How to Make Sure All Your BlackBerry Apps Are Up-to-Date

One of the best features of a BlackBerry smartphone is the fact that you can download and install applications onto your phone that increase its functionality, give you access to more information, and just plain make it more fun to use. From BlackBerry's proprietary application marketplace, BlackBerry App World, you can download thousands of different programs and applications onto your phone, both free and paid-for. However, technology marches ever forward. App developers release new versions of their apps continually, often with important upgrades and bug fixes. Fortunately, it's easy to make sure you have the most up-to-date versions of all your BlackBerry apps.

Download the latest version of BlackBerry App World. Point your phone's browser to http://appworld.blackerry.com. You may need to scroll down on the screen a bit, until you see the "Download It Today" button below the large graphic. Click on the button and follow the on-screen installation instructions to download and install it onto your BlackBerry. If you're prompted to overwrite a current version of BlackBerry App World already installed on your phone, only click "Yes" if the new version has a higher (and therefore newer) version number than the version you have installed.

Reboot your phone, if prompted to do so. This may be necessary in order for the new version of the app to work properly on your phone.

Open App World on your phone. The installation process may prompt you to open it automatically, or you may have to find the icon in your Downloads folder. From the main screen of your phone, press the Menu button to the left of your track pad or track ball. Scroll down until you find an icon that looks like a regular folder. The sub-title should read "Downloads." Click on that, then scroll to and click on the icon whose subtitle reads "BlackBerry App World."

Create a BlackBerry App World account if you don't have one already. It's free, and the process is quite simple. You need only to provide your email address and a password. You may need to confirm your email account, but otherwise, creating an App World account is almost instantaneous. Log into App World with your account.

Visit "My World" in App World. This is the directory of all your installed apps. From the App World home screen, scroll to the last icon in the row of four icons at the bottom of the screen. It will look like a small person with the BlackBerry logo behind it. Click this icon.

Scroll down and review your installed apps. The ones with large white asterisks next to the title are out-of-date. The asterisk indicates that the developer has released a newer version of the app that is ready for you to download.

Update your outdated apps. Click on the app titles in My World that have asterisks next to them. Follow the simple on-screen instructions to update the app, choosing "Yes" when the phone asks you if you'd like to replace your old app with the newer version.

Reboot each time you're prompted. Don't wait to reboot after you've finished updating all your outdated apps. This may cause corruption, and if anything goes wrong with the installation of any one specific app, you won't be able to tell which one is having problems as easily.

You can also update the software that came pre-installed on your BlackBerry, such as DocumentsToGo, in much the same way, bypassing App World altogether. To check to see if there's a newer version of the software available, simply open the software on your phone. Press the "Menu" 'button, and select "Check for Software Updates." If you have web access on your phone, the software will automatically take you to the update page if there's a new version.

By checking for app and software updates regularly, you can ensure that all your BlackBerry apps run as efficiently, quickly and bug-free as possible, and you'll have access to all the latest features, to boot.