Tips & Tricks: Guide to BlackBerry Messenger

This month's tips are all about BlackBerry® Messenger. Learn how to add contacts to BBM™ by email, PIN, and barcode; start a chat; create a group; send a file; and show your BBM contacts your current location on BlackBerry Maps.

What is BlackBerry Messenger?

BBM is like text messages, but more immediate and with more things you can do. Think instant messaging, but on your BlackBerry® smartphone. You can see who is available, start chatting with friends, set up groups, get instant replies, and share files—all this from virtually any location.

BBM also outshines texting in that you can share pictures, lists, and calendar appointments with a group.


TIP 1: ADD BBM CONTACTS

Option 1: Use a PIN or email

1. On the BBM contact list screen, press the Menu key.

2. Click Invite Contact.

3. Click Enter a person's email address, PIN, or name.

4. If necessary, change the Send Using field and/or Category fields.

5. Click Send.

Note: The person might remain in the Pending category until he or she responds to your invitation.

Option 2: Use barcodes

Want a quick way to add a friend to your BBM contact list? Try scanning the BBM barcode from their BlackBerry smartphone. Simply scan your friend's barcode and presto!, they are added to your BlackBerry Messenger contact list.

Find your barcode

1. On the BBM contact list screen, press the Menu key and click My Profile.

2. Click Display My Barcode.

Scan a barcode

1. On the BBM contact list screen, press the Menu key and click Invite Contact.

2. Click Scan a person's barcode, then click Continue.

3. Hold your smartphone so that all four corners of the barcode you are scanning appear on your 
device screen. Continue to hold the smartphone until you hear a beep.

TIP 2: START A CHAT

1. On the BBM contact list screen.
2. Type your message.
3. Press the Enter key.


TIP 3: CREATE A BBM GROUP

Stay connected with groups of friends, family, or co-workers by creating groups of BBM contacts.

1. On the BBM contact list screen, press the Menu key and click Create New Group.

2. Type a name for the group.

3. Type a description that people will see when they receive the invitation to the group.

4. Change the Group Icon field.

5. Perform any of the following actions:

    *To prevent members from inviting other people to the group, change the Allow non-admin           members invite others field to No.
     
    * To prevent the group icon from appearing on the Home screen of your BlackBerry device,            change the Show on Home Screen field to No.

6. Click Create Group.

TIP 4: SEND A FILE TO A CONTACT

You can send files, photos, voice notes, and contacts to your BBM contacts (requires BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 or later and may not be available for all users).

In BBM, during a chat, press the Menu key.
Click Send File.
Perform one of the following actions:
To send a picture, click Picture. Click Camera to take a new picture, or click a saved picture. Type a caption. Click Send. If necessary, select a picture size option. Click OK.
To send a document, click File. Click a file.
To send a voice note, click Voice Note. Click Start to record your message. Click Stop when you are finished recording. Click Send.
To send a contact an attachment of a contact from the address book, click BlackBerry Contact. Click a contact.
To send a contact an attachment of a BBM contact, click Messenger Contacts. Click one or more contacts. Click OK.
SHARE YOUR LOCATION (SO COOL)
TIP 5: SHARE YOUR LOCATION (SO COOL)
A cool BBM feature uses GPS technology to send your location to a BBM contact, who can then see where you are on BlackBerry Maps. (This feature may not be available for all users.)

In BBM, during a chat, press the Menu key.
Click Send Location.
Your contact will now be able to see your location.

More BBM tips

Introduction::

The success of BlackBerry Messenger on Android after a couple of weeks is unquestionable, however there are still many users who find it somewhat confusing, as the app has some settings that are not intuitive. The first time you open the app you might be confused by the layout if you are used to Android design principles. It's actually not too difficult to get your head around, but it is a little clumsy. For all of those a little stumped by using a BlackBerry app on the Android platform, we've prepared an article with some tips and tricks that will be quite useful when it comes to getting the most out of the BBM app for Android.

In BBM, you basically have three central tabs: Chats, Contacts and Groups. At the top there is the name banner with profile picture and on either side of the three main screens, you have context menus that slide out like the navigation drawer in Android. The left screen provides shortcuts to sections of the app and the right screen is basically a settings/action menu. These can either be accessed by swiping when you are either on the end screen or by pressing the corresponding button in the bottom left or right hand corners. The confusing part is that these buttons change their contents depending on whether you're in a chat or on the main part of the app.

The PIN

One of the most remarkable features of this messenger is that it is not based on a telephone number in the way Line or WhatsApp are. Each user, after completing the registration procedure, is assigned a private PIN that is used to contact other users – in this way, anyone with your phone number can't just start spamming you with messages: you have to share your PIN first. But where is it? Finding this number is essential if you want to work with BlackBerry Messenger, but despite being simple, locating it is not very intuitive.



To locate this fundamental piece of information you simply need to click on your avatar (your profile picture) or your name in the banner at the top of the BBM app. This rather unintuitive action will open your account profile screen with your details, QR code and updates about your profile activity, including your PIN. In addition, you do not have to memorize it or write it down on a scrap of paper because the application offers the option to copy the PIN right from your profile page, so you can get busy inviting your friends to BBM.

Hide the Action Bar!!!

Surely this should be the other way around, but BBM comes, by default, with an obtrusive action bar on top of your keyboard. Unless you spend half your time inviting others to join your chats or attaching things, it's a massive waste of space. As you can see, I have SwiftKey installed on my phone which already has a suggestions action bar on top of the keyboard, so adding the BBM action bar on top means I can hardly see any of the chat.



Fortunately, this action bar can easily be uninstalled. From the main app window (not inside an actual chat), just tap the action overflow button in the bottom right hand corner (the three dots on top on each other), tap on Settings and then scroll down to the Chat section, where you'll find a slider switch for ''Show Action Bar with Keyboard'' – you'll want to switch this off.

Add contacts

As mentioned above, in BlackBerry Messenger contacts are added by sharing a PIN, but there are also some other options to do via other means. In any of the main windows, tapping the action overflow menu button will bring up a list of options including ''Invite to BBM''. Tapping this option will bring up a range of options, including a QR scan code, email, SMS and NFC.

You can also invite people directly from your Invites page, which is accessed via the button in the bottom left hand corner of the main app window (three bars stacked on top of each other). You can access your own barcode either from the bottom of the scanner window (which will launch your camera) or via your profile page.

Contacts view

In BlackBerry Messenger you also have the option to view your contacts in different ways. If you're not a fan of the default grid style, you can change it to a list style like WhatsApp. Just go into the Settings – the action overflow menu button – and scroll down to the Contacts section.

There are some other useful options in the Contacts Settings, where you can manage your blocked contacts and even add a security question to your invites to beef up the security. The general Settings provide several other useful options too, like disabling the ''BBM Connected'' icon in your notifications bar and setting the color of the BBM notification LED.

Manage your notifications

If you've got contacts who obsessively change their profile picture, or you're in the midst of a contact-adding bender, then perhaps you don't want to see every single notification. Fortunately you can manage the notifications you'll see in BBM too – for all your contacts or just one in particular.

You can go into Settings and simply turn of all Notifications, or you can disable notifications for an individual. This is one of the most peculiar hidden settings in BBM. To get to it, you need to go into the Updates menu via the left hand menu button (the three bars). This will take you to a list of your updates. To block updates from a particular contact you have to long press an update from them (or their avatar) to bring up another context-specific menu where you will find the option for Hide Updates for that contact. Very strange placement BlackBerry, but good to know

Customizing the BBM Chat Style

By default, BBM will display your conversations using Bubbles, but you have the option of using a Stripe-based layout or one without Borders instead.

To change your BBM Chat Style, complete the following steps:

1. Open BBM, press the Menu key and select “Options”
2. Next to “Chat Style”, select your desired option from the following list:

No Borders

Bubbles

Stripes

3. When finished, press the Escape key and save your changes.

Sorting Chats and selecting a Contact List Style

Now that you’ve customized how conversations appear, here are two more settings that you can use to customize how your contact list appears.

Change how chats are sorted

1. Open BBM, press the Menu key and select “Options”
2. Next to “Sort Chats By”, select one of the following options:

Most Recent

Alphabet


3. When finished, press the Escape key and save your changes.

Customize the Contact List Style

Whenever you open BBM, you’ll notice the “Recent Updates” option along the top that when accessed shows recent status changes from your contacts — new pictures, status messages and more.

If you like viewing this menu, you should consider using the “2 lines” Contact List Style so you can view your contacts’ most recent status whenever you are looking at your BBM contacts list, in addition to using the “Recent Updates” option.

1. Open BBM, press the Menu key and select “Options”

2. Next to “Contact List Style”, select either “1 Line” or “2 Lines”

3. When finished, press the Escape key and save your changes.

Personalize Chat Bubble Colors

To close off this list of tips, take advantage of the Bubble Colors setting that allows you to specify what color conversations appear in on a per-contact basis.

To assign a Bubble Color, complete the following steps.

1. Open BBM and highlight a contact or BBM group

2. Press the Menu key and select “View Contact Profile”

3. Set the “Bubble Color” setting to your desired color

4. When finished, press the Escape key and save your changes.

To remove any Bubble Colors you’ve previously specified, complete the following steps.

1. Open BBM, press the Menu key and select “Options”

2. Next to Bubble Colors, select “Reset”.