone should have it already loaded. If not, there are a couple of things you can do. Normally I’d recommend going to http://www.blackberry.com/messenger/ to download it. Unfortunately, that site appears to have been removed. The other way to reload BBM is to connect your BlackBerry to a PC and run BlackBerry Desktop Manager. You’ll then run Application Loader, where you’ll check the box for BlackBerry Messenger, then hit Next until you get to Finish.
The first time you run BlackBerry Messenger you’ll be prompted to enter your display name and a password. Simple enough. Just enter that and you’ll be ready to move onto adding contacts.
Adding contacts to BBM
What’s an instant messaging client without a bunch of contacts? BBM makes it easy to add other BlackBerry users to your contact list. Simply depress the Menu button and select Add Contact. A small dialog box will pop up prompting you for the contact information. Here you can enter either the user’s email address or PIN number.
A quick note on adding contacts via email. While it has worked in almost all instances for me, there have ben a select few where I couldn’t do it that way. The only way I could add these rare contacts was through their PIN number. I have no explanation, but I’ve seen a few complaints on message boards of a similar issue. The contact stays as pending, even if he or she accepted the contact invite. If you need your PIN, or you need the PIN of someone you’re trying to add to BBM, you can read our quick tip on finding your BlackBerry PIN.
Once you enter in the contact information and click in the trackball, you’ll see an Add a Message dialog box. It comes with a stock message to send along with your contact request. I always just stick with this one, but you might want to modify it depending on the contact. Click OK when you’re satisfied and you’ll get a confirmation notice. On the bottom of your contact list you’ll see a field for Pending, under which your contact will be listed. The contact will remain there until he or she accepts the request.
Did you know? Changing contact names
By default, your contact list will display the name selected by each contact. For example, if you add me it will say Joseph Pawlikowski. However, if you find my name grotesquely long you can change it to anything you want. Just highlight the contact and press Menu. There you’ll see an option to Rename Contact. Click that, and you can change it to whatever you’d like. I don’t want to go putting ideas in people’s heads, but this feature is quite useful if you want to mask your contacts and conversations. Hey, a conversation between me and “Josh” probably seems a bit more benign than one between me and Mindy. Just sayin’.
Contact groups
Like most instant messaging clients, you can create various groups for your contacts with BlackBerry Messenger. While in the main contact screen, hit the Menu button and then select Add Group. You’ll then name the group. To add contacts to that group, highlight the contact’s name and hit the Menu button. Select Move Contact. A dialog box will pop up listing all groups to which the contact does not currently belong. Select the appropriate one and click it.
You can repeat this to move the same contact among groups. You can also move the contact back to your general contacts list if you want, by performing the same function. If you want to delete the group, you must first move all contacts out of the group, then hit the Menu button while highlighting the group, and select Delete Group. That option will not appear until the group is empty.
Conversing with contacts
Once you’ve set up your contact list, you can finally get to the good part: sending and receiving messages. This is done in the most obvious manner: click the trackball when you’ve highlighted the contact. That will bring you to a conversation screen. The folks at RIM were kind enough to give the basic instruction to Start typing here for new conversations. Just do that, then click the trackball when you’re ready to send.
Once you click the trackball, the menu will pop up and you’ll see a number of options. You can just click the trackball again to send the message. You can also check the spelling of the message, send a file, send a voice note, edit AutoText, and clear the field (or clear your conversation history with this contact). There’s an option to Ping Contact as well. This essentially send him or her a message that says PING!. No, seriously.
Send File/Send Voice Note
If you want to send a file to a BBM contact, start up a conversation with them, hit the Menu button, and click Send File. A dialog box will appear with options to select a file from device memory or media card. Click through and find the appropriate file and click it. This one click will send the file, so make sure you’ve got the right one. Your contact will receive a message with the file name and size, and will have the option to view, save, or cancel.
To send a voice note, start up a conversation, hit Menu, and select Send Voice Note. Make sure you’re ready to talk right away, because it will start recording immediately. There’s a time limit, too, so be sure you keep the voice not concise. You’ll see a progress bar letting you know how close to 100 percent full your message is. Your contact will receive a message with the file name voicenote.amr plus the file size. They’ll have the option to play it, save it, or cancel.
Once you send the message (or PING!), it will appear in the message area. Next to each message will be a check mark along with either the letter D or R. D means delivered — basically a confirmation message that the message went through the servers and was delivered to the contact. R means read — that the contact has seen the message on his or her BBM. So when someone says “oh, I didn’t get that IM,” you can say, “Well, it shows on my BBM that you saw the message.” Oooh. Burn.
Finally, you can add other users to the conversation. When in the conversation screen hit the Menu button and click Invite. This will bring you to a dialog box containing your contacts. Scroll through and select the appropriate one, and he or she will be added to your conversation. You can do this for as many contacts as you’d like. This will essentially act as a chat room — a throwback to the old AOL days.
BBM Options
Whenever I use a BlackBerry application I make sure to explore every facet of it. This includes looking through the entire menu, especially the Options part. In BBM there are two other relevant menu items: My Status and Edit My Info.
First, My Status, Here you can define yourself as available or unavailable, by selecting the appropriate radio button. Additionally, you can add a status message, much like GChat, AIM, MSN, and other popular IM clients. Your contacts can then see that message. It’s probably more useful for when you’re not available (to explain why you’re not available and when you will be again), but hey, everyone likes expressing themselves via short messages these days.
If a contact is unavailable, you’ll see an option in the Menu for Set Alert. This will send you a message when the selected contact becomes available. Once he or she is, you’ll see a dialog box saying so, and will give you the option to send him or her a message.
Next up is Edit My Info. This one is rather straightforward. It simply allows you to change your display name. So if I, for some reason, want to shorten mine to Joe Pawlikowski, I can go in there and do it up. Just edit your name and click OK. Nope, nothing much to see here.
Finally, we have the Options menu. There are four settings you can change. First is Vibrate When Receiving a Ping. I tend to keep this set to Yes, but it should be noted that your phone will only vibrate when one of your contacts selects Ping Contact. If you want BBM messages to vibrate or make a tone, you’ll have to edit your message settings in Profiles.
Next is Ask Password Question When Adding Contacts. This allows you to send along a question with your contact invitation. You’ll also set an answer when you send the invitation. The contact must then answer the question in order to accept the invitation. I’ve never used this myself, but it could be useful if you’re sending out an invitation to someone you’re not sure about. Why you would do that in the first place, I don’t know. Can someone who has used this function explain in the comments?
The last two options are Allow Forwarding of Requests and Show Conversations in Message List. They’re pretty self-explanatory. The former will allow you to forward contact requests to other contacts. The latter shows your current conversations along with your contacts list. It makes it easier to keep track of open conversations that way.
Missing anything?
We’ve tried to make this this most comprehensive BlackBerry Messenger guide out there. Yet even though we explored the depths of BBM, we’re sure we’ve missed something. If you have anything to add, leave it in the comments and we’ll revise this guide a bit later.
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63 Comments ↓
There is one thing that I noticed here that you didn’t share and that’s the ability to send files and voice notes via BBM. This is a great feature for BB users whether for personal or business use. While in your conversation click the trackball or menu button you’ll see “Send a file…” or “Send Voice Note”.
File is self explanatory and voice note will use that function on the blackberry to record a short note and allow you to send it to the person on the other end.
One side note to this is that you can use BBM internationally to any BB user. All you need is to be on each other’s contact list and away you go.
Hey you forgot the chat room function.
Once in a conversation with a contact, you can hit the BB Menu key and then choose “Invite.” From there you can invite as many of your contacts into the conversation as you like. Then everyone in the conversation will say anything that anyone says. Its pretty cool, especially if you are trying to get a bunch of people to meet somewhere
You may want to consider the ability to send a file or voicenote through BBM.
You’ve tried to make this definitive but you couldnt at least test a simple (to me) function? I’m talking about asking the password question when adding contact. I don’t want to be one of those people who hates for no obvious reason, but I noticed you went the trouble to get a photo of PINGING in use from a bb to another.
This article attempt could have been better. especially if you call it a definitive guide. I guess that’s just so people would read it.
Pathetic
This is a great info guide for how to SET UP BBM. Are you writing one for USING it? Like to cover how you can send pictures and voice notes etc.?
Also, I find that even when I have a PIN number setup for a contact, BBM wants to default to adding them as an email contact. Not sure if that’s across all versions or not.
i agree. bb messenger is way better than texting or other ims. u can do so much more. and the new blackberries have more and newer features that are awesome such as sending your location. newer faces. i love it! thanks! i did learn something new…
Will and Jamie, I did cover those in the article. They’re definitely in there. I could have gone into more detail.
Chris,
Well, I mean, a headline’s sole purpose is to get people to read, so I don’t know what you’re getting at there.
And I did test it, and it works exactly how I described. Perhaps you should read closer before making snarky comments. I asked for people to explain WHY they use it, not HOW to use it.
you can also type “MY PIN” with no space and your pin automtically shows up in text messages and etc. Its a lot better than copy and pasting!!
Didnt know you tested it. My Bad, but you did say you never used it, so I guessed that’s why I assumed it…Still not that definitive unless you plan to add more later…like a part 2. Wait, it looks like there’s no need now though, cause I’m sure the comments section is letting everyone know what you missed. lol.
NOW it’s definitive!
In fairness, I mentioned all the things in the comments. Just didn’t elaborate. If you’ll notice, at the request of the commenters I’ve added a new section on sending files and voice notes.
[...] feed or subscribe to us on Twitter!I swear, we didn’t know about this when we published the Definitive Guide to BlackBerry Messenger last week. It’s a nice coincidence, though. Boy Genius Report has the scoop that a new BBM is [...]
Since upgrading to Blackberry 4.5 it seems that my Messenger text is clearing out every day? Is there a setting to enable/disable this function?
Also, is there a way to save messenger text to SD card? When I’ve tried to cut and paste, my clipboard is not large enough to save everything.
Thanks…H
Although you asked for “comments”, I had a question that I hope u or your readers might not mind answering. I feel a bit dimwitted for asking this, but.here goes.. Does Blackberry Messngr “talk” to other IM services (or clients or whatever one calls them)? If someone gives me his/her Yahoo or AIM IM screen name, can I use BB Messngr to message him/her? Only a few of my friends have Blackberrys, so it wouldn’t be very useful for me if I can only IM those few people.. Thanks. .
@A F No you will have to use a IM application separate from BBM to have conversations with non BlackBerry owners.
Joe what about the symbols that show up on the smiley faces next to the names. small round clock or a thing that looks like a C- on the face. any clue?
Lou, those are emoticons of sorts. It’s something I’m going to add as an update to this.
Brand new BB Messenger user here. How do you change the email address that displays when others view your info? It appears to display the first email address listed on your email setup screen, but I have multiple addresses tied to my phone and the first one is not the one I want displayed to messenger users. The addresses sort alphabetically on the email setup screen and there is no way (that I see) to resort them. Any other options, or am I stuck?
@Jon Unfortunately there is no way I know of to edit this info – the default email will be displayed
Good guide. I have a tid-bit of information and a question:
If you are reading a message and your contact is typing at the same time you will see their name below the text box. Almost as interactive as ICQ was – ICQ used to show the letters typed by your contact in your text box. I have not seen this feature again.
Here is the question: If you are reading a message but you dont want your contact to get the acknowledgement “R” – is there are way to achieve that?
yes – as long as you do not move your trackball while in BBM the other person will not see it as being read
Just a quick question..Because the IM’s actually go through blackberry and not ur cell phone service…does this mean they will not show up on ur cell bill. May be a dumb question but its important for me to find out for sure! Thanks
No, Trish, it won’t show up on your bill. PINs are routed the same way as email.
Is there any way sort the contacts out by alphabetical order? or by first name order?
@Jonil Open Messenger, press the Blackberry/Menu key, select ‘Options’, change the “sort conversations by” from “Activity” to “Alphabet”
Press Blackberry/Menu and select Save.
That should do it for you. Unfortunately you can only choose between alphabet and activity so first name sorting is not possible.
I’ve seen searches but no real helpful sites on blackberry messenger for iphone apps. (would save me a whole lot of txts if I can recommend my friends with iphones download this app.) Is it real? Where can I get detailed download instructions?
I know bb messenger doesn’t show up on your bill as bb messenger or who you are messngering. But does it show up on the bill as anything – emails and fb show up as activity – time date, etc. just not who and what aas written. what about bbmessenger and pinning?
BBM messages count as part of your overall data package – they are not itemized.
my conversation list wont list by activity why?
i went to options and tried switching it from alphabatize to activity
still doesnt work
I have renamed a contact in bb messenger, but want to revert back to the nickname the contact has set up for themselves.
How do I do this?
When I go into contact info, I want to take out “Display Name” and have “Nickname” show.
quick question: if i am on a call, my im’s are not delivered to me until i get off the call. is there a way to be notified about the im while im on a call
No – unfortunately they run on data and will only update once the phone connection is not in use.
Quick question about the Set Alert option within Messenger. If someone sets an alert so that they are notified when I become available, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean when I move the trackball again, does that mean when I open the Messenger App or when I actually open the conversation within Messenger? Thanks in advance for your help. :) Keep on Crackin’
lebargaindiva:
It appears that unavailable is something that you can set manually. Otherwise, it automatically sets you as unavailable when you are on a phone call, have no data signal, or your data connection is turned off. If you’re in service area and are just idle, it should still show you as available — though I’ve heard of a bug in the BBM software which can make this a bit tougher to determine.
Hey, thanks for the reply! Yes if I were to manually switch from the ‘unavailable’ status to the available status, they would get the alarm, as they would if I were ‘unreachable’ and became ‘reachable’. My question is, I guess, if I’m ‘busy’, meaning I have the clock icon next to my name in my contacts’ lists. Say BBM automatically shows the clock icon and someone sets the alarm to be notified when I’m “available” – when do they get the alarm? What action do I take on the Blackberry that sets off their alarm that I’m available? When I click the trackball, when I open BBM, when I open an existing conversation with the contact in question, or…? Thanks and I’m sorry for the lack of clarity in my original question.
Hi there,
I need help!! I am giving my blackberry to my sister in law and I want clean all memory and also wipe out all chat history on blackberry messenger. I am using BB8300 have never placed memory disk in it. I clean out every conversation after I chatting but worry the phone is saving the conversation somewhere. How can I make sure ALL history are deleted?
I just got a Tour and have a question about BBM. My friend has the Curve, and when they send a BBM- it shows when the person is typing a reply back. My Tour does not have that and I was wondering if there was a way to add that?? Also, some of my contacts have an A next to it (a smiley face with a small box in the corner that has an “A” in it). I would figure it means available, but some contacts have it and while others don’t; but they are all available! Thank you, I would really appreciate the help!
Is there a way to change the smiley face icon to a different icon? For example – can you personalize the icon for each of your contacts? That way, you could know who is contacting you without having to open the message….?
What does the bb messenger show to others when I am on a call…within Options I have set Allow on the phone presence status
I have a quick question, hope someone can help me. If you send someone a message, and it is delivered, but they end the conversation before reading it, what does it say on your end? Does it say that it has been read, or only delivered?
A quick test on my Bold with a co worker shows that the message was read even though the conversation was ended before they read the message.
if you receive a bb m invite via email how do you accept it? mine does not show up in bb m and the help info says it should show up as ‘request group” – for the life of me i can’t figure it out
how can we browse the blackberry messenger history ?
is there any way to back-up or save bb messenger conversations? the only way I’ve found is to “copy history” and paste it into an email or something, but sometimes they get too long and I get “field full”… it seems like there should be an easier way. do you have any suggestions?
I changed to a new blackberry today (Curve 8900) and bbm no longer shows me when a contact is typing a message. why and can i change it?
If someone deletes you off of their I’m list, do they dissapear off of yours?
No they will not disappear — just show up as unavailable.
i just dowenloaded the new version of bbm 5
but when i recive a voice note it shows a messege that (unable to display content)
if there is no way to fix it how can i get the old version back .need a fas respond please
thanks
I just downloaded the new BBN and I cannot send or listen to voice notes, please HELP! How can I do?
Are there any hidden costs for sending a file internationally via blackberry messenger or is tht free too?
Does anyone know how to make the screen resolution in bbm larger for the tour. It is soo small by default I would like to see everything a little bit bigger. thanks
@mike unfortunately there is no way to adjust the resolution on your Tour
Hi,
I’m wondering if bbm automatically backs up conversations anywhere on the phone. I had a very important chat yesterday and deleted it accidentally. Is there any way to retrieve it? I haven’t shut off the phone yet, so I’m hoping it’s still in some sort of short-term memory storage place.
Thank you!
Deborah
Hi quick question. I have the BlackBerry Tour and i downloaded the new blackberry messenger application. The only problem is that when i send a voice note to a contact it automatically saves in my phone as a voice note in the Media folder. I want to delete it but when I try to, it shows a message saying “The file is currently in use”. I don’t know what to do? can you help me please? Thanks
@Pablo
It seems that you have to wait for a little while before you can delete the voice notes.
Try waiting a day or two before attempting to delete it or do a battery pull and try deleting right afterward.
It will only back up your conversations if you have BBM 5 installed and have specified that conversations are to be stored for future access.
I am having the same problem as Pablo – except it’s the pictures I took with my BB and sent to my contact in BB Messenger … they won’t delete! It says “file is currently in use” and I really need to get them off my phone. When I have too many pics in there, my BB Storm gets super slow and the screen freezes up CONSTANTLY. It’s the most annoying thing about my Storm – the touch screen.
I downloaded the new BBM and I can not see any of my contact display pictures. How can I get this to show up? I know they have a display photo- just can not see it on my phone.
Thanks for your help!
so ive had my bbm for a while, i had a question though. when the clock/busy symbol appears on my contact list for a person, does this mean that they are not contacting anyone on bbm, or are they choosing to ignore me? can you open your bbm list, and proceed to talk to other people, but choose to not respond to one person and still maintain the clock symbol on that persons list?
I have a blackberry 8320 and I have bbm 5.0 but some people in my list when they play songs it shows in the screen if you know how to do it send me a message dhiraj_lakhwani@hotmail.com
Laura@ you can not see your contact list if they not upgrade their BBM to 5 version…
Anyone@ my BBM version 5 always show ‘field full’ when I try to long text. Anybody know how can I fix that problem. My is Bold 9000. Thanks
cn someone help me …just got a bb curve8520 been trying to use the bbmsger..always writin pending..n am nt gettin anythin..pls help asap
Ok so the first thing you want to do is ensure you have a data plan – BBM will not work unless you have a BlackBerry data Plan assigned to your account.
The next thing you want to do is resend your service books and register your HRT again. Here is a link that explains how to do this:
http://www.bbgeeks.com/quick-tips/what-is-a-service-book-what-is-a-host-routing-table-881448/
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