While BlackBerry was never known for its hardware, its software, on the other hand – especially in terms of security and practicality – has always been top-notch. The Canadian company has already released a few Android smartphones in the past few years with access to full BB software, but for those of us with non-BlackBerry phones, popular BB features were just wishful thinking. Well, not anymore. Thanks to XDA Senior Member cobalt232, you can download free versions of the most popular BB apps right on your non-BB smartphone as long as it’s running Android 5.0 or higher. And you don’t even have to root your device.
The full list of apps includes:
- Blackberry Calendar
- Blackberry Contacts
- Blackberry Hub
- BlackBerry Hub+ Services
- Blackberry Keyboard
- Blackberry Launcher
- Blackberry Notes
- BlackBerry Notable
- Blackberry Password-keeper
- BlackBerry Privacy Shade
- Blackberry Universal Search
- Blackberry Tasks
Although some of these apps are compatible with non-BB devices already through Google Play Store, other have previously been limited to BB Android smartphones. Take BlackBerry Keyboard for instance: unlike existing third-party keyboards, BB’s approach lets you see word options over predicted letters as you type. Not only does it offer more words, but the predictions are more accurate and more dynamic.
My personal favorite is BlackBerry Privacy Shade. Let’s be honest here: we’ve all been in situations where we don’t want to share our smartphone screen with whoever is around us. Whether it’s risqué content or a surprise message, BB Privacy Shade lets you see only a part of the whole screen at a time by giving you a movable round or a rectangular window.
You can click here to download the APK for BlackBerry Manager, which contains all of the apps listed above.
Are/were you a BlackBerry user? Would you agree that software is BB’s forte? Let us know in the comments below!
