Chat service BBM for consumers closes on May 31

Emtek closes BBM consumer chat platform. As of May 31 this year, the service will no longer be available. BlackBerry signed a deal with Emtek in 2016, and that Indian company has operated the service ever since. The business variant, BBM Enterprise, will continue to exist.

The company is closing BBM because there are not enough users and it is difficult to attract new users. Emtek writes that it planned to revive “the much-loved chat platform” BBM. The intention was not only to facilitate chatting, but also to make payments possible, for example. BBM is available as an app for Android and iOS, among others.

After May 31, the app will no longer work. Users can download their data before the service closes, Emtek reports in a faq. Users who have purchased stickers in the app can request a refund from Google or Apple, the service says.

In response to the service shutdown, BlackBerry has made BBM Enterprise available to individual users. That business variant with end-to-end encryption is still managed by BlackBerry itself and will continue to exist. The service is free to use for one year and then costs $2.49 per six months.

BlackBerry released a new version of its BBM Enterprise app for Android on Thursday, which includes the option to register as an individual. Soon there will also be a new iOS version that allows individual accounts.