BeReal starts testing it’s live messaging feature called RealChat

BeReal was Apple’s iPhone app of 2022, but the buzz surrounding the social media app (which forces you to post daily selfies) has died down recently. Now, the French company has introduced its private messaging service “RealChat,” which allows it to boast a feature found in most major social media apps, TechCrunch reports.

According to the company, the job is one of the most sought after. You can only send a message to another user if you are on their friend’s platform. Deleting a message requires both parties to delete the message. Deleting a message does not remove it from the friend’s app. The chat system is said to have blocking and reporting features.

BeReal has an interesting and slightly messy approach to social media. It sends notifications at a different time each day and prompts you to quickly share photos taken with your phone’s front and rear cameras simultaneously. You have two minutes to do this, forcing you to share spontaneous moments without extra time to make sure the photos are perfect. Friends will be notified when you are late or check a message.

Earlier this year, BeReal denied an analytics report that the app had seen a significant drop in engagement, saying it still had 20 million active daily users. The company admitted that while it’s been busy behind the scenes, it hasn’t released many new features recently, so “people were guessing what we were doing and how things were going, and not always accurately.

However, in the last couple of months it has launched an integration with Spotify to show you what you’re listening to when you post, as well as a Bonus BeReal feature that lets you post more than BeReal if you post on time. Like other social media apps, RealChat looks like a way to increase the amount of time you spend in the app and allow friends to comment on messages privately.