[iamgenius]

What's supposed to be a straightforward thing to do is about to make me go crazy. Yes, I can't transfer my BBM contacts, and I think what made it much more complicated is that I selected the continue choice the very first time I opened BBM after turning on my Q10. There were three choices if I remember correctly, one of them is restore contacts by email which I selected at first but because it didn't work for 3 times saying that the server is down, I got bored and just selected continue and that's when it gave me the warning that if I continue I will not be able to restore my contacts anymore at a later time. I changed my mind, and cancelled and kept trying to restore my contacts by email but it just didn't happen. Being excited to use my new device, I just said heck I'll select continue and then will see what happens, and I can always do a security wipe/restore to factory defaults to start from ZERO if necessary. BBM opened with no contacts of course and I was surprised not to find an option for restoring contacts from email or from a contacts back up file from within BBM itself like old days.

After that, I tried every thing one could think of to restore contacts to no avail. I was able to get everything restored(even the last missed call), but it is just not happening with BBM contacs. Things I tried:

1- Transferring data using blackberry link software( It says it will restore BBM contacts but it didn't). I tried this even after a security wipe and a factory defaults restore and ALSO it didn't work.

2- I used device switch method in both 9900 and Q10 but no go.

3- I restored an old back up file to my Q10 but no go as well.

4- I signed in using my blackberry ID in BBM after factory defaults restore, and it says it is restoring stuff but ends up being empty.

5- I formatted my old 9900 and updated it with latest updates and made sure I signed in with my black berry ID to make sure it is associated with my BBM contacts and went again and I tried restoring contacts by signing in with my blackberry ID but it also didn't do it.

6- I tried blackberry protect to restore my device but it didn't help also(protect isn't supposed to do it anyway, right?

Those are the things I remember now, although I'm sure I tried many other things. So what is really going on here? Does opening BBM in Q10 as a new user seal away my chances of restoring contacts?

What should I do exactly? And in my older 9900 device, how do I make sure 100% that my contacts are really linked with my blackberry ID?

What I'm thinking is that BBM contacts are no longer identified the way they used to and are now linked to BB ID, and I'm afraid my BB ID is now linked to the new BBM in Q10 which is empty since I opened it the first time as a new user. Now, I can't do anything because it was already defined in the Blackberry server that my ID is linked to the new BBM with its unique PIN code.

Could this be true?

Can I still restore my contacts? Instead of going into the trouble of inviting them manually one by one, which is ganna be a really tedious process?

Man, those last 4 days had been a nightmare, because I just kept swapping my sim card between the two phones and had to miss some calls.

Please help if you can.

[Elite1]

After you did the device switch using Link, you should have had to sign in to BBID on Q10. After you did that, it should have automatically signed in to BBM and restored your BBM Contacts.

On your 9900 are you on BBM 7? I assume so, and therefore there's no Backup/Restore options in BBM options are there?
I'm on the road and don't have access to a BBOS device to see.

Turn off all radios on 9900 so it's not connected anymore, to see if that matters. Without a sim might have still been connected to Wi-Fi.

How about other BBID connected apps? If you go into My World in BB World on your Q10, do you see your previous apps under Available tab?

[diegonei]

BBM is handled by the BBID. If you use the same ID it will load up your contact list just fine.

Wipe the Q10. Run the setup again, use the same BBID as the 9900. When you open BBM then, it will grab your data - contcts, groups, name, picture, channels. The works.

About the possible empty BBID. If you're able to use it on the 9900, then your data is safe. Put the SIM in there one last time and make sure everyone can see you (if ONE can, then ALL can). Keep in mind though that once the Q10 activates, the 9900 will no longer be able to use BBM. And if you so decide to swap the SIM again, when the 9900 activate (you'll be prompted if you want to) the Q10 will lose BBM till you activate it again.

[NamelessStar]

bbm only started to be held by BBID at bbm 7 if you had an older version on your 9900(rare but possible) it wont transfer over properly.

[iamgenius]

It always tells me that there is no update for my bbm, so I assumed it is the latest. But I don't think it is BBM 7, it is 6.XXX if I remember correctly when checking the version in my blackberry desktop manager. How do I force a BBM 7 installation in my 9900?

[diegonei]

It always tells me that there is no update for my bbm, so I assumed it is the latest. But I don't think it is BBM 7, it is 6.XXX if I remember correctly when checking the version in my blackberry desktop manager. How do I force a BBM 7 installation in my 9900?

Point the 9900's browser to blackberry.com/messenger or blackberry.com/bbm

One of those is the link for the OTA install.

Posted via CB10

[Gun McBang]

I had a similar problem moving from 9900 to Q10. I shot myself in to foot, because the perfect storm of fail that is Rogers advised me that the @rogers.blackberry.net e-mail address would not longer be supprted, and was told to make a new BBID - so I did. All my data ported over fine making the switch from desktop software to BB link (calendar, contacts, etc) - except for BBM. Rogers, after forever and a day trying to work with them, offered a solution, but it didn;t work.

I stopped fighting a losing battle and just re-added all my contacts to a new BBM setup.

[iamgenius]

I downloaded bbm 7 like you said. Then, 9900 just linked my bbm contacts to my bbid and then it worked in my Q10. They should have made this clear. It just won't work any other way.

Thanks.

[offyoutoddle]

BBM is handled by the BBID. If you use the same ID it will load up your contact list just fine.

Wipe the Q10. Run the setup again, use the same BBID as the 9900. When you open BBM then, it will grab your data - contcts, groups, name, picture, channels. The works.

About the possible empty BBID. If you're able to use it on the 9900, then your data is safe. Put the SIM in there one last time and make sure everyone can see you (if ONE can, then ALL can). Keep in mind though that once the Q10 activates, the 9900 will no longer be able to use BBM. And if you so decide to swap the SIM again, when the 9900 activate (you'll be prompted if you want to) the Q10 will lose BBM till you activate it again.

This wasn't my experience. I had a repair carried out on my q10 and had to revert to a 9900 for a while. When opening BBM it asked me for nothing, it just restored it, and was missing all the contacts I had added since owning the q10 in the first place. Gone.

At least when I got the replacement q10 back i didn't lose any more contacts, but I never got back the ones that had been lost.

[bobdilan23]

Blackberry sucks && try to get an android phone cuz its very easy to keep your contacts by google contacts service.