Just under a year ago, the buzzy new social app BeReal looked to be on the rise, with reportedly 20 million users<\/a> launching the app every day to snap their candid photos. However, in the months since, BeReal\u2019s traction has declined, according to a new report<\/a> from Similarweb, despite its rollout of new features like messaging<\/a>, the ability to post more photos<\/a> and a \u201cFriends of Friends\u201d discovery feed<\/a>. BeReal, however, disputes the new published estimates, saying that it\u2019s still growing at a \u201chealthy rate.\u201d<\/p>\n According to data<\/a> compiled by the research firm Similarweb, BeReal has been losing traction in the U.S., where the app\u2019s monthly active users on iOS and Android have declined from a peak of 3.7 million in November 2022 to just over 3 million this August.<\/p>\n BeReal, reached for comment, said this estimate was inaccurate, but declined to share its own segmented market metrics.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Similarweb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In addition, Similarweb told TechCrunch BeReal\u2019s monthly active users globally have declined to 16.06 million. That would be a drop from last year\u2019s reported 20 million<\/a> \u2014 a figure that roughly lines up with Similarweb\u2019s estimates from January 2022. This decline may have been even more significant except for the fact that BeReal usage has continued to grow in its home market of France, where the app is nearing 615,000 monthly active users in August on Android, up from less than 500,000 last year, Similarweb said.<\/p>\n BeReal pushed back at these findings as well, noting that its app has more than 25 million active users worldwide. It also pointed out that third-party reports are just estimates and its own internal numbers are more accurate.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> BeReal<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Of course, it\u2019s common for new social apps to see a burst of activity and usage before settling down as some early adopters abandon the experience and only loyal users are retained. But in BeReal\u2019s case, the app has been said previously to struggle with retention<\/a> despite now adding new features and gaining mainstream notoriety as larger social media companies ripped off its front-and-back photo concept, including TikTok<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and Snap<\/a>.<\/p>\n The app, founded<\/a>\u00a0by former GoPro employee\u00a0Alexis Barreyat<\/a>\u00a0along with\u00a0K\u00e9vin Perreau<\/a>, debuted on the market in December 2019 with an experience that mimicked an older social app Frontback<\/a> that also leveraged both of the smartphone\u2019s cameras to take photos at the same time. To some extent, BeReal grew by word-of-mouth, aided by its college ambassador program<\/a> and features like WidgetMoji and RealMoji \u2014 that is, Home Screen widgets and the ability to react with stickers in iMessage conversations. But its rapid growth in 2022 was at the level that typically implied marketing or ad spend, not just organic adoption.<\/p>\n As it turned out, BeReal had the funds to send. The startup closed a Series B round of $60 million earlier in 2022<\/a>, valuing the company at\u00a0just under $587 million.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for BeReal\u2019s longevity, photos of what people are up to at a random time of day \u2014 whenever BeReal issues its push notification \u2014 are ultimately not always as interesting as the curated photos of special moments that users publish on other photo-sharing platforms, like Instagram. Some BeReal users even came to understand this, in fact, and\u00a0began staging their BeReals<\/a> or waited until they were doing something worth sharing \u2014 like going out with their friends \u2014 before posting late.<\/p>\n Besides competition from the social media giants, BeReal is now facing an explosion of other new social apps demanding users\u2019 time as myriad competitors have emerged to challenge Twitter, now called X.<\/p>\n For comparison, Instagram\u2019s new app Threads has more than double the number of U.S. BeReal users, at nearly 7.3 million, Similarweb said. That\u2019s despite Threads\u2019 massive drop in usage shortly after its launch. In the third quarter, Threads jumped to 150 million downloads in its first week in early July \u2014 5.5 times faster than any other app, says market intelligence firm data.ai. It even became the top app by downloads in the quarter, replacing TikTok as the new No. 1.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bereal_befake_4.png?w=680\")
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