After years of FaceTune and filters, social media users have decided it’s time to “BeReal”. BeReal is an app that was launched in 2020, but did not gain popularity until 2022. According to The Wrap, “BeReal has shot from 10,000 daily active users in March 2021 to more than 15 million today — helping to snag the company a $600 million valuation, according to the Financial Times.” In its short amount of time of relevancy, teens and even adults have developed a love for not only this app, but the message behind it.

Once each day users simultaneously receive a notification telling them that it is time to BeReal. Upon getting this notification, one has two minutes to capture exactly what they are doing in that moment using both their front and back camera. What happens if you don’t see the notification within two minutes? Well, once you do post, whenever that may be, your friends will be notified that you posted late. Not only that, you are excluded from seeing your friends’ posts until you post your own.

The app also has lots of options for interactivity among users. One strikingly unique feature is the “FriendMoji”. The FriendMoji allows you to react to your friend’s BeReal with a small picture of yourself, and an emoji of your choice attached to it. In regards to FriendMojis, Hubbard junior Evan Flynn has a memorable story: “Over the summer my friend posted a BeReal with her ex. Of course I had to react with a picture of my jaw dropped! We still laugh about it to this day.” Other modes of interaction are the discovery page, which allows you to see people’s BeReals from across the world, and like almost any platform, you have the ability to comment on friend’s posts.

In essence, the objective the creators of BeReal aim to get across is for people to have an authentic internet experience, eliminating stigmas of always trying to look perfect for the public eye. “I feel as though BeReal very much accomplishes its creator’s goal. I think that on BeReal people try their hardest to capture the most candid moments rather than staging a photo like on platforms like Instagram. This takes away the unrealistic glamorization of people’s lives,” says Junior Tori Evans. Alright Hubbard, with that being said, it’s time to BeReal!