BBM users on BlackBerry 10-powered devices have been able to make video calls for quite some time now, but this feature hasn’t been expanded to iOS and Android users as yet, even though they now form a significant chunk of the messaging service’s user base. That changes today as a new update of BBM for Android has been released which finally brings the video chat feature in beta.

There was a time when BBM was one of the most widely used instant messaging services, at that time the service was exclusive to BlackBerry handsets, and that was a time when people actually used to buy BB handsets.

The world has moved on since then, and ultimately the company had to take BBM cross-platform or risk having it die a slow death. Now that it’s cross-platform it’s available on two of the most popular mobile platforms in the market.

BlackBerry Messenger for Android gets a new update today that’s available for download now in the Google Play Store. It brings the BBM video chat feature in beta for Android users, it’s available in beta for users in the United States and Canada only for now but the feature will be rolled out broadly in the near future.

The Android update has been released now and it shouldn’t be long before the iOS update arrives with the same feature.

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