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BlackBerry Messenger set to shut down in May

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BlackBerry Messenger set to shut down in May

BlackBerry Messenger for consumers will shut down at the end of May, nearly six years after it launched to the tune of more than 5 million downloads in its first 8 hours.

The closure of BlackBerry Messenger was announced through an official blog post by Emtek, the Indonesia-based conglomerate that took over development in 2016. Emtek attempted to keep the app relevant with modern features, but it appears that its efforts have fallen short.

“We poured our hearts into making this a reality, and we are proud of what we have built to date. The technology industry however, is very fluid, and in spite of our substantial efforts, users have moved on to other platforms, while new users proved difficult to sign on,” Emtek wrote in the blog post.

Read also: Huawei funded by Chinese state security, reports reveal

According to the FAQ released for BlackBerry Messenger’s shutdown, people will be able to request refunds for BBM Stickers, but will not be able to do so for BBMoji. Existing rewards are also required to be redeemed by May 20, or else the accumulated points will be forfeited.

In addition, photos, videos, and other files shared through BlackBerry Messenger will only be available for download while the app is still running. Once it is shut down on May 31, the data will no longer be retrievable.

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