We say goodbye to the last of BlackBerry's Android apps this year
We all knew already that BlackBerry has officially become a thing of the past, and now the (former) phone manufacturer quietly revealed that some of our favorite Android apps on Blackberry are also going out for good this year.
While BlackBerry didn't make this somber news into an announcement in and of itself, the information was discovered by an observant CrackBerry user, John Albert (via AndroidAuthority).
Over on its Software Lifecycle Overview page, BlackBerry reveals that some of its best apps, such as Password Keeper, DTEK (a popular productivity app), the in-house-developed Keyboard app, and Privacy Shade will all be good and gone before the year's over. The date for the last day of support for these apps is set to August 31, 2022.
This isn't the beginning of the end for BlackBerry software support, though—it's more like the end of the end. The company has been gradually dropping different items from its software support list for a couple of years already.
All Blackberry operating system versions, up to BlackBerry OS 10, became officially obsolete two weeks ago (on December 31, 2021). Along with this announcement, the company warned that regular and emergency calls, data, SMS texting—the most basic system features—will cease functioning reliably.
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) had already lost all forms of support back in 2019, along with Power Center, Productivity Tab, Device Search, BlackBerry Blend, together with other popular apps.
All this was to be expected, when BlackBerry sold off its dwindling phone business to TCL and announced the end of the famous "OG" phone series, turning its attention to software development instead—but it's still sad to see these last few remnants of the BlackBerry mobile experience dying off for good.
So, even if you're holding on to one of the last BlackBerry models for sentimental reasons, all too soon the device will be left useful for little more than a paperweight.
You may also want to read:
- The reports of BlackBerry's death were greatly exaggerated, with 5G smartphone still coming... someday
- What happened to the 5G BlackBerry that OnwardMobility promised for this year?
- Still using BlackBerry OS? You may want to switch to another platform now
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