The social app Beme is launching a major update today that redesigns the app and brings it to Android for the first time. Beme launched last summer with plenty of viral fanfare thanks to the support of YouTube sensation Casey Neistat, who founded the company behind it. But the app dropped off of most people’s radars almost immediately thereafter, and now Neistat says the original version “just didn’t deliver enough on the promises that we made.” Today’s update, which technically brings Beme out of “beta” and into its first proper release, is supposed to fix all of that.
Casey Neistat’s social app Beme is now on Android
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
"What the hell happened to Beme?"
“It’s the version I wish we’d had last summer,” Neistat says in a YouTube video titled “What the hell happened to Beme?” He doesn’t really answer the question; instead, the video is more like a reintroduction to what Beme is.
The app is a little bit like Snapchat, where you’re able to record short videos and add them to a stream. But unlike Snapchat (or other video apps), you aren’t supposed to be in the video — you aren’t even supposed to see what you’re shooting. Beme only begins recording footage when your phone is placed against your chest (or you fake it with, say, your palm); that way, the app records whatever’s in front of you. The idea is to let people live more in the moment and therefore provide a more “authentic” recording for followers. The app is supposed to be a bit better put together now, and Beme is obviously hoping it can get more people recording and sharing.
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