Following a series of leaks, it was officially announced by BlackBerry CEO John Chen on September 25, 2015, with pre-orders opening on October 23, 2015, for a release on November 6, 2015.

[11][12][13] In July 2015, new images of the curved device leaked under the codename "Venice"; unlike the version presented at MWC, it was now shown to be running Android 5.0 "Lollipop" rather than BlackBerry 10.

[14] Information about the device's software leaked in August 2015, showing a "stock" Android experience augmented with ports of features and apps from BB10, such as BlackBerry Hub.

[15] In response to the leaks, Chen officially confirmed during a September 2015 earnings call that BlackBerry would release a high-end Android-based device, now known as the Priv (standing for both "privilege" and "privacy"), in late 2015.

"[2] He also argued that the decision was meant to "[take] advantage of what the industry can offer", whilst continuing to leverage BlackBerry's "core strength".

[17] BlackBerry promoted certain security enhancements made to the build of Android bundled with the Priv, which include utilizing features of its SoC to embed unchangeable cryptographic keys in the device hardware which are used to validate critical boot components, thus establishing a "root of trust" designed to foil attempts to tamper with the OS.

(Provided by grsecurity)[20] BlackBerry also promoted that storage encryption would be enabled by default on the Priv, as well as a general company commitment to timely patch releases for known Android security vulnerabilities, subject to carrier approval.

[3] The Priv also integrates with the pre-existing Android for Work suite, which allows personal and work-oriented data on a device to be segregated (similarly to the BlackBerry Balance features on BB10).

[29][30][31][32] In late-April 2016, BlackBerry began to release an upgrade to Android 6.0 "Marshmallow";[33] along with features added to the core Android platform (which includes a new permissions system, and systems to reduce background activity when the device is not being physically handled to conserve battery power),[34] it adds S/MIME, Slack, Skype, and Pinterest support to BlackBerry Hub, slide input on the physical keyboard, faster autofocus, and 24 fps and 120 fps video recording modes.

The Verge felt that the Priv's design was "quite good", noting that the thinness of the device's two halves averted it from feeling "top-heavy" when its keyboard was in use.

[5] In regards to performance, PC Magazine described the Priv as having "(benchmarked) like (an LG G4) that's been throttled down after some gaming", noting that its AnTuTu scores were lower than those of the Nexus 6P and Samsung Galaxy S6.

[3] PC Magazine praised the Priv's call quality, noting that it had a clear microphone and "delivers very loud maximum speakerphone and earpiece volume with zero distortion or wobble.

"[40] The Priv's rear-facing camera was criticized for having autofocus issues and for producing washed-out images with poor contrast and low-light performance.

[40] The Wall Street Journal felt that most of the enhancements to the OS were useful and the email interface was "[trumping] all others when it comes to formatting options", although it was slower than the Gmail app.

[4] PC Magazine similarly questioned the security features, noting that Android "Marshmallow" allows app permissions to be revoked individually (a function not implemented by DTEK) and supports device encryption, and that using Google services requires users to agree to data collection by the company to begin with.

[5] The Wall Street Journal felt that the Priv was "a really good phone for people who want a [hardware] keyboard and a more secure Android experience", but that it "isn't going to put BlackBerry back on top again".

An unnamed AT&T executive stated to CNET that a large number of customers were returning the device, and that the company believed BlackBerry had priced the Priv too high.