BlackBerry Hub+ coming to more Android phones

Earlier last month, BlackBerry announced that it will be bringing over some of its BB apps that we saw in the PRIV to other Android phones. The catch was that only Hub, Calendar, and Password Keeper were available and that your phone had to be running Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Well, now BlackBerry is expanding the service even further by offering more BB apps to more Android devices: most phones running Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher, to be more specific.

After its near-extinction, we saw BlackBerry shift its focus to Android. The Canadian company made a big splash with the introduction of the PRIV last year, and it surprised us with the not-so-memorable DTEK50 this year. What do they have in common other than being BlackBerry phones? They are running on Android, sprinkled with some BlackBerries (get it?).

What made BlackBerry so successful wasn’t perhaps its hardware. What drew in most businesspeople was the emphasis on productivity and security, so it makes sense that BlackBerry isn’t trying to completely abandon its identity.

In early August, the company announced that it would be launching BlackBerry Hub+ which offered BlackBerry Hub that unifies all your emails and social posts; BlackBerry Calendar that syncs with work and personal accounts; and Password Keeper, which helps organize password records. Unfortunately, however, there were some limitations: other BB apps such as Contacts, Device Search, and Notes did not make it, and your phone had to be running on Android Marshmallow.

If you’ve been waiting for some BlackBerry goodness on your Android phone, then you’d be pleased to know that the Hub+ app is now compatible with Android phones running 5.0 Lollipop as well. It also includes Contacts, Device Search, Notes, Tasks, and BlackBerry Launcher.

Other details are pretty much the same: you can try Hub+ for 30 days free of charge, and after that, if you choose to keep using it, it’s just 99 cents a month. BlackBerry does warn us, however, that although the app supports Android smartphones with 5.0 Lollipop or higher, you will also need to have 2GB of RAM or more.

If you want to give it a try, simply click the download button below to get the Hub+ app from the Play Store, and click on the Press Release button for more details!

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To understand how software is an integral part of BlackBerry’s DNA, look no further than the BlackBerry Hub and its associated productivity apps, which have consistently rated as one of the most popular features of both BlackBerry 10 and Priv. Software like the Hub is at the core of the quintessential BlackBerry experience, and is consistently rated as THE way to get more things done by enterprise users in every industry. Last month, we decided to bring that productivity to other platforms,extending Hub, Calendar, and Password Keeper to one billion people on Android through Hub+, a new subscription service.

We initially launched Hub+ as a free trial on Android Marshmallow, with only the Hub, Calendar, and Password Keeper available. Today, we are happy to announce the remainder of our productivity suite (Contacts, Tasks, Device Search, Notes, and Launcher) is now available to Android users for a free 30-day trial period and for just 99 cents a month.*

The BlackBerry Hub, Calendar, Password Keeper, and Launcher will continue to be available as part of a free, ad-supported offering.

Even better, we’ve officially expanded Hub+ access to smartphones running Android 5.0 Lollipop and lower-resolution smartphones running Android 6.0 Marshmallow! To ensure no technical issues for users, our initial list of Hub+-capable smartphones was limited by screen resolution, but that’s changed. As of today, more than 3,000 smartphone versions can run Hub+, and that number keeps growing. Note: Hub+ requires 2GB of RAM or more, and does not currently support tablets.

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Is BlackBerry’s productivity and security suite something that’s indispensable for you? Let us know by leaving a comment below!