In what appeared to be a major blow to the already struggling BlackBerry, Facebook recently decided to discontinue WhatsApp and Facebook API support for BlackBerry. The company indicated it would end support for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS at the end of the year.
BlackBerry’s Lou Igazzola said the company was “extremely disappointed” in Facebook’s decision because many of its users use Facebook and WhatsApp. Of course they do. These are two of the most popular apps out there, and for many people, it’s hard to imagine using a phone that doesn’t support them in this day and age.
At the same time, it’s also understandable why Facebook would want to end support of such operating systems. Even BlackBerry itself has turned to Android.
BlackBerry clarified after the news made the rounds, however, that Facebook will continue to support BlackBerry 10 and BBOS with a web-based app.
Igazzola wrote, “For those just hearing about this news, we have an updated web-based Facebook app that replaces the native app for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS. The update is required because the native app will stop working on March 31. The new web-based Facebook app provides additional features not available on the native app…”
These include the ability to reply to and see replies to comments, the elimination of “News feed could not be retrieved” messages, and any features made available to Facebook web users.
No updates on WhatsApp support were announced.
Images via Facebook, BlackBerry