A Beginner's Guide to BeReal, the Hottest New Social Media App

September 20, 2024

BeReal, a new photo-sharing application minus the glitz and glam, is gaining attention, mainly among young adults and Gen Z. In contrast to traditional social media, this app gives users an unfiltered look into each other's lives. Every day, you post one, and only one, photo of what you are doing in real-time.

Let’s have a detailed look into what BeReal is, how it works, and what makes it different from the other social media giants.

What Is BeReal?

BeReal is exactly what it sounds like - an app that allows people to be the authentic version of themselves, quite literally.

Let us put it this way; while there are several benefits of social media, most of the images of people we see online, especially on Instagram and Snapchat, are heavily edited. We mean, it’s real people but with a little brighter skin, sharper jawline, fuller hair, whiter teeth, and of course, plumper lips.

BeReal, created by Alexis Barreyat, urges people to stop curation and present themselves as they are at the moment. This picture-based application is Snapchat without the filters and Instagram without the edits.

It is possible to share your images with your friends only, or you can make it a public account so that everyone can see them. Similarly, you can scroll through the application to see your friends going about their mundane daily routines and relate to them.

How Does BeReal Work?

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Every day, you will be prompted by the application to take a picture within a limited timeframe of two minutes. The app will simultaneously take the picture from both the front and back camera, showing you and your life. These prompts are random, so if you get a prompt at 5 pm today, it can be 11 in the morning tomorrow—no one knows.

What's the benefit of this? You will not prepare yourself and your environment for the pictures in advance because, of course, that will not be authentic.

You can re-take the pictures if you do not like the first one, but the application will tell your friends about the number of times you re-took them. If your post goes outside the two-minute period, your friends will receive a notification since it may mean that you changed your surroundings or took some time to look presentable.

The app also allows you to react to your friend’s BeReals via RealMojis. However, you will have to take a picture of yourself to capture your reaction, not just type some generic emoji.

For instance, if your friend posts a funny picture of their pet, click on the laughing-crying RealMoji and snap a picture of your face looking like you're laughing. Similarly, if you like a post, you can make a thumbs-up pose and react to that image.

The RealMoji will appear at the bottom of the post like it does on other apps. You can see the reactions of other people alongside your RealMoji as well.

Keep in mind that while you can use BeReal without posting anything, you cannot see any of your friend’s posts if you do not post anything yourself. Yep, no more silently stalking your friends with zero posts of your own.

Get Started With BeReal

Since some of the application's features are difficult to understand, we have included a tutorial to explain how to use it.

1. Create an Account

BeReal is available for both Android and iOS users. To get started, download the application from your respective application store. Enter your phone number, full name, birthday, and username to create an account.

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You will receive a confirmation code on the phone number you added. Enter the code to proceed.

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2. Find Friends

Once you log in, the app will prompt you to access your contacts and add friends from your contact list. If your friends do not use the app, you can click on Don’t Allow to prevent the app from accessing your contacts.

3. Take and Post a Picture

The application asks you to take a picture right after you create an account. It will send you a notification to take an image. Click on the notification and take two pictures (from the back and front camera) within 2 minutes.

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Then, add a caption and select if you want to only show it to your friends or everyone. Click on Send to post it. All the pictures you take will be visible in the Memories section, which you can access by clicking on the user icon in the top-right corner of the homepage.

It is also important to note that while it may seem like it, this application does not work like Snapchat. This means that there is no streak to lose and no score to improve. If you do not post a picture a day, you will just not be able to look at the BeReals of your friends.

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You can see BeReals of others in the Discovery section of the application. To react to them, click on the emoji in the bottom left corner of the post.

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4. Delete Your BeReal

Not satisfied with the image you posted? You can delete it. However, BeReal only allows you to delete one picture a day. Click on the picture and select Delete my BeReal. In the next window, choose why you want to delete your BeReal and hit Delete.

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5. See the Location of Your Friends

Finally, we have a Snapchat-like map, which allows you to see where your friends are in the world. However, this feature is optional, so unless you give the application permission to access your location, your friends will not be able to locate you.

Showcase Your Unedited Life With BeReal

As BeReal puts it, it's social media that is actually social. In a nutshell, it allows you to take a break from the applications like Instagram, where even the candid photo dumps are perfectly curated.

Our personal experience with BeReal has been surprisingly great so far. Previously, apps like MySpace have had their moment to shine, but they've lost their luster after a while, so we are excited to see what the future holds for BeReal.

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