BeReal facts for kids
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| Original author(s) | Alexis Barreyat, Kévin Perreau | ||||
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| Initial release | 2020 | ||||
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| Written in | Swift (iOS), Kotlin (Android) | ||||
| Platform | iOS 14 or later Android |
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| Available in | 13 languages | ||||
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List of languages
English, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
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BeReal is a social media app from France that came out in 2020. It was created by Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau. The main idea of BeReal is to encourage users to share real, unedited photos of their daily lives with friends. It does this by sending a surprise notification once a day. When you get the notification, you have only two minutes to take and share a photo.
The app's name, "BeReal," means to be true to yourself. It wants users to show their friends who they really are, without using filters or editing their pictures. This makes the app different from many other social media platforms.
After being around for a couple of years, BeReal became very popular in 2022. Millions of people started using it. However, its popularity started to decrease in 2023 and early 2024.
Contents
What is BeReal?
BeReal is a unique social media app that focuses on showing your real life. Instead of carefully planned photos, BeReal wants you to share what you're doing right at that moment.
How BeReal Works
Every day, at a random time, BeReal sends a notification to all its users around the world. This notification tells you it's "Time to BeReal." Once you get it, you have just two minutes to take a photo.
When you take a BeReal, the app uses both your front and back cameras at the same time. This means you capture a picture of yourself and what's in front of you. You can also add a short video or a caption to your post.
Important Rules for Posting
- You can't see your friends' BeReals from the current day until you post your own.
- If you post after the two-minute window, your friends will see that your BeReal was "late."
- Other users can also see how many tries it took you to get your BeReal photo just right. They can also see your location if you choose to share it.
- You used to only be able to post one BeReal a day. But now, if you post your first BeReal on time, you might be able to post up to two extra "BonusBeReals" on the same day in some areas.
Sharing with Others
BeReal has a "My Friends" section where you share posts only with your friends. There's also a "Discovery" section where you can share your BeReal with a wider public audience. In the "Discovery" section, you can't comment on posts, but you can in the "My Friends" section. In 2023, BeReal also added a feature that lets you see your friends' friends' BeReals.
The app uses special technology to check photos and make sure they are appropriate. You can also report any photos or users if you see something that shouldn't be there.
BeReal's Journey
BeReal was created by Alexis Barreyat, who used to work at GoPro, and Kévin Perreau. It was first launched in 2020.
Growing Popularity
The app started to become widely known in early 2022. It became very popular on college campuses, partly because of a program that paid students to tell others about the app. By late 2022, millions of people were using BeReal every day and every month.
To help the app grow, BeReal received money from investors. This money helped them improve the app and reach more users.
In July 2022, BeReal became the most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store. It stayed at the top for a few months. Apple even named BeReal the "iPhone App of the Year" in 2022.
Recent Changes
By mid-2023, the number of daily users started to go down. However, in August 2024, BeReal saw a small increase in users after a special campaign during the Paris Olympics.
In June 2024, a French company called Voodoo bought BeReal. Alexis Barreyat, one of the creators, is expected to leave the company after a short time to help with the change.
How BeReal is Different
BeReal is often compared to other popular apps, but it has its own unique style.
Compared to Other Apps
- Like Wordle: BeReal is similar to the game Wordle because both apps encourage you to engage with them once a day.
- Like Snapchat: It shares a theme with Snapchat because posts are meant to be quick and temporary.
- Different from Instagram: BeReal is often called an "anti-Instagram." It doesn't allow photo filters or editing, and it doesn't show how many followers you have. The company even said that BeReal "won't make you famous." This is because it wants you to be real, not perfect.
- Like Facebook's Friends: BeReal focuses on sharing with your friends, similar to how Facebook works. It's about connecting with people you know, not just gaining followers.
- RealMojis: Instead of just "liking" a post, BeReal lets you react with "RealMojis." This means you take a quick photo of your own face to show your reaction to a friend's post.
Other Apps Copying BeReal
Because BeReal became so popular, other big social media apps started adding similar features:
- In July 2022, Instagram launched a "Dual Camera" feature, just like BeReal's front and back camera idea.
- In August 2022, Instagram also started testing "IG Candid Challenges," which prompted users to post once a day within two minutes.
- In September 2022, TikTok launched "TikTok Now," which also followed BeReal's concept.
In December 2022, BeReal created a video compilation of users' posts from the year, similar to how Spotify creates "Wrapped" videos of your music.
Who Uses BeReal?
BeReal is mostly popular with young people, especially those in Generation Z (people born from the late 1990s to early 2010s).
Why Young People Like It
Many young people feel tired of social media that makes everyone seem perfect. This is called "social media fatigue." BeReal tries to reduce this feeling by encouraging users to be authentic and show their true selves. This idea of being real is very important to this age group.
BeReal is especially popular among university students. Most of its users are in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In 2022, most users were female, and a large number were between 16 and 44 years old.
