BeReal Has 20M Daily Users, Tests Two Extra Snapshots Per Day
Photo-sharing app BeReal surged in popularity last year as an alternative to apps like Instagram by offering the unusual restriction of only users to post a single photo per day at a randomized specific time. However, BeReal has announced a new feature that will enable users to share additional posts per day.
As Engadget reports, BeReal has announced Bonus BeReal, which the company is testing first in the United Kingdom.
How BeReal Works
Before explaining Bonus BeReal, it’s worth describing how the BeReal app works. Designed to be the “anti-Instagram,” BeReal alerts users with a notification to post a picture in their current surroundings within a two-minute window. Users who miss that window can’t post a photo that day.
BeReal hopes that this approach will enable users to post more authentically, as they’ll be unable to set up a misleading image in just 120 seconds. Whatever the user is doing, wherever they are, and however they look, that two-minute window each day is their best chance to share a photo of their life with their friends. Users can share a photo if they miss their window, but it will include a note that the user was late.
The app uses both front and rear-facing cameras simultaneously to capture the daily shot. Users can’t hide behind their main camera. Rather than commenting or “liking” posts, users can react with selfies to their friends’ daily photos.
Bonus BeReal Upends the App’s Formula
Bonus BeReal shakes up the formula without eschewing the spirit of the app. If a user posts within the two-minute window of receiving their “Time to BeReal” notification, they will unlock the ability to post a pair of Bonus BeReal images that day at their chosen time.
If users miss the window, they miss their chance but can still view their friends’ Bonus BeReal posts.
Each Bonus BeReal post works the same as the existing BeReal post, complete with how users interact with posts.
Alongside Bonus BeReal posts, users can also utilize Apple and Spotify integrations to post BeReal Audio, allowing users to share what they’re listening to when they post using Bonus BeReal.
BeReal Claims it Maintains 20 Million Daily Users Amid Reports Suggesting Major User Loss
BeReal has also shared a more general update on its blog, refuting reports that the app’s daily users have halved since launch.
“We’re continuing to grow — BeReal has over 20 million daily active users around the world,” the company says.
The development team worked on making BeReal more stable while expanding its team by more than 50 employees.
“No matter what we do, authenticity will remain one of our guiding principles to ensure that what we share with our closest friends will keep it real,” BeReal explains.
Bonus BeReal Versus Authenticity
The Bonus BeReal feature may upset the company’s “guiding principles” in exchange for improving user engagement and flexibility. The app’s authenticity, at least in part, relies upon the inability of users to choose when they post, a status quo that Bonus BeReal disrupts.
Further, as described on the Bonus BeReal Help Page, users can delete and repost Bonus BeReal “as much” as they want, which is a form of editing, something that BeReal has not previously allowed. BeReal has allowed users to delete posts but not post a new one during that same day, and the next post a user makes can’t be deleted.
To help users get the most out of BeReal, the “anti-Instagram” social media and photo sharing platform, PetaPixel’s “How to Use BeReal” guide.
It will be interesting to see how UK-based BeReal users respond to Bonus BeReal, and if the feature changes before it expands to more users. There’s a delicate balance between fostering authenticity from users and enabling flexibility.
Update 4/27: An earlier version of this article stated that BeReal users could not post if they missed their two-minute daily window. However, that’s not true. Users can post following this window, although their post will include a special note alerting viewers that the poster was late that day.
Image credits: BeReal
