TikTok scraps TikTok Now, its BeReal-like feature

Following BeReal’s low tide, TikTok is sending notifications to its users: it’s getting rid of its own BeReal copy: TikTok Now.

Multiple Twitter users (here and here) reported a message update from TikTok (via The Verge), which reads:



Nothing (as of the time of writing this article) can be found on the official support page, but it’s unlikely that this is some sort of hoax or bug. TikTok Now closely follows BeReal’s life timeline. The duo dynamics are like that: BeReal explodes in popularity, TikTok Now is born. Next: BeReal suffers a mass dropout… TikTok Now gets shut down!

Let’s take a closer look at their rise and fall

TikTok Now sprung in mid-September of 2022, amidst the commercial success of BeReal: an app used primarily by Gen Z audiences, which operates in quite a fashionable way. Once a day, users get a notification with exclamation mark emojis on their screen, prompting “Time to BeReal!” The objective is to post an immediate photo with both your front and rear cameras at the same time in a 2-minute time window, set by the app. Once you click on the notification, the timer counts back. If you want to see your friends’ BeReal moments, you’re not allowed until you post your own first. Talking about peer pressure…

TikTok Now operates (read: operated) in a more than similar way, with minor tweaks. They include a 3-, instead of 2-minutes timeframe and the ability to post 10-second-long videos, not just photos. And Now gives you the option to show your instant posts only to your friendlist, while in BeReal you choose between that and going public to the Discovery feed.

Privacy hit a new low

Brought to fame by Zoomers claiming they want a break from the superficial, artificial major social media networks, BeReal is seen by the younger generation as a way to, well, get more real by sharing ordinary, everyday situations without rehearsal and any concept in mind.

This mindset, however, paved the way to quite the situation, where business and even state privacy was endangered. BeReal users snapped literally any and everything that was in front and behind them, whenever the app notified them to. Including laptop screen, documents, (too) personal situations, etc. You can read more about the BeReal privacy breach phenomenon here.

This was last year, though. Since then, a 61% drop in the daily active BeReal users have been reported, but app officials responded in April by saying: ‘We have 20 million daily active users’.