BeReal launched in France in 2020 as a photo-sharing app built around authenticity, asking users to post one unfiltered photo each day. Its daily notification arrives at a random time and gives users two minutes to capture what they are doing, a mechanic that quickly became the app's defining feature. As BeReal grew in 2022, the alert sound became widely recognisable online, especially in short videos mocking or recreating the rush to post. It remains popular because it instantly evokes that shared, time-pressured social media moment.