Heard of the BeReal app but not sure what it is or what the fuss is about? At the time of writing, it’s sitting at #1 on the Social Networking category ranking in the Apple App Store!

Created in France back in 2020 by a former GoPro employee, it has suddenly become popular, particularly with a Gen Z to Millennial audience who are perhaps looking to move away from the social media time-suckers like Instagram and TikTok, and present a more authentic view of themselves to their friends/followers.

The concept is pretty straightforward. Users are prompted once a day — and that’s ALL users — to capture what they’re up to in that very moment. They have two minutes — at a different time each day — to share a simultaneous 2-in-1 image: one from the front camera and one from the selfie camera. From there, it’s captioned and shared where friends can comment and react to your moment. There are no filters nor editing features, and no ads... for now.

What happens if you don’t meet the notification deadline? Users can share their content late, however, their followers are notified and told how late the user was to post. Users can also skip the daily post if they’re really not up to it. Followers can also see how many times the person took to take their “perfect” BeReal shot — the irony being very obvious here.

I mean, missing the notification is bound to happen. There a quite a few places and situations you’d like to avoid a notification appearing to immediately share an image of yourself… we’ll let your mind wander! 😉

According to the Wall St Journal, the BeReal app has been downloaded 20 million times as of July 2022. Similar to TikTok and Instagram, you can choose between a public or private profile, and discover people all over the world, including influencers.

Following researching about the app, it seems there a few contradictory factors around the platform’s philosophy, especially against what is written in their App Store description.

“BeReal won’t make you waste time”… unless the user does the very common selfie photoshoot with countless takes.

“BeReal can be addictive” but the creators also challenge social media addiction and overuse.

“If you want to become an influencer you can stay on TikTok and Instagram”, but influencers are of course allowed to join BeReal and promote this fact on other channels, and vice versa.

We’ll be very interested to keep tabs on the progress and popularity of BeReal! Could it ever be a branded moment in future, with brands, companies and businesses showing off even more transparently than some already are?

A few people in the team are using BeReal so we wanted to get their thoughts on what they’re loving about BeReal, and if they see it being a challenger to Instagram.

Em, Social Media Manager: [On a] personal note, on Instagram the amount and type of followers I have / some of the people I follow bugs me! This includes a large array of people outside of my close friends and family. I've had Instagram for so long that I have built this follower pool including accounts and old acquaintances who I'm really not mad on seeing what I post and vice versa. It doesn't feel private and completely discourages me from posting anything (not that I'm a big poster!). I understand that there is "close friends" posting options and that I could fix these problems with a bit of account maintenance... But because Instagram has lost its way, I really am not motivated to “clean” my account. I have just started BeReal-ing and loving the smaller pool of closer friends who I can share stuff to. #BIG #FAN of #BEREAL

Tom, Account Manager: BeReal is brilliant! It’s authenticity to the max. Something that other social media apps truly lack with filters and edited content. I've been using it for over four months, sharing content with my close friends and family. It's great to have a quick window into my immediate circle's life. Unfortunately, other social media apps push suggested content or repost irrelevant content and a crazy amount of ads. BeReal has just those you follow, and there are no ads!

Pen, Social Media Manager: It’s kind of what Facebook used to be, connecting with those overseas or who you’re not in contact with as much, but now content is so polished and manufactured, you’re not seeing people’s real life. With BeReal, there’s less room to fake it! Although, it’s proving how lazy some people are — we’d rather see a “story” like post rather than actually message someone.

I wouldn’t liken it to Instagram. BeReal has come at a really good time as people are living more authentically and honestly compared to where we were when Instagram launched. It’s cooler to be messier and realistic, and it’s expected of us.

What is BeReal and will users leave Instagram to use it?

Why did we refresh our branding?

The Instagram revolt: why is everyone so angry at Instagram?