Workaround for BlackBerry Bold 9900 & 9930 Back Button App Switcher Bug

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Since I started using my Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9930 heavily I have run into an annoying bug 3-5 times a day. What happens is all of a sudden my 9930’s back button decides to no longer work as intended. Instead it opens up the multitasking app switcher you would normally get when holding down the BlackBerry "Menu" key for a few seconds. When this first started happening I thought it was only my phone and the only solution I could find was rebooting the phone. When this continued to happen I reached out to a few contacts I knew had Rogers 9900s and Verizon 9930s and asked if they were experiencing something similar. It turns out I was not alone…

I have multiple confirmations from Verizon users who are running into the bug with the official OS 7.0.0.254 though it seems to be fixed in the unofficial leak of OS 7.0.0.340. I also have confirmation from Rogers 9900 users that OS 7.0.0.261 had the bug but the leak of OS 7.0.0.317 fixed it. At this point I reached out to contacts at RIM and have been trying to help RIM’s software engineers pin down the problem since they have not been able to replicate it on their devices. I will continue to work with them to help fix it but until then I wanted to share a quick workaround for this issue that does not require a reboot.

To fix this "back button bug" on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 or 9930 all you need to do is hit the "Lock/Standby" key on the top of the 9900 or 9930. If you hit it twice to lock and unlock the screen you will get your normal back button functionality. Hopefully RIM will be able to fix this ASAP because it would be a real shame for such an annoying bug to be in the OS shipping with RIM’s awesome flagship BlackBerry Bold 9900 & 9930.

Let us know if you are having this issue and if this workaround fixes it! I will keep you up to date on what I hear from RIM.

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