Instagram Is Inevitably Copying Wildly Popular Social Network BeReal Too
Images via 155364050 © Mars-Production | Dreamstime.com and BeReal
Instagram is getting a tad too predictable. Stories, as you may know, are a clone of the 24-hour disappearing photo concept first introduced by Snapchat. And most recently, Meta began experimenting with Instagram and Facebook feeds that closely resembled TikTok.
The latest to have their homework copied is none other than BeReal, the new it-app often dubbed as the “anti-Instagram.” It gets its nickname from making it impossible to upload thoroughly planned, heavily-edited photos just like the ones on the Meta-owned social network.
On BeReal, users receive an alert at a randomized time each day prompting them to take a single photo within the app in two minutes. This daily posting utilizes both cameras of the smartphone, allowing others to see what the person is doing during the time the photo is taken. Those who miss the two-minute window can only continue the next day.
BeReal, launched in 2020, has been installed more than 20 million times, and it continues to be right at the top of Apple’s App store chart ever since gaining overnight fame in July.
Needless to say, fans are loving the authenticity of posts shared on BeReal. And needless to say, Instagram wants a slice of this pie.. On Monday, tech reverse engineer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi shared that Instagram has been working on and testing something called ‘IG Candid Challenges’, a feature that seemingly functions exactly like BeReal.
Instead of making it a core tool, Instagram is apparently considering Candid Challenges as an opt-in feature hidden in the stories section. A window introducing the feature reads: “Add other’s IG Candid to your story tray. And( everyday [sic] at a different time, get a notification to capture and share a Photo in 2 Minutes.”
â„¹ï¸ This is the camera for IG Candid, you can only turn on the Dual Camera tool 👇 pic.twitter.com/wXisCG8p2U
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) August 22, 2022
Instagram’s version also uses both smartphone cameras to take a front-and-rear image, as one of Paluzzi’s screenshots shows.
The company has confirmed with Engadget that it is indeed working on a prototype.
With that being said, the feature remains part of a test, and there is no guarantee Candid Challenges will be real, ahem, in time. Instagram might end up scrapping the project if it turns out to be unsuccessful.
