Lunar - The BlackBerry Preservation Project

BlackBerry OS

Since 2G and 3G support have been dropped in the US, SMS/MMS messaging is no longer an option for American users. However, if you are using your BlackBerry on a cellular network in another country, SMS/MMS should still work.

If you want to message others on your BlackBerry, you'll need to do so in the default browser or Opera Mini.

One online option is Facebook Messenger. Yes, that Facebook Messenger! Simply navigate to mbasic.facebook.com, sign in, and navigate to the Messenger page. You can talk to all of your friends, right from your BlackBerry!

Another online messaging service is MobiChat. You'll need to host it yourself, but it works great on BlackBerry devices.

MobiChat

As of October 2023, there are no functional native messaging apps for BBOS (to our knowledge). 2go and Hookt worked until recently but support seems to have been dropped. Regardless, both of these apps can still be obtained from the Lunar Archive.

If you have a lot of patience, you can send texts in SMS/MMS form as an email. To do this, you'll need to use Yahoo Mail in Opera Mini. From there, you'll have to find the carrier-specific email gateway address ([email protected]/net/org) of your recipient. For example, Verizon is [email protected]. Here is a list of Mobile Gateway addresses.

BlackBerry 10

On BB10, Telegram X runs very well, and it's our messaging app of choice. Members of the community have reported that it works great for texting but calling may not work.

Telegram X

Discord and Whatsapp no longer work, but Telegram X, Telegram FOSS, Instagram Lite, and Messenger Lite are all viable alternatives. You can find them on the archive.

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