BeReal is adding DMs to try and keep you in the app longer

Sometimes you want to talk to your friend about their BeReal, but you don’t want everyone to see your comment. The company hears you and is working to fix that with a feature every other social media platform has had for decades: DMs.

As reported by TechCrunch, BeReal is testing a new direct messaging feature called RealChat that will allow users to chat with their friends about their BeReals — and anything else — in a private manner. Direct messaging is not a new concept — we’ve all been using it for years on every other social media app — but it has been missing from BeReal.

The general idea here is that some conversations are desired to be private and, right now, BeReal users would need to hop outside of the app to chat privately. This obviously means that users are spending less time in the app — something that BeReal surely would like to find a solution for. That solution is easy: DMs!

According to the report, the feature will only allow one-on-one messaging when it initially launches. The company will start testing the feature in Ireland, but the time frames are currently unknown.

BeReal users can only message each other if they’re already friends on the platform. The chat system will also launch with blocking and reporting features. While users can delete their own messages, that doesn’t mean that the message will disappear from their friends’ apps — but if two people in a chat delete the messages, then BeReal says it will be deleted entirely from their system within 30 days.

BeReal is obviously a social media underdog that has a long way to go to compete with the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. It will also face growing competition from new platforms like Mastodon and BlueSky, which has already crossed 100,000 users despite still requiring an invite to gain access.