BlackBerry Messenger(BBM) vs. WhatsApp

Now that BlackBerry Messenger is out for both iOS and Android devices, it would be a good time for us to compare it with the already established IM services like WhatsApp. BlackBerry has not been doing well enough in the Smartphone market recently, but it turns out that BBM might become one of the major reasons to worry for the IM giant WhatsApp. Till now, WhatsApp has held a firm ground as far as user base and popularity is concerned. Even though the likes of WeChat, Line or Kik Messenger followed, WhatsApp continued to be the favorite.

But now, with BlackBerry Messenger stepping into the major mobile platforms, things might change a bit. In fact, BlackBerry has the potential to give a tough competition to WhatsApp. Will BBM be able to stand against WhatsApp and other similar IM services, or will WhatsApp continue to be people’s favorite, only time can tell

BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp Head to Head

Both WhatsApp and BBM use their own unique methods of running their proprietary messaging services. Thus there are some differences between the two in terms of functionality and features.

Security

This is perhaps the most important factor when we consider social apps and services. Since we are readily sharing information with other people, we want to be sure that this information is not accessible to any unwanted individuals.

WhatsApp has been a frequent victim of security breaches ever since its launch. According to Wikipedia, WhatsApp messages were initially sent and delivered in plain text; although the issue was addressed later. Some other reports also suggested that you could change the status of a WhatsApp contact by just having access to his / her phone number. Though most of these security holes have been patched (reportedly), WhatsApp continues to be vulnerable. In fact, some people have claimed that it is possible to even obtain the encryption key used for sending and receiving messages, making it possible to eavesdrop on conversations and easily fake your authentication as another user.

On the other hand, BBM is well known for its industry grade security from the BlackBerry Team. BBM is more reliable as messages are fully encrypted and only the sender and receiver have the ability to fully decrypt messages.

So, in terms of security, BlackBerry takes the lead.

Privacy

All new BBM registrations generate a unique ID known as the BBM PIN. This PIN is used to invite a person to chat on BBM. Hence, you don’t need to share your phone number / email in order to invite people. BBM does not reveal personal details about its users unless they opt to share it.

WhatsApp on the other hand uses phone number for registration. That means, in order to invite people to WhatsApp, you have to share your phone number with them, even if you don’t want to. WhatsApp also shares (by default) potentially sensitive user information like latest online time, contact details, etc.

When it comes to Group chats, WhatsApp often gets a lot of criticism. If any of your WhatsApp Contacts add you to a group having other unknown people, everyone in the group will immediately have access to your phone number, even if you don’t want to share it with them. If you don’t wish to join in a group on WhatsApp, you have to manually leave it; otherwise, you’ll keep receiving group messages – which could become really frustrating at times.

Thus, clearly, BBM has significant advantage over WhatsApp when it comes to user privacy.

Notification System

Next thing we want to compare is the message delivery notification system used by the two IM services.

BBM has four indication levels to convey the status of a message. The four way notification system indicates the following:

Three signal bars: Message is being sent.

Tick Mark: Message is successfully sent to the server.

D: Message has been delivered to the receiver.

R: Message has been read by the receiver.

WhatsApp on the other hand only has three indication levels:

Timer symbol: Message is being sent.

Single Tick Mark: Message is successfully sent to the server.

Double Tick Mark: Message has been delivered to the receiver.

Note that WhatsApp doesn’t notify whether a particular message is actually read by the receiver whereas BBM actually does. BBM clearly takes the upper hand here.

Content Sharing

Both BBM and WhatsApp offer more or less the same set of messaging and content sharing options. Both allow support for text messages, emoticons, voice messages and other attachments. Both support group messaging and broadcast messages.

Additional Features

BBM gives you additional group management options like including appointments, notes and other attachments to a group. Also, BBM lets you to add a chat partner to an existing chat. WhatsApp, on the other hand allow better customization for chat screens; for instance, you can change the chat background color in WhatsApp.

BBM also offers another useful feature called the “Two-way opt-in” process. A chat can be initiated between two parties only if one sends the invitation and the other accepts it. In WhatsApp, a person can immediately start chatting if they possess the contact number of the other. No confirmation is required at the other end even if they are unwilling to join the conversation.

The winner in this category depends on user’s preference, but BBM does offer more additional features compared to WhatsApp. However, for the sake of the argument, let’s consider this a tie; as the additional features mentioned here are hardly “comparable”.