Add non-BlackBerry contacts to BBM

While there is plenty to like about the BlackBerry, there seems to be one feature that everyone can’t live without. I’ve talked to many people who were thinking about switching to the iPhone or Android, but couldn’t break away from BlackBerry for one reason. That’s BBM. We all love our BlackBerry Messenger. It’s just so convenient. In fact, I know BlackBerry users who disdain text messaging. Why can’t everyone just be on BBM? Obviously they can’t, but there’s a feature we covered in our updated guide to BBM that allows you to interact with them as though they had BBM. It’s not perfect, but does let you keep your regular contacts with your BBM contacts. When you open BBM, hit menu and select Add Contact. You can then choose from four ways to add said contact. The last item on that list is adding an SMS contact. Click it, and you can add someone’s phone number by typing in their contact name. You can then put them in a category and add them to your BBM contacts list. As you can see in the screenshot, SMS contacts are denoted by a different icon. Adding an SMS contact to BBM does not make that person a full-fledged BBM user. It instead creates an environment where BBMing and texting are done in one place. Instead of showing up in your SMS inbox, text messages from these users will go right to BBM, and you’ll be able to converse in the same manner. You won’t be able to invite them to a conference, send files, or add to groups. That would be a bit advanced. It’s basically all for consolidating instant messaging lists.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.