Mat and I are friends in reality for a while

[Silverobama]

Hi.

I saw my friend Mat was doing his livestreaming on an app called Douyin. People mainly watch videos there but one can join a chat room if there's one. Usually the chat room is live broadcasting.

Matt was chatting with other people in his chat room. Then I joined their conversation. People were a bit surprised that we soon became friends. We actually didn't become friends but we've known each other in reality a few years ago.

I then said to those people who were in the chat room "Mat and I are friends in reality for a while".

Is the sentence natural?

 

[dunchee]

No.
"Mat and I are friends in real life."

 

[emsr2d2]

If you want to include "for a while", you need to use the present perfect.

Matt and I have been friends in real life for a while.

 

[Tarheel]

I might say, "We know each other personally."