Time to BeReal
What is BeReal? BeReal is a real-time photo-sharing app where users post one photo to show their followers what they are doing at a random time each day.
If there’s one thing that just about every social media app gets criticised for—other than selling user data, spreading misinformation, promoting unrealistic beauty standards, and predatory advertising—it’s being fake.
If you’re tired of how fake social media has become, this new app might just be what you’ve been looking for.
Let’s dive a little deeper and figure out whether the app is for you or not.
How does BeReal work?
Praised for its focus on authenticity, the appworks by randomly prompting users to take a photo with their front and back camera within a two-minute time period once per day.
BeReal is an app that encourages people to be authentic by limiting when they can post and how often.
Unlike other popular photo-sharing apps like Instagram, where photos are often carefully curated and edited, BeReal strips everything back to just what your front and back camera can see during a two-minute window each day.
Here’s a quick rundown of how BeReal works:
- Randomly, the app will prompt you to take a photo
- Once prompted, you will have just two minutes to take your photo
- All users are prompted at the same time each day
Important BeReal features
While it is a simple concept, there are a few key features to keep in mind when using the app:
- If you miss the two-minute window, posts are still allowed; however, they will be flagged as late
- To access the Discover section, you must post a photo first
- You can retake your photo; however, the app will show the number of retakes to your followers
- No filters or editing options
- Videos are not supported
- Follower counts are not displayed
- There is no like button; however, users can comment and react with ‘RealMojis’
- All of your previous uploads are available to view in Memories
Is BeReal popular?
As of November 2022, BeReal has been installed over 67 million times worldwide. However, there are claims that only 9% of users open the app daily. Compared to Instagram (39%) and TikTok (29%), these are relatively low numbers.
A daily open rate of 9% certainly isn’t great news, but it’s still early days for the app, considering it was only launched in 2020.
BeReal imitations
If something becomes popular in the world of social media, you can bet that established apps will copy it in next to no time. BeReal is no exception to this rule, with TikTok already launching TikTok Now.
TikTok describes TikTok Now as a “daily photo and video experience to share your most authentic moments with the people who matter most.”
So, how is TikTok Now different? Well, instead of prompting users to with “Time to Be Real,” TikTok Now says, “Time to be Now.” Yeah, so it’s pretty much exactly plus video.
At the time of writing, TikTok Now is only available to US users; however, you can expect the feature to roll out worldwide in the coming weeks.
And TikTok isn’t the only social media giant jumping on the BeReal train, with Instagram recently testing a new feature called Candid Challenges.
