BeReal.

A Complete and Honest Review

Hey everyone! Welcome or welcome back to the YA Section. My name is Abby, and we’re back here again with another review post. This time, we’re looking at one of the most popular social media apps: BeReal.

Photo by Ottr Dan on Unsplash

I have avoided getting any type of social media for a long time. Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and the likes are all things my parents have kept me away from, and I agree. Personally, I don’t believe that downloading these apps would help me connect with people more or keep me better updated on the world.

However, BeReal was a different story.

What is BeReal?

The idea of BeReal is to show your friends what you’re doing in your day-to-day life with no filters or editing of photos. Once per day, your phone buzzes with a notification. You then get two minutes to post a photo of whatever you’re doing at the moment. BeReal takes two photos: one with your selfie camera and one with your front camera. There's also a “behind-the-scenes” mode where it takes a short video before your photo, but this can be disabled.

Why I Got BeReal:

I downloaded this app about two months ago and decided that now was a good time to take a look at my intentions and thoughts about using it. Although I’m usually against social media, there are several reasons why I decided to download BeReal in particular.

1. Peer Pressure: most of my friends have BeReal, talk quite often about their BeReal, and encouraged me to get it as well

2. Long-Distance Friendships: A lot of my friends live across the state from me, meaning I don’t get to see them very often. BeReal was a way to see their faces and interact with them on a daily basis

3. Personal Enjoyment: Before I got the app, I loved to look over people’s shoulders as they scrolled through the BeReals of the day. Downloading the app allowed me to do this myself, and I still enjoy seeing what people have been up to!

   

Pros:

• Chosen Friends Only: A big worry about social media nowadays is that anyone can see what you post. With BeReal, that is less true. You can set your settings to either “Friends Only” or “Friends of Friends". “Friends only” means exactly what it sounds like - that only your chosen friends, the people you’ve sent an invite to and they have accepted or vice versa, can view your BeReal. However, “Friends of Friends” means that even if there’s a person who you aren’t directly friends with, they can still view your post as long as they are friends with one of your friends.

• Connections: BeReal allows you to view a snippet of your friends’ lives on a daily basis. You can comment on other people’s posts and react with your real face instead of emojis.

• Faces: I love seeing the faces of friends who live far away and that I haven’t seen in a long time.

• No Filter: There is no way for you to edit your photos after taking them, nor is there a way for you to apply a filter while taking them. The intention of BeReal is to show your friends your real face at that moment. However, there is a way to delete BeReals after taking them.

• Real-Time: Even if you miss the two minute deadline, you can still post a BeReal later. The exact time of your photo down to the second is posted along with it.

• Conversation Starter: Yours or a friend’s BeReal could be the topic of the next conversation you have with them.

Cons:

• Time Limit Pressure: Several times, I have caught myself thinking about when the notification to take a picture is going to go off instead of being in the moment. This leads me to sometimes always have my phone on hand to make sure that I can post my BeReal on time.

• Streak: BeReal also has a streak feature where it encourages you to post a BeReal every single day. This can lead to pressure to post even if you don’t want to, just because you’ll lose your streak.

• Personal Information: BeReal collects your phone number, which I didn’t love, but it turns out it’s so that you can find your contacts on BeReal. Additionally, there is a feature with location tracking, but this can be disabled.

• Showing Off: There is pressure to make sure your appearance looks good. No one wants to post a bad selfie. There is also the thought of “Ooh! This would be a really good spot for a BeReal!” and then wishing it would go off so you can show off the cool place you are.

• Time-Consuming: As with any other app on a phone, it’s easily to accidentally spend a long time scrolling through friend’s photos or making sure you look just right for the camera.

• Less Texting: Since getting BeReal, I haven’t had any long text conversations with my friends on the app. Previously, we could talk for hours and hours. And, when I do text them or they text me, it’s usually about the BeReal that was just posted.

Final Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ 4/5 stars

BeReal is a great app to help you stay connected with your friends who also have the app. It gives you a chance to see people that you might not see as often, and can also be a conversation starter.

However, if you don’t have too many friends who use the app or see them most days in real life, it may be better to wait on downloading this app and just go interact with them instead.

Thanks for reading! If you have BeReal, let me know your thoughts on the app. If not, would you download it? Let me know in the comments section down below!

~Abby <3