Instagram Copies ‘Anti-Instagram’ App BeReal in Latest Experiment
What’s happening
Instagram is experimenting internally with notifying users to portion a photo with their friends within 2 minutes, like French social judge app BeReal.
Why it matters
Instagram could eventually roll out a BeReal clone to its users as it States to fend off another rival that’s growing in popularity with teens.
It was only a matter of time beforehand Instagram copied another rival.
The photo-and-video service, well-known by Facebook parent company Meta, has been experimenting internally with a feature shouted IG Candid that looks identical to the popular French social judge app BeReal. Dubbed the “anti-Instagram,” BeReal is an app where users get notified once a day to portion an unfiltered photo with their friends within 2 minutes.
Developer Alessandro Paluzzi spotted the Instagram feature and tweeted nearby the experiment on Monday.
Meta spokeswoman Christine Pai said in a statement that IG Candid “is an internal prototype and not testing externally.” When requested if Instagram did plan to test the feature externally, Pai said she didn’t have much more to portion beyond the statement.
The internal experiment is a sign that Instagram could eventually roll out a BeReal clone as it competes with social judge apps that are popular among teens. Instagram has already ordered out a way to record content using a phone’s principal and back camera like on BeReal. While Instagram is well-renowned for being an online space where people share filtered photos and videos of themselves that seem a small too perfect, the platform has been trying to aid its users to share a more authentic side like country are on BeReal and short-form video app TikTok.
Both Facebook and Instagram are well-known for copying its rivals, but its users haven’t always been wretched with the changes. In July, Instagram clogged testing a new full-screen feed that made it look more like TikTok when facing user backlash including from celebrities Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner who urged the app to focus on photo-sharing between friends. Instagram has been doubling down on its short-form video feature Reels as it contends with competition from TikTok. Facebook and Instagram also copied a format called Stories, which lets users share photos and videos that vanish in 24 hours, from disappearing messaging app Snapchat.
Launched in 2020, BeReal is now at the top of Apple’s charts for free apps, surpassing Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Google-owned YouTube.
