BeReal
BeReal's pitch is anti-Instagram: a daily randomized notification, a 2-minute window to take a photo, no filters, no editing. The architecture is designed to feel honest. Whether that is good or bad depends on what “honest” captures.
The pressure window is the real story. Two minutes is not enough time for a teen to think about whether the photo they are about to share is one they would want their grandparent to see. The dynamic that produces awkward moments produces actually risky photos at the same rate.
The settings that matter
Doing four of these is meaningfully better than reading twenty things and doing none.
Verify the account is set to friends-only.
Settings → Privacy → Visibility. Default is friends-only, but check after every app update — defaults sometimes change.
Don't enable Discovery / friends-of-friends modes.
Settings → Discovery / Friends of Friends. The public-facing modes broaden visibility well beyond what most parents expect.
Turn off location sharing.
Settings → Privacy → Location. BeReal photos can include a location pin by default. Off.
Audit the friends list quarterly.
Friends-only is meaningless if the list includes 80 people, half of whom are friends-of-friends from school the kid does not actually know. Sit and clean it together.
Talk about the 2-minute window before they have an account.
This is a conversation, not a setting. The “be authentic” framing is doing real psychological work; help your kid understand it before they are being pressured by it.
Worth knowing about BeReal
- BeReal's user base has been shrinking since its 2022 peak, but the dynamics remain useful to understand because copycat features have shipped on Instagram, Snapchat, and elsewhere.
- Once a BeReal photo is taken and posted, screenshots last forever — same as anywhere else. The “authentic” framing makes teens forget that.
- The “late post” feature still posts the photo with a timestamp showing how late they were. The pressure to post on time is the central design principle, not an accident.
For your kid
Print the kid-friendly version
The Stay Safe Online booklet covers BeReal (and the rest) in language written for a teen to read. Free, printable, no email required.