HELP! I just caught my daughter using BeReal. What is it???
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BeReal is a photo-sharing app that encourages its users to post unfiltered photos of their real life at random times throughout the day.
The catch is that you can’t post to BeReal whenever you want. All users need to post in response to a single notification from the BeReal app, and they have to act fast. BeReal is built around notifications that are sent en masse to all users in a given time zone. Users have two minutes to see the notification, take a photo, and share it with their friends. If a user notices the notification after the two-minute window closes, they can still post—but their BeReal will be labeled as “late”.
There are three ways to create a BeReal:
- The classic BeReal post: The app will take two photos, one using the back camera and one using the front camera. There aren’t any filters like on Instagram—so BeReal captures exactly what the user looks like (and where they are).
- BeReal Roulette: A Roulette post uses a random photo from your phone’s camera roll.
- BeReal BTS: This is short for “behind the scenes, “ not the K-Pop group that is basically this generation’s NKOTB or Backstreet Boys ( ... times a magnitude of several thousand). A BeReal BTS takes a short video of what’s happening right before capturing the still photos.
When using BeReal, users can:
- Create a post and re-take a photo if needed
- Share the photo with friends, or friends’ friends, through the BeReal Discover feed
- See other photos posted by connections
- Save a BeReal to a chronological feed of “memories” or pin it to a profile page
Apple's app store age rating for BeReal is 12+, and warns users of:
- Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
- Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
- Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
- Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity
You can read more about BeReal in these articles on Digital Parenthood BeReal - what is it and is it safe? and 7 tips to keep your kid safe on BeReal.
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