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Important note: OS 7 device users should grab the OS 7 beta build – the older builds do not work properly on your devices.  See “downloads” page for details.

BBSSH is an advanced  SSH and Telnet client that has been designed for your BlackBerry device.   It integrates tightly with your BlackBerry system, providing a powerful and customizable tool for securely accessing the servers you need, when you need them.

BBSSH is the only open source SSH client designed specifically for BlackBerry.  It is developed based on the needs of real-world users.  Below are some of BBSSH’s key features — see the About page for a more comprehensive list.

  • Secure - uses BlackBerry’s native encryption for the best performance, battery life, and proven BlackBerry security.
  • Integrated – BBSSH takes full advantage of the available BlackBerry integration features
    • Uses BlackBerry notification profiles (including vibration, LED, and ringtones) and home screen notification icons to inform you of critical events.
    • If you have OS6 or later, BBSSH will make use of the latest features such as home screen shortcuts–  allowing you to connect to or resume sessions directly from your home screen.
    • Full touchscreen support including correctly changing remote terminal size when you re-orient (and the ability to prevent terminal reorientation).
    • up to 220 custom shortcuts available based on your phone model — allowing you to perform actions ranging to sending a special keystroke to running a complex multi-step macro with just just one or two keypresses or gestures.
  • Flexible – support  for the “linux” pseudo-terminal, as well as ansi, vt100, vt220, and vt320 emulation over Telnet and SSH; an extended onscreen keypad allows you to send special keys while basic keys like CTRL and ALT are available from your keyboard/touchscreen without using buttons or menus.
  • Powerful – a macro editor gives you the tools to make complex tasks simple; and simple tasks are just a keypress away by default.
  • Multitasking - run multiple sessions concurrently and in the background; switch between active sessions with a single button (or one swipe on touch screens).
  • Efficient - depending on network availability, a moderate usage SSH session can run all day without significantly affecting your battery life.
  • Flexible - fully configurable – up to and including changing font face and size on the fly.
  • Affordable - while we appreciate donations and purchases through AppWorld (coming soon), BBSSH is available free of charge through this web site.

BBSSH is also under ongoing and active development.  New features such as UTF-8 support,  line-drawing mode and SCP are underway for release in 2012.

BBSSH is a Telnet and SSH client that has been designed for your BlackBerry device.   It integrates tightly with your BlackBerry system, providing a powerful and customizable tool for securely accessing the servers you need, when you need them.

  • Integrated
    • True multi-tasking support: supports multiple concurrent sessions  while running in  the background
    • Utilizes BlackBerry’s LED and ringtone notifications to notify you (at your option)
    • Knows when to get out of the way:  you can bind custom functions to keys like Volume and Mute — but when a phone call is in progress, these keys revert to their standard BlackBerry functions.
    • Configure almost any device key or touch gesture to act as a custom shortcuts.  With from 50-200 shortcuts available (depending on phone model) you’ll be able to run complex actions at the press of a button
    • Uses the latest features of OS 6.0 if they’re available, but is compatible  back to OS 4.5
  • Powerful
    • Advanced macro editing capability provides powerful tools.
    • BBSSH provides a wide range of monospace fonts for your use, and allows you to change your font size and face while you’re connected.
    • Supports connecting to ansi and vt100-vt320 terminals, as well as the “linux” pseudo-terminal.
  • Secure

    • Using native encryption, supports connections using AES128/192/256, TripleDES, and CAST128.
  • Efficient
    • Integrates with RIM’s native Cryptography library to provide encryption using the fastest and most battery-efficient method available.
    • Provides a local input window, allowing you to type text locally before sending over the network for best battery life.
  • Reliable
    • All settings including connections and macros can backed up using the standard BlackBerry backup tools for BES or Desktop.
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  • sciencewhiz

    Was there an update?

    • Anonymous

      Depending which version you’re using – the latest public beta is 2.0.0.483 — though I hope to have another update out tonight.

  • anonymous

    I had no problems with BB bold 9700 OS version 5 now I installed the version 6 and I cannot connect anymore with the same configuration. Can I get more information about the error?

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      The best thing to do is run bbssh, receive the error, the  use “send feedback”.  allow it to attach both screenshot and logs, and I should be able to help you better.

      • http://twitter.com/YouAintTheHost Steve Giacobbo

        Does this app do ssh over mds (or through bes express somehow)?  

  • Mcne2001

    would be great if a version for Playbook will be developed…

    • zerobelow

      Agreed! I’m actually waiting on purchasing a playbook until there’s some form of ssh available. Ssh and web browsing are pretty much the two killer apps for me on something like this.

  • Anonymous

    This is really amazing work.  Thanks for your effort

    But I get some issues. I want to know if I can add some special encoding using BBSSH while sometimes I got mis-code. Because the sever is using other encoding that UTF-8.
    Just want to know if I can set it somewhere or edit it

    Thank u

    • mparadise

      Send me some details using “Send Feedback” from within BBSSH and I’ll see if i can help

  • zerobelow

    Playbook native sdk, closed beta! I want my playbook bbssh!

  • Hauger

    Any new movement on a playbook version of the app?  It’s the killer app I need to get a playbook (have to sell the usefulness to my employer).

    • Hauger

      I read on your blog that you were questioning the usefulness of a playbook version of BBSSH.  Can I throw my hat in the ring here and say absolutely, it’s 100% required software for some professionals to use the Playbook.  I really don’t understand what’s with RIM and not releasing the NDK.  Do you have the beta version of it yet?  

      My other question would be that wouldn’t it be better to devote time to the QNX version of the app since QNX is the near future of Blackberry devices?  Wouldn’t a Playbook version mean that you’d be ready to more easily port it to the new QNX phones rumoured to be out next year?

      Thanks for all your hard work, we use bbssh on our phones now but would love to have a version available on the playbook as soon as possible.

      • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

        I do have the NDK. While I can’t really say much more than that, I can say that BBSSH for PlayBook is underway :)

        • Hauger

          Sweet news, anxiously awaiting future updates then.  Thank you for the response. 

        • zerobelow

          Excellent! I plan to get a playbook as soon as I can get reliable ssh from there — to replace my laptop for home use, and light work use.

  • Menny

    I Downloaded the BBSSH for my 9900Bold
    i setup all the parameters but i am getting

    “DSA Signature Verification Failed”
    “Received Key Acceptance from server but was not excepting it.”

    any ideas what i can do to correct this?

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      Are you using the OS 7 download version?

      • Menny

        yes i am

  • Werd

    Anyone updates on BBSSH for playbook?

  • mkip

    I’m also looking forward to BBSSH for the playbook. Great work on the phone version!

  • Nelson Mok

    Having upgraded my BlackBerry 9930 to OS 7.1, BBSSH tells me that I’m using the wrong version and to download the 7.0 version.  I believe I AM on the 7.0 version…  anyone else getting this?

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      You are on the correct version – there is not yet a 7.1 build though I will have one out soon. You can safely ignore the message – it’s a safeguard to make sure that people upgrade to the correct version for their device, mostly for folks going from 5 to 6 — otherwise they miss out on new features.

      • Nelson Mok

        Thanks!  Now awaiting for some PlayBook love too!  =)

  • Liviu

    hello, 
    Great app!. Maybe this is a stupid question but i ask anyway. Is there a way to c/p in bbssh?. im new with bb also.. 1st one now. I love that i can have multiple connections in the same time.

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      Yes, though it’s not the best answer. You can copy the entire visible buffer by pressing alt+trackpad press and paste using shift trackpad. You can change these keys (and a ton of others) using the menu item “view/edit shortcuts”
      You may also be interested in the url grabber which pulls any urls, emails, etc out of the current session and allows you to copy or launch them. It’s available through the menu (I think). It’s also bound to a key by default but I can’t remember which as I’ve customized it in my installation

      Glad you’re liking it so far :)

      • Liviu

        Found all that by myself. When wireless disconnected i had to put  from vodafone:  apn name, username & pass under settings to work w/ the mobile internet. That was a hard one!. Checked for firewalls and tcpdumps on servers etc.. found out that bb uses nat and/or proxy on 80.. ip address from whatismyip.com is different from the one is reaching my server on tcp/22. Anyway, great job. ssh is easier on this small phone then androided samsung galaxy tab .

  • Anonymous

    “New features such as UTF-8 support,  line-drawing mode and SCP are underway for release in 2012.” Does that mean that stuff using ncurses, for example cmus, will display properly? Loving this, when I downloaded it I wasn’t expecting it to integrate so well with my blackberry. BBSSH + FreeDNS + tmux is a winning combo. This solves so many problems for me, thank you so much!

  • Adam

    Great application.  I’ve been looking for an actively-developed SSH client for a long time.  Really looking forward to SCP functionality.

    One question, the program icon on my BB home screen, on a fresh reboot it’s a question mark inside a black box.  But after I run the application, the icon refreshes to the BBSSH icon.  Any idea why?

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      Disqus generic email template that’s a bug in the latest beta build – should be fixed shortly.

      Sent from my BlackBerry® PlayBook™
      http://www.blackberry.com

      ——————————
      *From:* “Disqus”
      *To:* “marc.paradise@gmail.com”
      *Sent:* February 20, 2012 12:25 PM
      *Subject:* [bbssh] Re: Home

      [image: DISQUS]

  • Nik

    I love it. Tons of fun playing classic BBS games. :-D

  • Robert McIntosh

    6 months and a new playbook os version….any chance of even a beta release soon?

  • Shantanu

    its not even appearing in my BB OS 6 :(

  • http://twitter.com/IanJHawkins Ian Hawkins

    Sweet. Many thanks for this app.

    - piemmm
    (an android dev playing with BB)

  • YZ

    In older versions of BBSSH, one could simply connect a telnet connection. Now it seems to ask for a username and password every time, and you have dismiss the dialog box every single time before connecting. Is there any way to disable it from popping up in the first place?

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      I *think* I fixed this in 2.1.0 beta, which you can grab from http://dev.bbssh.org/bbssh

      • YZ

        I have 0s7.0, unfortunately.

  • Vektav

    OS7 Beta build works perfectly on my Blackberry 9900 running BB OS 7.1.0.342

  • Joel Yates

    Unless I am missing something… I have a BlackBerry 9900 and no matter what version of BBSSH I  download. Even the new Beta 7.0 version. As far as I can tell I got it downloaded and installed. But when I run the app it says I have the wrong version and wants me to update it. But the only thing I see on the web site when I try to update is 6.0 max. If I ignore the update request  the application does seem to run ok. My phone says I am running version 2.1.1.1100.
    Any ideas of what I’m not doing right if any?
    …Thanks…

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      Disqus generic email template Ignore the message – it’s incorrect and I should have it fixed soon. for 7.1 use the build from http://dev.bbssh.org/bbssh/unstable/7.0.0

      Sent from my BlackBerry® PlayBook™
      http://www.blackberry.com

      ——————————
      *From:* “Disqus”
      *To:* “marc.paradise@gmail.com”
      *Sent:* April 18, 2012 10:32 PM
      *Subject:* [bbssh] Re: Home

      [image: DISQUS]

      • Joel Yates

        OK thanks…We’ll do.
        …Jel Y.

  • Dtpratt

    Love it! Works on my Torch fantastic. Any thoughts on how I could use a upc barcode scanner with BBSSH?

  • Joel Yates

    Hello, Is there an Android Tablet version of BBSSH yet?
    Thanks… Joel Y.
     

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      I have no plans to make an Android version – it is, after all, *BB*SSH :)
      A PlayBook native version will be out early summer.

  • Paul Ber

    Will BBSSH support “IBM 3720 Terminal”?

    • http://marcparadise.com/ Marc Paradise

      It is unlikely that the current version will do that. I do plan on adding support for bb10 however, I don’t have any way to test it even when I do add support.

      • Paul Ber

         Will the bold 9930 be able to upgrade to bb10 when it comes out?  Or will it be only new hardware.