BBM Contact Updates

When it comes to BBM status updates they can be a great source of information about your friends. On the other hand, they can also be a pain in the rear depending on what people are updating about and how often they are doing so. Fortunately with BlackBerry OS 10.2.1 we have some sweet options when it comes to what we want to view, also including if the update came from BBM or from a third party app - clever stuff. 

BBM Channels aren't left out of the options either but we'll cover that separately, looking at iOS and Android too since BBM 2.0 introduced Channels to our non-BlackBerry buddies. 

Let's look at a couple of examples when it comes to what we can hide on the BBM status notification front. Hypothetically - I have a BBM friend who updates everything they do and frankly it's quite annoying. I don't want to lose that person on BBM as it's the easiest way to get hold of them if I need to. So what I can do is simple - I can disable seeing their updates in my feed. 

Scenario number two - Some applications allow for the option to post a message to BBM in conjunction with their primary function. Blaq and Foursquare are perfect examples and most people will probably be in favor of seeing what that buddy is up to or where they are at. But if you don't want to see that information we can once again switch it off, without disabling that persons normal BBM updates. 

Here's a quick set of instructions on how to make alterations to your contacts BBM status updates: 

  • From within BBM select the 'Updates' tab from the base of the display. 
  • Perform a 'long hold' on the contact you wish to disable
  • Select the 'eye' icon from the bottom of the overflow menu
  • Select which updates you would like to disable. Note - If the update came from an app and not BBM you will have more options in the list like in the photo above. 

So as you can see, with just a few tweaks you can get rid of any unwanted status updates from your BBM feed. I'm 99% sure that the third party app implementation was introduced with OS 10.2.1, but If I'm wrong feel free to sound off in the comments. Either way, options are always welcome and good old BlackBerry seems to be on the ball when it comes to offering them. 

Thanks for the tip Steve. 

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