Classic BlackBerry Smartphones Are Officially Dead

As of January 4, 2022, all classic BlackBerry smartphones running versions of BlackBerry OS will no longer work for calls, text messages, data, and emergency functionality, essentially making them unusable.

BlackBerry announced the news in September 2020 as part of a broader company shift to focus on enterprise security and solutions. "As another milestone in the BlackBerry journey, we will be taking steps to decommission the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions, with an end of life or termination date of January 4, 2022," the company said at the time.

BlackBerry was once a titan of the smartphone industry, but that changed after Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 and upended the market. A decade after the iPhone launched, BlackBerry's smartphone market share was effectively wiped out.

BlackBerry made a few attempts to reenter the smartphone market over the years by selling Android-based smartphones rather than those running its own operating system. Those devices failed to reach mainstream adoption, however, leading BlackBerry to announce that the company would focus on cybersecurity software for enterprise customers instead of making hardware.

For customers still using classic BlackBerry smartphones, the company is providing some information on how the January 4 decommission may impact you and steps you can take to prepare.