BBM For Android to be ready by 7a.m 21st September, IPhone 12:01a.m EDT

BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, for Android and iOS (iPhone) has finally gotten an official release date, and according to BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), the cross-platform messaging app will make its way to iPhone and Android devices this weekend.

Buried at the bottom of the announcement was the sour news that many of the BBM features found in official BlackBerry devices will be missing. That means Android and iPhone BBM users will not be able to make video calls over BBM, which can be made over WiFi or data connections on the BB10 version of the app.


Voice calls through BBM are available over WiFi on BlackBerry devices, but that feature will also be missing from Android and iPhone iterations of the app. Emoticons, however, will be available on BBM across BB10, Android and iOS devices on the launch date.


It is finally official: BBM is coming on Saturday morning for Android users running on version 4.0 of the operating system, and iPhone users running iOS 6 and iOS 7 will be able to download the app one minute after midnight. BBM will become available as a free download for Android at 7 a.m. EDT on Sept. 21, and will then become available at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Sept. 22 for iPhone users.