If you still own an older BlackBerry phone, then this is bad news for you! You will probably quickly find your handset unusable as certain devices from the firm won’t be able to make phone calls, send SMS messages, and complete other functions from 4th January.
BlackBerry has assured that it is dropping support for BlackBerry OS devices, but this doesn’t influence more recent devices from the firm that run Android software.
A statement from the corporation said, “The legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and previous versions, will no longer be accessible after 4th January 2022.
“As of this date, devices running these legacy services and software via either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer dependably function, together with for data, phone calls, SMS and 9-1-1 functionality.”
The last device to run this software was announced in 2015, which was the BlackBerry Leap. This means anyone using these older devices will find their devices are at their finest undependable, and at their worst, they will be unusable as a mobile phone.
If you own a BlackBerry device running Android software, those will endure getting support.
The BlackBerry brand has now been traded to a firm called Onward Mobility that has said it will continue to make devices with the name. It has formerly promised a 5G BlackBerry device in 2021, but it’s now believed that will be announced in 2022.
Inevitable, but frustrating for some Old BlackBerry phones user
Older BlackBerry devices losing support isn’t a massive shock, and it’s questionable many of these devices are still in use. However, it is a miserable turn of events for those who like using these unique devices.
2015 was the last time we saw a BlackBerry OS device, and while that is an extensive time in the world of smartphones it isn’t a vast amount of time for those who want to continue with a similar smartphone for a long time.
It would have been possible to buy a BlackBerry OS device in 2017 or so brand new, so that would only be about four years of use before the phone lost all support for elementary functionality.
The communication of BlackBerry here is also clear that it won’t be usable, rather than it just losing access to certain features. It will clearly mean you can’t even dependably phone the emergency services, so this will be unusable for the normal person.