Blaq for BlackBerry 10 v1.5 is coming soon!

It has been a while since the last major update to Blaq for BlackBerry 10 but it's looking like we won't wait to wait much longer for a new release. According to a new blog post, v1.5 has been submitted to BlackBerry World and is expected to arrive at some point next week and it's packing some HUGE changes.

It's that time, again! We've signed, sealed and put a bow on the next release and it's on its way to BlackBerry World! Don't go checking for updates, just yet! We'll let you know when it's available for download, which should happen in the next few days. We know you've been a bit distracted with other things (due to either frustration or just plain curiosity) but we'd like to take a moment to bring you back into the fold.

Check below to see what's new, what's been polished and what pesky bugs have been squashed to improve your experience. By the way, we have two more surprises in this release that will be announced at a later date, exclusively for customers of Blaq. Oh and don't worry, you won't have to wait too long to find out. Now would be a good time to grab it, if you haven't.

New Features

  • BlackBerry Classic Support โ€“ Trackpad highlighting and menu integration
  • Upload multiple photos to Twitter. Inside or outside of the app via sharing. You can also reorder photos you attach before uploading.
  • View multiple photos in tweets
  • Video support (viewing only. Twitter hasn't yet allowed video upload)
  • Full photo size option
  • Spanish and French translations โ€“ ยกSรญ! and Oui!
  • Pocket and Instapaper integration. Save a link for later reading. Find it in the tweet view and in-app browser menus
  • In-app notifications โ€“ Notifications that are opened are marked as read in hub! Favorites and Retweets aren't included (for now) due to their frequency.
  • Compose DMs from hub
  • Floating compose for DMs (10.3+ only)
  • Watchlist screen in account settings
  • Manage user list memberships from profile and tweet card
  • Send Button in DM convo
  • Keyboard shortcuts galore (keyboard devices only, for obvious reasons. Check left toolbar and context menus in other screens)
  • Updated share icon
  • Permission screen to enable location permission if disabled
  • 100 emoji โ€“ Not sure how we missed it but it's now available for use

Enhancements

  • Real-time search results
  • Faster startup
  • Better caching
  • Reduced backup requests to only back up on app close and when settings change
  • Twitter links to profiles and tweets now open in-app. New Quote Tweet display will be available on the next release.
  • Screen is scrolled automatically when tapping Convo or Replies in tweet card (Q5/Q10/Classic)
  • Mute a hashtag directly from the search results screen
  • Swipe back via the in-app browser is now enabled
  • Change the order of photos before uploading them
  • Faster Hub card loading
  • Mutes now take retweets into full consideration (checks author, keywords or source of the retweeted tweet too)
  • When one photo is attached to tweet, picker is dismissed. If you need to add more, tap the icon again to add up to three more photos
  • Flurry analytics now uses a secure and encrypted connection.
  • Watchlist now obeys disabled retweets for users
  • Tighter restrain on the gestures for Passport so timeline doesn't slide as much
  • Mute client list now sorted

Fixes

  • Scheduled tweets not sending at scheduled time
  • Instagram photo thumbnails not showing due to change on instagram's end
  • Crash when reporting a user from a hub notification
  • Photo post notification not showing up
  • Cannot tap on friend search results with trackpad (Classic)
  • Update screen on fresh launch (no restore): background updates does not set.
  • Push notification issue
  • DM convos not populating in real time when background updates are turned on
  • GIFs showing repeated thumbnails
  • Error statusbar doesn't go away if second try is unsuccessful
  • While composing, words flow underneath attached photo if one is present
  • Settings screens showing white background and white text on some devices [10.2]
  • When actionbar collapses after scrolling the in-app browser, the actionbar sticks around on the timeline when going back [10.3]
  • Walkthrough/help images are corrupt (Q5/Q10/Classic)
  • Hub notification icons show a blank white box when focused (Classic)
  • imgur.com gallery links no longer show thumbnail since it isn't retrievable
  • App not reading location when enabled while composing a tweet
  • Deleting a status that was already deleted elsewhere removes it from your timeline
  • Images are no longer modified when attaching to a tweet
  • In some cases, a headless crash with the app in active frame causes the device to lock up or drain battery while attempting to restart it.
  • Phantom DM notifications
  • Some words with PIN characters rendering as BBM Pins
  • Able to add same account more than once
  • Add list invokes dark theme card
  • Direct message compose picker invokes dark theme item when light theme is selected
  • Cosmetic fixes
  • Various crashes

If after installing the release, you still experience issues with battery drain or freezing, you need to uninstall the app then reinstall WITHOUT restoring settings. This should remove any remaining artifacts from previous installs.

PlayBook users: Supporting Blaq for PlayBook has been challenging and unfortunately Twitter keeps blocking or changing the behavior of their website for the PlayBook's browser, which is required for login. With a few workarounds, we've been able to get the login to work. Unfortunately, support for new or fixing unsupported Twitter features is no longer feasible. So, we will be releasing an update but only to fix the login issue.

I'm incredibly interested in what the surprises are, but we'll have to wait for it to arrive in BlackBerry World but as you can tell, it's a pretty massive update. Haven't tried Blaq yet? Give it a go. The current version is available on BlackBerry World right now.

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