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BBM Pending
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17 Comments

Why is my BBM contact still pending?

By Adam Zeis on 23 Jul 2012 01:54 pm
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One of the most frustrating things on BlackBerry is seeing that stupid Pending status after adding a BBM contact. This happens while the request is waiting to be approved on the other end. If you add a contact by PIN or email you will often see this until the other user accepts the request, which at times could be hours or even days. At times there are other reasons for the pending status however, and we've got a quick list of things you can try to make sure the other party is seeing your request. Keep reading and we'll check out everything that could be holding you up.

BBM contact remains in pending status

Here are a few troubleshooting tips you can try if your BBM request is staying in pending status.

Make sure your device is properly provisioned for BBM

Verify you have BBM services on your plan. If not, contact your carrier to set it up. You can verify BBM is working by sending a message to another contact (if you have any). 

Verify the PIN or email for your contact

Make sure you are using the correct PIN and/or email address for the contact you are trying to add. If you're not sure, cancel the request and try adding the contact again.

Network delays

Sometimes network delays or outages may hold up your request. To verify BBM is working, try sending a BBM message or PIN message to an existing contact or wait a while and try the request again.

BlackBerry Messenger Errors

If all else fails, verify that BBM is properly installed. To do this, perform a full backup of your device using the BlackBerry Desktop Software. Reinstall BlackBerry Messenger after your device reboots.

Perfoming these tasks should clear up any issues you are having. Also be sure that your contact actually got your request -- sometimes the other party never even sees it for various reasons, so they may have it on their device already and just not accepted. You can also cancel out a request and send it again to verify that it properly went through. 

Topics: BlackBerry 101 BBM Quick Tips Help, How-To & Tips BlackBerry 101

Official OS 7.1.0.569 for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 from Claro Dominican Republic Previous
BlackBerry Screen Reader updated to include support for the BlackBerry Curve 9320 & 9220Next
Adam Zeis Adam Zeis 3035 (articles) 2792 (forum posts)
17 comments

QuIcKsIlV3r

I've never had this issue before. That would be frustrating though

jrohland

Have the contact display the BBM barcode on their BB. Hold that up to the PlayBook camera with Vid Chat open to you. Hold your BB up to your PlayBook screen and read the contacts barcode off your PB screen.

the brother

huh? why not try emailing your barcode? what does this process you have described even achieve lol

G-bone

It works well if you are using video chat.

jrohland

You could have the contact email the barcode and you display it on your PB or computer. Getting on your BB will be useless.

Of course I was simply pointing out there are ways to use the awesome PlayBook to do some out-of-the-box thinking.

Crisdean

Yeah have been having this issue twice. The first time my BB bricked and after a restore some BBM contacts disappeared and one was apparently didn't have me in their contact list (which turned out to be false) but I needed to add her again and she was in pending (but suddenyl worked again) so cancelled the request and it worked.

The second time someone requested to connect with me and I accepted. However, despite that the other guy wanted to connect and I approved it now sits in pending status. Something's definitely not quite right there. Especially bad if you're being contacted for job interviews...

By the way am on VF UK.

Rootbrian

It didn't get bricked, or you wouldn't be able to have desktop manager or loader even detect it, no usb sound either if plugged in.

You mainly got an app error, or some other error displayed on screen. That isn't even close to being bricked.

Try adding your own PIN to see if it works, then accept and message yourself to test it. If it works, then your buddies will work too.

Joe257

Nice article, Adam. Good to cover this off for newbies, but things are way too dry in the BlackBerry world. RIM needs to cook something up -- a 4G PlayBook running OS 2.1.x would be nice!

kingbernie06511

amen to that. I added a comment in the thread reflecting this in a humor/ironic way, but that comment was censored. Oh well, it seems some of us think all is well in the BB world.

Kevin Michaluk

Nice article Adam, but you're missing mine. For about FOUR YEARS NOW... if anybody ever requests me via email, it is perma stuck in pending. I have to get them to re-request via PIN and it works permanently. It's literally done this to me ever since I reviewed that Bold 9000 I bought off e-bay. I swear somebody at RIM just got mad at me and decided to screw with me. :)

hoob15

not that it matters but I would have thought Crackberry Adam would have had more than 28 contacts, and maybe be in a group or 2 lol.

nice article btw

marcosis

I wish I had this problem. I haven't had any new BBM friends for over a year now and. Down to two BBM friends. Damn you free world!

TheYalier

Yeah, I've never experienced this either, but it must be upsetting.

needforbbx

When I read the title on my phone, I though you were going to answer why BBM is pending on the playbook. Now that has been bothering me. I hope there is a resolution to that soon.

CrackMachine

I'm experiencing this now with some out of country/network friends and it's really frustrating. There should be some sort of way to tell if the individual actually has received the request or if it is visible on their BB (or to auto-resend the request if not acted on).

I believe that certain BES set ups can hinder adding out-of company pin contacts so that may also be an issue,

Branta

If you have problems with a new phone and empty BBM contact list you might think it is difficult to test. You can actually invite and accept your own phone's PIN as a test. Yes... it really works and you should be able to monitor all the stages of adding a contact and sending a message out to the server and back to the phone.

Rootbrian

I did the same thing to make sure there wasn't any network issues before I added somebody. Try that, it really does work!