Instagram is prototyping a BeReal murder clone

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Meta has confirmed that it is working on a new feature that is similar to Bereal, the social media app that has recently exploded in popularity. The so-called "IG Candid" feature is similar to BeReal in that it requires users to share an authentic photo at a random time each day.

Imitators have been called "murder clones" by my colleague, because of how they look like they are imitating their killers.

There is a description of how the feature can work. You can add other's IG to your tray. There is a notification to capture and share a photo every day at a different time.

The BeReal experience is supposed to work that way. The service, which rose to prominence last month, gives users two minutes to take a rear-facing photo and a selfies at the same time. It is a format that is supposed to encourage the sharing of authentic images from people's days, rather than the kind of carefullycurated content that is common on social media.

The IG Candid feature is being tested by Meta, according to a statement. Christine Pai said that the feature is an internal prototype and not being tested outside. That suggests there isn't a definite time frame for when the feature will be made public.

With how Meta and other social media giants have responded to other popular apps over the years, it's safe to assume that they'll respond to BeReal as well. Reels is an obvious response to the popularity of TikTok, as evidenced by the roll out of a Stories feature by the social network.

Meta is not the only tech giant that has created murder clones. Another transparent attempt to cash-in on the popularity of vertically shot short-form video is the new YouTube Shorts.

This isn't the first time Meta has been accused of copying another program. The new feature called dual allows you to take a photo and video from both your phone's front and rear cameras at the same time. People pointed out the similarities between BeReal and dual, although dual allows you to capture content whenever you want, rather than waiting for a daily notification. The release of the dual feature around the time of Bereal's explosion in popularity was convenient according to one former product designer.