Keep hearing about BeReal? What to know about the social media app without filters
Are you tired of editing perfectly posed pictures for social media or learning complicated TikTok dances? If you've been looking for less manicured social media options, you might have heard about BeReal.
The app joins other efforts to make social media less focused on drawing likes and followers. Its features are seemingly part of a push against filtered social media posts, or the feeling that you can only share your most exciting moments.
The social media app prompts you to take a photo at a different time each day. The app will also use your phone’s front-facing camera to take a picture of you while you’re taking the daily photo.
And if you fib and post your image a few hours after you’re prompted, the app will mark your daily post as late. You can take your photo multiple times if you don’t love your first shot, but you are only given a two-minute window to get your images for the day.
You can’t see how many followers another user has on the app, but you can comment on and react to posts.
You also can’t see your friends' posts until you share your own BeReal for the day. If you make a mistake or want to remove an image, you can delete your post, but only once a day.
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The app was founded in 2020 by French former GoPro employee Alexis Barreyat, NBC News reported. It has millions of installs around the world, and it has spiked on Apple's top charts of free apps.
"We want to make people feel good about themselves and their lives. We want an alternative to addictive social networks fueling social comparison and portraying life with the goal of amassing influence," BeReal said in a fact sheet provided to USA TODAY.
The app has also sparked conversations on larger social media platforms, with some users joking that their notification to take a snapshot comes during the most boring part of their day or at an inconvenient time.
Bereal makes me look like the most boring person alive I’ll literally have the most hype day and I get home and I get a notification while I’m dusting my windowsill
— Gab (@gabrielabee) June 16, 2022
@martaandkatie @BeReal. do better #beReal #fyp ♬ Tom's Diner - AnnenMayKantereit & Giant Rooks
BeReal prompting us before 8am is diabolical
— Daniel Golson (@dsgolson) June 16, 2022
And others have joked that they don’t fully understand the app yet.
@tiktokemilysversion #greenscreen thanks @BeReal. #bereal #fyp ♬ original sound - Alisa
My favorite thing about BeReal is that me and all my friends are a smidge too old to use it competently. It’s perfect!
— Katie Way (@k80way) June 16, 2022
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is BeReal? Can you delete a post? What to know about the app