BBM symbols and their meanings

The symbols in BlackBerry Messenger are quite descriptive, informative and common. While you are sending a media, text message or sharing the rights to the group administrator on Android or iOS, it is not obligatory to do anything at all to know about what action has just occured: the BBM icons will provide you all the necessary information: whether your message has been delivered, read or couldn’t be sent at all, what type of attachment you have just received, or whether you have been successfully added to the group. On Android and iOS the symbolic images are quite the same. Hereby, in this article we will reveal what status symbols are used by all BBM users, and what do they mean.

The full list of BBM icons: what do these signs mean?

Here is a full description of icons used in BBM chats (following the official project documentation):

• you have a new unread message
• a specific Ping message. The contact wants your attention
• you have an incoming or outcoming file attachment
• a new broadcast message which hasn’t been read
• uncompleted draft note expected to be sent
• currently the text is being sent to the interlocutor
• note has been successfully sent
• your message has been successfully delivered to the contact
• your note has been read by interlocutor
• your text, graphical or media note hasn’t been sent (Check whether your device is connected to Wi-Fi or LTE network)
• this particular message couldn’t been sent (Tap and hold your finger pressed onto the unsent message and choose the “Resend message” option)
• the chosen contact is able to participate in BBM Video calls
• Glympse locations are shared
• “Busy” status
• the chosen contact is listening to music at the moment
• the specified note has been deleted or retracted.

Now a few words about the icons related to BlackBerry Messenger channels:

• the content marked with this icon has been reported as inappropriate
• the following channel has been verified
• this channel is local
• private channels are marked with this sign. Only the channel owner can invite new participants to this channel
• this channel is added to favorites
• you are authorized as the channel owner.

At last, a few symbols that refer to BlackBerry Messenger group chats:

• the member marked with this icon is an administrator of the group
• when this icon is pressed, you are suggested to add this member as a BBM contact.

Some of the BBM icons can change its shape in some way and look a bit differently. From build to build, after major project redesign, some new icons can also be added, so consider this fact while searching for a symbol meaning from the list.