BeReal is the latest busy social media app trying to become mainstream. That is how it works

Popular social media apps come and go with frequency as developers try to find the next big one that will go viral with Gen Z users. Most flare up long before they reach the status of an Instagram or Snapchat. Among the beginners who are getting steam and aiming to become mainstream is the photo sharing app BeReal.

BeReal was founded in 2020 and asks users to take an unedited photo a day at a seemingly random time. The message could come at. 20:00 today and at 11.48 tomorrow. Users then have two minutes to take and post an image before it is marked as late.

After sharing, they can see what their friends have written for the day and are able to comment or respond with an emoji. If a picture comes up late, the app will notice it to your friends, but you get no other penalties. The app uses both the front and rear camera to give users an honest overview of what is happening at the moment.

“It’s silly, but I feel it serves a purpose other than Instagram or Snapchat,” Emily, a user who’s been on the app for about two months, told CNBC on condition that we do not use her last name. “I have friends on it that I do not communicate with regularly, but I appreciate getting a little window into what they do once a day, even if it’s just sitting in front of their computer or going for a walk.”

BeReal, which is based in France, reached the top 20 on the Apple App Store’s list of the best free apps this month and was fourth in social networks, just after Facebook’s three main apps.

BeReal has approximately 10.7 million global installations to date, according to SensorTower. Its record month came in April, when it hit 3.6 million, an increase of 157% from March, the company said. BeReal runs a college and high school ambassador program that is likely to contribute to its user growth.

The app is free and there are no ads at the moment, so the revenue generation strategy remains unclear, as is often the case with new social media apps. Still, investors like what they see enough to pour money into a valuation of over $ 600 million, Business Insider reported earlier this month.

A BeReal spokesman declined to comment on this story except to share a general fact sheet about the app.

I downloaded BeReal to see what the hype was about and to share my experience. The app only has three tabs, so it was easy to navigate from the beginning. There is a place to add friends, a general home page with your friends’ photos and a discovery option and your profile page.

Your profile hosts your photo library

After downloading BeReal and choosing a username, the app asked me to take a picture. It gave me two minutes so I had some time to think about my surroundings or what I wanted to do. I took a picture, shrunk a little and continued. It was basically a crash course in how to use the app. I then went to my profile to upload a profile picture.

The profile page hosts a calendar with my photos for the past month, so it’s a great way to look back on my daily activity.

It is a social experience

After creating my profile, I went to add friends. As you can see, there are not many of my friends on BeReal. The app is meant to be a social experience so your friends can see you at a random, honest moment. You can upload your phone’s contact list to find friends, which I did not want to do for privacy, or search for them by username.

You can only see your friends’ posts if you share your own that day, so there is no nap on the app. There is also the option to comment on other people’s posts or respond with a “RealMoji”, a selfie of you that mimics an emoji face.

You can still discover new people

To see what other people are up to in the world, tap the “discovery” tab on the home page. I rolled through and saw people from places including Ireland, Turkey and Pennsylvania.

I’m not particularly interested in that feature, as I would rather just see pictures of friends and share a little of what I do. If you’re worried about who can see your posts, by default, BeReal makes accounts private so they’re only visible to friends.

Because it feels less serious than most other social apps, I do not feel the need to blow up my posts to strangers all over the world.

Bottom line

Despite its sudden popularity, I have found the BeReal experience quite limiting. I have been using the app for less than two weeks and have not benefited much from it as my group of friends seems to be more interested in Instagram and our group chat.

The app also seems pretty flawed. There was a day I did not get a notification that I chalked up to by accidentally missing it. I uploaded my picture 22 hours late. But it happened again a few days later. I was with a friend who is on the app and his prompt never arrived either. We both ended up writing two hours late.

Some of the flaws are forgivable considering how fast the product has grown. But they still interfere with having a good user experience.

I still use the app and make my daily picture, but can not imagine that I will be on it much longer. I enjoy posting random pictures in group chat, so I’m happy with that option.

I do know, though, that BeReal has its fanatics, and the platform provides a new way to stay connected. It’s not a bad concept – it’s just not for me.

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