We heard back in May this year that BlackBerry’s BBM messaging service would be making the jump over to other platforms at some point in 2013. BlackBerry has now come out with the official dates for the service’s appearance on both Android and iOS and it is just around the corner.
Android users will be able to download BBM for free from Google’s Play Store from tomorrow, 21 September. iOS users will have slightly longer to wait, it will be making its debut on Apple’s App Store a day later, on 22 September.
The features available for both platforms at launch will include: the standard BBM chat option, file transfers BBM Groups chats (up to 30 people), Broadcast Message, a basic profile with status updates and BBM PINs.
There are a couple of requirements however. BBM for Android supports Android 4.x, so Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean users are the only ones who will be able to use the app. BBM for iOS will support iOS 6 and iOS 7, anyone with an older operating system will be out of luck.
Still in the works for the Android/iOS flavours of BBM are: BBM Channels, BBM Video and BBM Voice.