Olivia Cavallaro Culture 07.21.2022 02:Jul AM EDT

BeReal Gains Popularity in the US, Surpasses 20 Million Downloads

The French-born social media app did not reinvent the wheel but rather deconstructs what Instagram has evolved into.

Not everyone can be an influencer. This is the lesson shared by a new social media app BeReal, which has been garnering a lot of attention in the U.S. in the last couple of months. Released in 2020, the app was developed by former GoPro employee Alexis Barreyat and gained popularity this year.

In fact, it's become so popular that its top market is now the U.S., as per Fast Company. Data from Sensor Tower showed that the app has been downloaded and installed more than 20 million times, with last Saturday being its best day ever. Now, the U.S. makes up 35% of its users, followed by the U.K. with 17% and France with just 10%.

BeReal Presented as the Antithesis of Modern Social Media - Specifically Instagram

With Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, users are inundated with mostly picture-perfect photos, images that are filtered and photoshopped, sometimes beyond recognition.

Instagram, the breeding ground of "influencers," is fraught with images and videos of what appears to be a perfect life or the perfect body. BeReal aims to be the exact opposite.

Barreyat and his team are not doing interviews at the moment when BeReal is gaining worldwide popularity, but a two-page fact sheet sent to The Verge claims that the app was developed because they wanted to "make people feel good about themselves and their lives" and develop a space that is "an alternative to addictive social networks fueling social comparison and portraying life with the goal of amassing influence."

"If you want to become an influencer you can stay on TikTok or Instagram," the company added. Back in May, BeReal was reportedly raising $85 million in capital, an effort spearheaded by Facebook investor Yuri Milner's DST Global.

What Does BeReal Have to Offer?

BeReal is a pretty straightforward app to use. SlashGear described it as "a very simple app with a strong message." Simply put, the app alerts its users with prompts at random times throughout the day.

Two minutes after receiving the alert, users are given a chance to snap a photo of what they're currently up to at that moment in time.

The photo is taken with both the front and back camera of the user's phone, so the user's friends will be able to see their face and whatever is in front of them.

Unlike other social media apps, BeReal limits users' audiences to just their circle of friends. This means that only a user's friends can see what they can post and only the user can see what his or her friends posted on any given day if the user uploads a photo of their own.

Though users may upload beyond the two-minute deadline, their friends will know that they did not post it within the time limit. This two-minute deadline presents a unique take on the process of posting a photo, as it leaves little time for users to "perfect" the shot.

BeReal also calls to mind the nostalgia of the early Internet years when cameras were not as HD as they are today and photos were often taken candidly, without any retouches, filters, or editing.

VICE's Katie Way described it as "the only good social media platform" that feels like "a return to a time when posting on social media felt less like a performance and more like a way I actually enjoyed spending my time."