Launched in 2019, BeReal is a French social media platform that has been gaining huge popularity this year. As the app is aptly named, you will have to post your real-life pictures of your day when BeReal sends you an alert. Anything you post on the app remains in the app’s Memories section on your end but after a day of posting it, your friends won’t be able to see it. The same goes for you when you’re viewing your friends’ BeReals.

Since you cannot see your friend’s picture for well over a day, you might be tempted to take a screenshot of their photo. But what happens when you take a screenshot of someone’s BeReal? Does BeReal notify the person when you capture a screenshot of their post? That’s what we’re going to explain in this post. 

Related: How to Post Late on BeReal

Does BeReal notify someone when you capture a screenshot of their photo?

When you take screenshots of someone’s BeReal, the app doesn’t instantly send you an alert or a warning to this person. Because of this, they would not learn that you are taking screenshots of their posts on BeReal at the time of capture unless they’re currently active on BeReal at the same time. 

Does someone know when you capture a screenshot of their BeReal?

While BeReal doesn’t alert someone via a pop-up notification when you take screenshots of their post, this user will eventually be able to know when a screenshot is captured, which picture was screen-shotted and who took these screenshots. All these details will be visible when the user opens the app. 

When someone takes a screenshot of your BeReal picture, you will see a square-like box under or above your photo on the app’s main screen. This square box will reveal the number of people who took screenshots of your BeReal. 

Why do you need to take screenshots on BeReal?

Unlike on other social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, most of what you post on BeReal is available temporarily, at least for your friends. While all your previous pictures on BeReal can be found inside the Memories section on the BeReal app, your friends won’t be able to see these old pictures as they’ll only be available for you.

Similarly, you won’t get to see pictures from your friends that are older than a day as they’ll automatically disappear from your My Friends feed on the BeReal app. If you think you saw something worthwhile or if your friend tagged you in their BeReal and you want to save these pictures for later, the only way to do that is by taking screenshots of the BeReal. 

How to check who has taken screenshots of your BeReal

Although BeReal doesn’t send you a real-time notification when someone captures a screenshot of one of your pictures, you can easily see who took those screenshots from within the BeReal app on your phone. Depending on the phone you use BeReal on, the way to access who captured a screenshot of your BeReal is different on Android and iOS. 

On Android

You can check who took screenshots of your BeReal on an Android device by first opening the BeReal app on your phone. 

When the app opens, check for a Camera shutter icon at the top right portion of your screen. The shutter icon will be yellow in color and will only show up when someone takes a screenshot of your BeReal. If you see it, tap on this shutter icon on your BeReal profile. 

You will now see the “<Some> friends took a screenshot of your BeReal” message. The app won’t show you who captured the screenshot unless you share your BeReal on other social apps. You can select any of these apps but you don’t necessarily need to publish your BeReal in any of them to know more details about the screenshot. Select any of the options on the screen to proceed (we selected Twitter). 

When you’re taken to the app you selected, you can either share your BeReal or go back to the BeReal app. When you go back, BeReal will show you the list of people who took screenshots of your post. 

On iOS 

Like on Android, you will only see a screenshot count alert for your BeReal on iOS when someone captures a screenshot of your post. To know who took a screenshot, open the BeReal app. 

When the app opens, check for a tiny square-like bracket with a number inside it. In the screenshot below, you can see something like “[1]” appear under the BeReal you posted on your account. The number is indicative of the number of people who took a screenshot of your post. To know who took these screenshots, tap on this square bracket. 

On the screen that appears next, you’ll see the “<Some> of your friends took a screenshot” message with the screenshot details aptly hidden underneath. You will have to select an app to share it to or choose Share via > Save to Files to unhide the screenshot details. 

When you do that, you’ll see who took screenshots of your BeReal. 

Which photos are eligible for screenshot details?

The pictures you post on BeReal may stay in your BeReal Memories but won’t be accessible to your friends or other users on BeReal. That’s why you will only be able to check who screen-shotted your BeReal picture for as long as this picture is visible to your friends. The above methods will, thus, only work for pictures you posted recently on BeReal, meaning you can check who has captured screenshots of your BeReals for up to 24 hours since you post them. 

Although your past BeReals will be visible to you as part of BeReal Memories, you won’t see screenshot details for pictures you posted more than 24 hours ago. For instance, if you checked the screenshot details for your BeReal at the 23rd hour of posting it and someone else took a screenshot of your post, you won’t be able to check who took the screenshot if you don’t access these details page within the next hour. 

All in all, only photos you posted anytime within 24 hours will be eligible to check for screenshot details. 

How long do I have to check who took screenshots of my BeReal?

You can view who took screenshots of your BeReals for up to 24 hours after you posted a picture. This means, that if you have a BeReal that’s currently active and visible on your friends’ feeds, and when someone in your friends list captures a screenshot of it, you will be able to check who took a screenshot for as long as your BeReal is visible to your friends. 

After the 24th hour, you won’t be able to access the screenshot details for any of your past BeReal pictures. 

Does BeReal tell you how many screenshots were captured by someone?

When you access the screenshot alert for your BeReal post, you may see a number under your post if you use the BeReal app on an iPhone. This number isn’t indicative of the number of times your post was captured on a screenshot but it tells you the number of people who took screenshots of your post on their devices. You wouldn’t be able to tell how many times they captured it, even if someone in this list took multiple screenshots of your BeReal post. 

How to Take Screenshots on BeReal Without Notifying Someone

Well, while you can’t do that officially, there are a few workarounds that you can use if you desperately need to take screenshots secretly. Check out the link below to know how to take screenshots on BeReal without others knowing.

Read: How to Take Screenshots on BeReal Without Anyone Knowing

Can you stop others from taking screenshots of your BeReal?

Like any other social media platform, BeReal doesn’t offer you a way to prevent others from taking screenshots of pictures you post on the app. Although the app tells you who took screenshots of your BeReals, it doesn’t discourage users from capturing the screenshots. 

However, the chances of your picture ending up in the hands of unknown people are less. That’s because when you post a photo on the app, it automatically chooses your friends as the audience for the post. Your photo will only be visible to the public if you intentionally choose to share it on the app’s Discover page. 

To prevent your pictures from getting misused, you can ensure that the people you add as friends on BeReal are people you know in real life and the ones you trust. 

That’s all you need to know about screenshot notifications on BeReal.