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Now Facebook drops support for BlackBerry

Facebook follows WhatsApp in dropping support for BlackBerry, which says it is "extremely disappointed".
Written by Steve Ranger, Global News Director
blackberry-leap.jpg

The BlackBerry Leap (pictured) and other devices are no longer supported by Facebook.

Image: BlackBerry

Facebook is dropping support for BlackBerry 10, just a month after WhatsApp made the same decision.

According to BlackBerry, Facebook has decided to discontinue support for the APIs for BlackBerry, while WhatsApp has already announced it will end support for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS at the end of 2016.

Photos: BlackBerrys through the ages

"We are extremely disappointed in their decision as we know so many users love these apps. We fought back to work with WhatsApp and Facebook to change their minds, but at this time, their decision stands," said Lou Igazzola, who leads BlackBerry's app ecosystem and developer outreach team.

Last month WhatsApp -- which is owned by Facebook -- said it was ending support for BlackBerry (along with old versions of Android and Windows Phone) by the end of the year, noting: "While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future."

As BlackBerry hardware now appeals almost exclusively to enterprise customers, losing access to Facebook as a native app is unlikely to be a huge blow in itself (and BlackBerry 10 users still have the option of downloading the Android version from the Amazon app store).

However, it does reflect the declining popularity of BlackBerry phones, which once dominated the smartphone market.

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