Download APK BeReal Permission Requests, New Updates & Review

I tried BeReal during a quiet week at home, and my posts were gloriously boring. A half-finished lunch, a grey sky through the kitchen window, my face mid-yawn. My friends loved them anyway, and that acceptance of ordinary life is the whole charm of the app. Nothing here is staged for strangers. The audience is small, the moment is real, and the pressure to perform is gone.

This guide looks at BeReal in everyday terms rather than marketing language. You will learn what the app does, which permission requests it makes on Android and what each one actually controls, what has changed in recent updates, and whether the daily ritual fits your life. The focus stays on real use rather than promises, because BeReal only works when your friends are in it with you.

You can find BeReal on AndroidRU and check the details there before you install. That page brings the app and its guide together in one place, so you can compare the current version, size and requirements with what your phone already runs. Read this first, then decide with a clear picture of the trade-offs.

What BeReal is and how the daily BeReal photo prompt works

BeReal is a daily photo app built around one idea: everyone posts at the same moment, with no filters and no editing. Once a day, at a random time, the app sends a notification. You have a short window, two minutes, to open the camera and capture what you are doing right now. The front and back cameras fire at the same time, so a photo of your lunch also shows your face enjoying it. Small context like that makes posts feel personal in a way a single lens never manages.

The concept comes from France, where Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau launched the app in 2020. It spread by word of mouth among students and close friend groups who were tired of polished feeds. The idea rejects the highlight reel in favour of real life, and that honesty is what keeps people coming back after the novelty wears off. A feed full of ordinary moments turns out to be strangely calming to scroll through.

How the two minute BeReal window shapes the feed

The fixed daily window creates shared anticipation among friends. Everyone posts around the same time each day, and that synchrony makes the feed feel like a shared ritual rather than a broadcast. You cannot plan the shot, rehearse it, or wait for better light. You open the app, you capture the moment, and you move on with your day. Daily use takes about a minute, and that brevity is the point.

Posts made after the window closes are marked as late, and the app shows how many retakes you took before settling on a shot. That transparency is deliberate. It keeps the social contract honest, because everyone can see when a photo was staged after the fact. In practice, most people stop caring about retakes after the first week, and the count becomes background detail rather than a score to protect.

BeReal friends feed, Discovery feed and RealMoji reactions

Your main feed shows only people you have added as friends, which keeps the audience small and the tone relaxed. A separate Discovery feed shows public posts from strangers, and you can browse it for a sense of what other people are doing at the same moment around the world. Friend reactions use simple expressive responses, known as RealMoji, where you send a photo of your own face mimicking an expression instead of tapping a generic emoji. A quick reaction beats a polished comment for everyday moments, and the tone stays light and friendly.

BeReal permission requests on Android explained one by one

Permission requests are the part of BeReal that worries new users most, so here is each one in plain language. On modern Android, permissions are granted one at a time and can be taken away later from Settings, so nothing here is permanent. Review them before you settle in, because defaults tend to be generous and your preferences may differ. Changing them early means you never have to think about them again.

The camera permission is the one BeReal cannot work without. The app needs it to take the dual photo when the daily notification arrives, using both the front and back lenses at once. Without camera access there is nothing to post, and the app will ask again each time you try. The microphone permission sits beside it, because some versions of the app support short video-style captures and voice notes in chat. If you never use those features, the microphone stays idle, and you can refuse it without breaking the core photo flow.

BeReal camera and photos permission on Android

On Android 13 and later, BeReal asks for photos and videos access instead of broad file access. This lets the app save the original copy of your BeReal to your gallery if you switch that option on, and lets you pick an image when you set a profile picture. You can choose to allow access to selected photos only, which is the safest setting if you keep sensitive images on your phone. The app does not need to see your whole gallery to work, and limiting it costs you nothing in daily use.

Notifications are the permission that makes or breaks the whole experience. BeReal lives or dies by the daily alert, so if notifications are off, you will miss the window and post late every day. Android 13 made notification permission something you grant explicitly on first launch, so check it in week one. I kept the daily prompt alert on and switched off everything else, which kept the app quiet except for the one moment that matters.

BeReal contacts permission and finding friends safely

BeReal asks for contacts access so it can suggest friends who already use the app. This is optional, and many people skip it. You can add friends by username or by sharing your profile link instead, which keeps your address book private. If you do grant it, the app matches phone numbers and suggests people you know. You can remove the permission afterwards from Settings, and the friends you already added will stay added.

Use a strong password that you do not reuse elsewhere, because that single habit protects you more than any in-app toggle. A password manager makes it painless, and it matters here because your account holds your face, your location history and your friend list. Turn on any extra sign-in protection the app offers, and check who can see your activity and your saved items. Tighten those settings if the defaults feel too open, since you can loosen them later for specific people.

BeReal location permission and what it really shares

Location is the permission most people misunderstand. BeReal can attach a rough location to a post, which powers the Discovery feed and shows friends roughly where you were. You can switch location sharing off entirely, and the app still works. That is the setting I recommend for most people, at least at first, because a photo of your living room is already personal enough without a map pin attached to it.

Approximate location versus precise location in BeReal

Android lets you choose approximate location instead of precise location, and BeReal works fine with the rough option. Approximate location gives a city-level area rather than your street, which is enough for the Discovery feed to feel local without revealing where you live. If you ever post from a school, a workplace or a home address, switch location off for that post. A map pin on a daily photo is a small detail that can reveal a routine over time.

BeReal notification permission on Android 13 and later

On Android 13 and newer, the system asks whether BeReal may send notifications, and you can change the answer later under Settings, then Apps, then BeReal, then Notifications. I suggest allowing the daily prompt but turning off marketing and suggestion alerts, which are easy to confuse with the real one. A single daily alert keeps the ritual intact, while a stream of extra pings trains you to ignore the app entirely.

BeReal new updates: Bonus BeReal, RealChat, groups and what changed

BeReal has changed a lot since its early days as a bare-bones photo prompt. The core ritual is untouched, but the app around it has grown. In 2024 the company was acquired by Voodoo, a French mobile publisher, in a deal reported at around 500 million euros. That change of ownership brought more resources, faster updates, and a clearer push toward features that keep people inside the app longer. Long-time users noticed the pace pick up within months.

One of the biggest additions is Bonus BeReal. Post on time inside the two minute window and you earn extra posts you can use later in the day, which softens the old one-shot rule without breaking it. The bonus posts let you share a second moment, an evening out, or something funny that happened after the prompt, while the main post still has to be on time. It is a clever compromise, and it rewards punctual users instead of punishing late ones.

RealChat and direct messages inside BeReal

RealChat added direct messaging to an app that used to be photos only. You can now reply to a friend’s post with a message, send a photo reaction, and keep a short conversation going without leaving BeReal. Messages sit beside the feed rather than replacing it, so the daily photo stays the centre of the experience. The chat tools are simple by design, with no read receipts to obsess over and no typing indicators to watch.

Groups arrived too, letting a circle of friends share posts in a private space separate from the main friends feed. A group for your flatmates, one for your closest friends, and one for a trip keeps each audience separate, which matters when you want to share a messy morning with five people and not fifty. Tags and mentions let you pin a friend in a post or call someone into a conversation, and Memories collects your past posts into a private calendar you can scroll back through.

BeReal celebrity feed, behind the scenes and profile changes

The app also added a celebrity and public figure feed, sometimes called RealPeople, where well-known accounts post their own unfiltered moments. It is easy to ignore if you only care about your friends, and it sits in its own corner rather than inside your main feed. Behind-the-scenes posts, profile bios, and the ability to pin favourite posts round out the newer profile tools. None of these change the daily prompt, and that restraint is why the app still feels like BeReal rather than a clone of every other social network.

Check the current version on your phone before you assume a feature exists, because rollouts arrive in waves and some regions get them weeks apart. If a friend has Bonus BeReal and you do not, update the app and wait a day before assuming something is broken. Update notes inside the app store listing usually name the newest additions, and the in-app settings screen shows which tools are switched on for your account.

BeReal features that matter in daily use

The feature list is short, and that is a strength. Daily photo prompts ask for an unfiltered moment each day, and both cameras capture you and your surroundings at once. The result is refreshingly ordinary and honest. A fixed daily window creates shared anticipation among friends, and everyone posts around the same time each day. Friend reactions use simple expressive responses to posts, and a quick reaction beats a polished comment for everyday moments.

• Dual camera capture takes front and back photos at once, so every post shows both the scene and your reaction to it.
• RealMoji reactions let friends respond with a photo of their own face, which feels warmer than a row of identical hearts.
• Memories stores every past post in a private calendar, so you can look back at a month of ordinary days and see a real diary forming.
• Bonus BeReal rewards on-time posts with extra captures later the same day, which adds flexibility without breaking the ritual.
• Groups and RealChat keep conversations inside the app, so a photo can start a chat instead of ending at a like.
• Discovery feed shows public posts from around the world, which is fun for a minute a day and easy to ignore the rest of the time.

Another strength is how little setup each feature demands. Most tools work well with their default settings in place, and you can refine them later once you know your own preferences. I changed only two settings in my first week, the audience for my posts and the save-to-gallery toggle, and the app felt like mine from day three onwards. A good rule is to finish one small task before you explore the menus, because that first success tells you more than any tour screen ever will.

BeReal review: features, pros, cons and who it is for

My review is warm and fond of the concept. It made ordinary days feel worth sharing, and in a world of filters that honesty is a gift. Friends who tried it after my recommendation found the same easy start, and nobody asked me for a tutorial or a walkthrough. An app that explains itself is an app people actually keep. The review consensus in my own circle matched my experience closely: people liked the simplicity and the steady performance, and nobody complained about the core experience itself.

That said, BeReal is not for everyone, and the honest limits matter as much as the praise. The novelty depends on your friends joining too, because a lone user posts into silence, which feels flat. Invite your circle and the ritual comes alive. Advanced features take a little patience at first, and the learning curve is short but real. A few sessions of practice smooth it out completely.

BeReal pros from a month of daily use

• No filters and no editing means posts take a minute and the pressure to look perfect disappears.
• The small friends-only audience makes sharing feel safe, and strangers never see your daily life unless you post to Discovery.
• The daily prompt builds a gentle habit, and a missed day does not punish you or reset your progress harshly.
• RealMoji reactions and Memories turn ordinary days into a shared diary you can look back on together.
• Battery and data use stay modest, because the app only really wakes up once a day for the prompt.

BeReal cons to know before you install

• Without friends on the app, the feed feels empty, and the experience depends entirely on your circle joining.
• The random notification can arrive at an awkward moment, and a late post is marked as late for everyone to see.
• There is no way to post a photo from your gallery, so a great moment that happened before the prompt is lost.
• Discovery posts from strangers can feel noisy, and the public feed adds little if you only care about close friends.

Who BeReal is for and who should skip it

BeReal suits close friend groups who value honesty over polish, and people tired of curated feeds will feel relief here. Students, flatmates, families spread across cities, and anyone who wants a low-effort daily check-in with a small circle will get the most from it. Influencer seekers will find little to chase, because there is no follower count to grow and no viral feed to game. If you want to build an audience, this is the wrong app. If you want to stay close to ten people you already love, it is close to ideal.

BeReal compared with similar photo sharing apps

If you enjoy daily photo sharing then Lense Disposable Event Camera is a natural next app to try once you know this one. It keeps the same spirit of honest photos but wraps it in a disposable camera idea, where pictures develop later and the wait becomes part of the fun. For a different flavour of the same idea, Vlog Public Video Diary is worth a look in its own right, because it turns the diary idea into video and opens it to a public audience. And if you want one more comparison before deciding, VERO gives you another angle on the same kind of app, with ad-free sharing sorted into circles you control.

How to set up BeReal in a few minutes without the fiddling

My first run took only a few minutes because I ignored every optional screen. The app still worked fine with the defaults in place, and later I changed one setting at a time and watched what changed. A calm review beats a rushed overhaul every time, so open the settings screen once and work through it slowly. Change one thing and see how the app feels afterwards before you touch the next toggle.

1. Install the app, sign in with your phone number, and pick a username your friends will recognise.
2. Allow the camera and notification permissions, and skip contacts access until you decide you want friend suggestions.
3. Add three to five close friends by username, and send them your profile link so the feed has someone in it on day one.
4. Set your post audience to friends only, and switch location sharing off until you have tried a week without it.
5. Decide whether to save originals to your gallery, then leave the rest of the settings alone for a week.

Keep the app on your home screen for the first month. Visibility matters more than motivation for new habits, and out of sight quickly becomes out of mind. Pair the app with an existing routine like morning coffee, because linked habits survive better than standalone ones. The coffee reminds you and the app rewards you. Start small and let the habit grow at its own pace, since a five minute session beats a planned hour that never happens.

A calmer BeReal account in five minutes

The example below is a simple starting configuration. It is not a claim about the internal code of the app, so treat it as a checklist of settings you may want to adjust. Prompt alerts on, audience set to friends, and saving originals switched off is the setup I recommend for most people. Change one setting at a time and test the result before you change another, because that method makes it easy to undo a change you do not like. Keep a note of settings that work well for you, since a short note saves you from re-learning your own preferences after an update.

BeReal privacy settings worth checking in week one

Most settings sit on one screen, which makes review easy. Open it once and read each option slowly, then change only the options that match your daily use. Check who can see your posts, whether your profile appears in suggestions, and whether your past posts are visible to new friends. A friend request from a stranger deserves a pause, because a small audience is the whole point of the app. If someone you barely know asks to follow you, it is fine to leave the request unanswered.

Fixing small BeReal problems and staying in control

A restart fixes a surprising number of app problems. I do it before I try anything clever and it works most of the time, and only then do I look at settings or updates. If something looks different after an update then give it a day, because layout changes feel strange at first and then they fade into the background. Muscle memory catches up faster than you expect, and judging a redesign in the first five minutes is almost always a mistake.

Clearing the cache is a gentle fix when the app feels sluggish. It does not delete your account or your saved work in most cases, but check what the button says before you tap it. On most phones the defaults are fine and no tuning is needed, so do not chase performance settings before you have used the app for a day. If your phone is older then close heavy apps before a long session, since the app still works but feels calmer with free memory. Mobile data use stayed reasonable in my daily use, and large downloads are better left for Wi-Fi when you have the choice.

What to do when the BeReal notification never arrives

Missed notifications are the most common complaint, and the fix is usually in the phone rather than the app. Check that notifications are allowed, that battery optimisation is not putting BeReal to sleep, and that Do Not Disturb is not silencing it during the hours the prompt usually arrives. On some phones, a battery saver mode delays background alerts, so exempting BeReal from aggressive optimisation is worth doing. A quick check in system settings shows where the data and battery actually go, and that evidence beats guessing.

BeReal late posts, retakes and deleted posts

A late post is not a failure, and most friends barely notice the small late label. Retakes are counted but not judged, and deleting a post is possible, though the app limits how often you can delete, so treat deletion as a rare undo rather than a habit. If a post embarrasses you, remove it, learn from it, and post again tomorrow. The feed moves on in a day, and nobody keeps a scorecard of your late posts except you.

BeReal frequently asked questions

Does BeReal show your location to everyone?

No, location sharing is optional and off by default for most users, and you can switch it off for a single post or for the whole account. Friends see a rough location only if you allow it, and strangers in the Discovery feed see even less unless you post there yourself. If privacy matters to you, leave location off entirely, because the app works perfectly without it and your photos already say enough about your day.

Can you use BeReal without adding your contacts?

Yes, you can skip the contacts permission completely and add friends by username or by sharing a profile link. The contacts permission only powers suggestions, and refusing it changes nothing about the daily photo flow. Many people prefer this route, because it keeps their address book private and their friend list deliberate rather than automatic.

What happens if you miss the two minute BeReal window?

Nothing bad happens. You can still post later in the day, and your post is simply marked as late so friends can see it arrived after the prompt. You also miss out on Bonus BeReal extras for that day, since those reward on-time posts. A missed day does not punish you or reset your progress, and the app waits quietly for your return.

Is BeReal free and does it show ads?

BeReal is free to use, and the main feed has no advertising in the traditional sense. The company has tested extra features and optional paid additions over time, so check the current listing for the latest details rather than assuming nothing will ever change. The core daily photo, friends feed and reactions remain the heart of the app, and you do not need to pay to take part in the ritual.

BeReal verdict: a small ritual that earns its place

The overall feeling after longer use stayed positive. The app did its main job without drama or confusion, and that steady record is what I look for when I recommend something. Longer use changed my opinion in a positive direction, because features I ignored at first became useful once I understood the rhythm. By the second week I had a clear sense of what the app does best, and I used it for that job and ignored the rest without guilt. Focused use beats trying to master everything at once.

The app also survived a busy week without becoming another chore. It waited quietly and worked when I returned, and tools that respect busy periods deserve loyalty. If polished feeds exhaust you then try this simpler ritual: invite three close friends and post for a week, and ordinary moments may start feeling special again. Set a review date one week after install in your mind, because that date is when you judge the app fairly. First day excitement and first day confusion both fade by then, and the daily photo habit either fits your life or it does not.

When you are ready, Click here to download the BeReal app and check the details there before you install. Give it a full week with real friends in the feed before you judge it, because a week of ordinary moments shows the real character of the app. If you want to try a similar tool, Click here to download the Lense Disposable Event Camera app. You can also Click here to download the Vlog Public Video Diary app when you are ready to compare it with this one.