What does unblurred on BeReal mean? Social media users left confused over new feature on platform

Social media users have been left baffled by a new function on the photo sharing platform Be Real. The app, which gained popularity last year, invites users to post images at various points during the day - but the key is that the photos have to be posted in a very brief timeframe once a notification is received and therefore they have to show the reality of what people are doing in a moment, hence the name.

Users have noticed recently, however, that they have got messages under some of their photos to show that their image has been “unblurred” by their friends, but they are unsure what this actually means. Fear not, however, NationalWorld has the answer you need.

What is BeReal?

BeReal is a photo sharing app which was launched in 2022. It is different to other photo-focused platforms such as Instagram in that it asks users to post photos of themselves and also what they are looking at at specific times of day, rather than when they choose, and there are no filters.

How does BeReal work?

When users sign up to BeReal, they allow notifications to be sent to their phone, and they then receive alerts at random intervals throughout the day inviting them to post their photos there and then. People do not have to post photos if they don’t want to, of course, but if they do choose to do so they only have two minutes to do so.

The idea behind this short time limit is that users will post honest photos of what they are doing at that moment - whether they are out and about with friends, sat watching TV at home, or making a meal. Two photos will be taken, one selfie with the front facing camera which shows how the person looks and one with the back camera which shows what the person is looking at.

You can add a caption if you like, and even a song from your Spotify account. The images are then posted on your page, which you can share with friends. You do not have to post multiple photos per day as the creators recognise that it may not always be convenient to post at the time the alerts are sent, particularly as these alerts come at different times each day and there is no indication of when they will arrive. If you do not post at least once a day, however, you will not usually be able to see the photos posted by your friends - unless you are able to use the unblurred function. The idea is that all users are being equally real with each other.

What does unblurred on BeReal mean?

If an image has been unblurred that means that it has been viewed by a contact who hasn’t posted an image themselves that day. One user who did not understand why their image had been unblurred posted on a Reddit thread asking for other people’s guidance on what it meant. They wrote: “Under my post is a message which reads "unblurred by 1 of your friends". What does that mean? When I click it, it brings up the list of people who have "unblurred" my photo”.

One person replied: “It's a feature they are testing. You can unblur a certain amount of be reals without posting”. It seems that the number of posts people can unblur is linked to the number of connections they have on the site. Another Reddit user clarified that If a user has more than 100 friends, they are able to unblur 15 posts from their friends without posting themselves. Someone else clarified that they have more than 50 friends and are able to unblur 10 posts.

The Reddit posters have been left unimpressed with the new functionality, however, saying it “defeats the purpose of the app”. One user said they even hated it, adding “we don’t need ghost scrollers that just creeps but doesn’t post”.