TikTok rolls out Now, a BeReal-like feed, to its app in the US, with daily prompts to capture a 10-second video or a photo using both front and back cameras
TikTok launched a new feature today that is basically just a copy of BeReal, the buzzy French social app that's been steadily gaining popularity.
Context & Ripple Effects
TikTok's Now launch lands mid-way through a fast-moving copy cycle: weeks earlier, Instagram shipped Dual, its own front-and-back camera clone that critics argued missed why people like BeReal — it's non-addictive by design — and was still internally testing Candid Challenges with timed daily photo prompts when TikTok moved.
The pattern runs both directions: Reddit had already rolled out a TikTok-like video feed on iOS in 2021, so Now is TikTok both defending its home turf and absorbing a rival's format. The stakes are real for BeReal itself — user estimates cited in later coverage suggest the buzzy French app faded through 2023.
First-order effects
- BeReal faces simultaneous clones from the two largest social platforms — Instagram's Dual and Candid Challenges plus TikTok Now — attacking the exact dual-camera, daily-prompt mechanic that made it distinctive.
- US TikTok users get daily prompts to post a 10-second dual-camera video or photo inside an app they already open daily, removing the need to keep BeReal installed.
Second-order effects
- Instagram, already running Dual and Candid Challenges, now competes against TikTok on BeReal's format rather than just copying it — accelerating a feature-parity race where neither platform can let the other own 'authenticity' capture.
- BeReal's differentiation collapses from a unique mechanic to brand and community alone; with its growth already fading per later coverage, the clones squeeze the window it had to convert buzz into a durable network.
Third-order effects
- If the cycle holds — TikTok copied by Reddit, BeReal copied by everyone, and TikTok eventually shutting down Now without explanation — feature cloning becomes a low-cost defensive tool big platforms deploy and discard freely, while originators struggle to monetize formats they popularized but don't control.
- The episode points toward capture mechanics (dual-camera, time-boxed prompts) becoming commoditized interface patterns rather than defensible products, shifting competition back to distribution scale — which favors incumbents.
The trend: Social platforms are converging into feature-copying oligopolies where any breakout format — Reels, BeReal's dual-camera prompt — is absorbed within months by every major app, leaving originators competing on community rather than mechanics.