Up-and-coming social app BeReal continues to attract users’ attention by adding more and more bells and whistles. next week, Bereal is rolling out two major new features: Behind the Scenes and RealGroups. Behind the Scenes is an iOS Live Photo-like feature that shows you a few seconds of video recorded just before you take the photo. RealGroups lets you share BeReal with a small group of friends and allows you to send messages directly within that group.
Behind the Scenes (BTS) is an opt-in feature that borrows a lot in UX from the way Apple set up Live Photos on the iPhone. When your friend enables her BTS and posts her BeReal, you will see a Live Photo symbol in the top corner of the image. If you press and hold this, you can watch a few seconds of video leading up to the BeReal photo.
The app is designed to connect you with your already close friends as it asks you to share your front and back camera photos at random times every day. You won’t be able to see other people’s posts unless you create her own BeReal posts. BeReals tend to be more unfiltered and — Because I can’t find any better words — It’s real, because you’re being prompted to take a photo at an unknown time (but if you get a notification to post while you’re in the bathroom… you might just post late). But now, BeReal is creating an experience for even closer friends. Start a RealGroup to share your BeReals more privately. To sweeten the deal, group admins will now be able to choose when daily notifications are sent. You can also DM BeReals within the group, but a group chat is also available. This is likely to be used to anger administrators who have chosen an inappropriate “BeReal time.” However, he can only belong to two groups, so choose carefully.
“Going off to college and missing your close friends from home? Create a RealGroup to stay close, share your dorm life adventures, see what’s going on at home, and stay connected no matter how far away you are.” Stay close to me even when you are away!!” BeReal wrote in a blog post.
BeReal is now on the brink of life or death. Will apps survive the hype cycle or will they fade away? According to Pew’s annual survey on teens and social media. 13% of US teens ages 13 to 17 have used BeReal. However, BeReal has rejected data from external sources in the past. In September, app analytics company Similarweb told TechCrunch that BeReal has about 16 million monthly active users (MAUs), including about 3 million in the United States. However, Apptopia told TechCrunch that BeReal’s MAU in 2023 was at its highest in October at 8.73 million, and at its lowest in February at 7.96 million. BeReal itself reports that in April it had 20 million daily active users worldwide, and in September it had 25 million daily active users.
Although the app was relatively stagnant at first, BeReal has rolled out a ton of new features, including messaging, the ability to post more photos, Spotify integration, and a “friends of friends” discovery feed. . Soon, the app will add his 2023 Year in Review feature and tagging, making it easy to repost tagged content, similar to Instagram.
Source: techcrunch.com
