Canadian company Blackberry has added a private chat feature on its instant messaging app. Blackberry Messenger or BBM users can now chat without their photos or usernames appearing on display.
This makes screencaps useless, ensuring that confidential details of the chat conversations will stay within the correspondents.
"Now, the screenshot is useless because no one knows who said what! It's the closest thing to chatting in person," Jesse Ariss of BBM Marketing said about the new feature. He also said that he knew users would love the new feature.
BBM's private chat feature also allows users to retract mistakenly sent messages. It also lets the user send timed photos that self-destruct at a certain amount of time. This is to ensure the privacy of content-sharing.
The new private chat feature of BBM is available to Android, iOS, and Blackberry users. The new update will be part of the Blackberry Privacy and Control Bundle, which includes the retract sending, edit message, and timed photos features, Blackberry said. The bundle can be availed at a monthly fee of $0.99.
The company has also redesigned the BBM for Android. The technology company said Android users with Android 5.0 Lollipop devices can now view the new design.
Late last year, BlackBerry Messenger scored low in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging category. Users complained of the app's inability to verify user contacts and identity. The app was also allegedly unable to provide forward secrecy. The company has released privacy updates for the app over the last few months.
On January 17 this year, Jesse Ariss wrote on the BlackBerry official blog that the app is already usable on Android Wear smart watches. It allows users to be updated on the messaging board without using their phones or other handheld devices. Reports say that the new update will also be available on Android Wear. The smart watch company supported BBM March this year.
The update is available for Android, iOS, and BlackBerry users.
