The app that some know and love, BeReal, launched in 2020 but did not gain popularity until the summer of 2022. The app was initially a French social media app and is currently accessible on iOS and Android. The app developers Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau claim that the app captures the reality of everyday life, hence the name BeReal.
Users of BeReal get a notification at a random time every day and have two minutes to take a picture. When taking the picture, it captures the front and back camera simultaneously. If a user misses the two-minute window to post their BeReal, they can still post it later; it will just say at the top of the picture that it was posted late.
Some users of BeReal have a love-hate relationship with the app for many reasons. The fact that the notification comes at any time can be inconvenient for some.
“My least favorite thing about the app is when I have to post late because it comes in at a bad or random time,” junior Nora Larson said.
Even though some find the inconsistency of the notification annoying, others like it because it could give the users a chance to capture a joyful moment and share it with their friends.
“It is really fun to see people interact with strangers for a selfie and capture a good memory,” junior Nora Lubkeman said. “[Plus you can] see what other people are doing in their free time.”
People who do not have the app have multiple reasons as to why. They may feel like it adds pressure onto them to make their life more fun, or maybe the users are just trying to show certain aspects of their lives. Similar to other social media apps, it is hard to tell what is true and what is false.
“I just don’t like it at all,” junior Lilly Beck said, “I think it is people who want to show the good but don’t want to show reality.”
BeReal is something unique and original which is part of the reason it became popular. Though it may be another way to post yourself, there are a lot of things that separate it from other social media apps.
