BlackBerry has now done away with its waiting list for BBM on Android and iOS, allowing new users to begin using the messaging service right after they’ve signed up. The Canadian company has also promised new features in future updates, including Channels, BBM Voice, and BBM Video.

BlackBerry used the BBM waiting list so that it could control the number of new users accessing its servers following the app’s launch on Android and iOS. The company knew the app would be popular — it was downloaded over 10 million times during its first 24 hours of availability — and it wanted to prevent server problems that may have disrupted its launch (again!).

But now that waiting list is no longer necessary, so new users who sign up for BBM on Android or iOS will gain access to the service straightaway. What’s more, BlackBerry has promised that “within months,” a number of new BBM features will be brought to the new apps.

“We continue to plan to evolve the service and keep making it more engaging and have more reasons why people will come back to use the service,” Andrew Bocking, executive vice-president of BBM for BlackBerry, told CBC. Some of the new features will include Channels, BBM Voice, and BBM Video — features that were only added to the BBM service this year.

Bocking also added that BBM will always remain a free service, and that BlackBerry has “other ideas on how to monetize” it.

• SourceCBC
• ViaCrackBerry