FaceApp is a freemium app that is currently sending people into paroxysms of amazement on social media. It is easy to see why: it offers a range of fun filters that are very flattering. There are also gender swap filters and ageing filters. It's fun, it’s amazing and the basic version is free (the paid version gives access to more filters and functionalities) – what’s not to like! With all such apps that ask for access to our photos, there are security and privacy concerns, however.
The lines and age spots are gone, I am years younger and I suddenly have visible cheekbones and some very skillfully applied makeup. I can also apply other filters to become much older, younger, become male, grow a beard, become upset, smile more etc.
Of the many, many filters that the app has, the ‘old’ filter seems to have caught everyone's fancy.
This one is considerably less flattering. The eyes are smaller and duller, the skin loose and saggy and lined.
The ageing filter has become really popular. People are sharing pictures of themselves with the filter alongside pictures of their parents.
American football player Michael Strahan tweeted this picture. It is clearly fascinating to see how we would look some 20 or 30 years from now.
Perhaps this Twitter user is trying to say that Morgan Freeman stopped aging at some point. Or maybe he wants to say Freeman was sort of born old?
What would I look like as a man? If you're a man, what would you look like as a woman? It’s fun to try out the filters, I’ll admit it.
Someone applied the filter to the top Marvel superheroes as well. This is the Endgame many would like to see!
Tom Holland is baby-faced now and looks like he’ll remain like that decades later as well.
How will the kids from Hogwart's look? Maybe like this.
So there we have M S Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar all looking a lot older.
This Twitter user created a whole series of older cricketer images including this one of Kane Williamson to indicate how they would look after 24 years.
Maybe someone is trying to pass off a younger woman as his grandma?
The app has been around since 2017 but has gone massively viral in the past few days. Many raised concerns about the ‘Russian’ app developer that asked for permissions to access all phone media for data farming and profit. However, the concerns may not be as grave as they are made out to be. The app servers are largely located in the US and the app access only those pictures that the user wants to process. The photo processing is on the cloud and the app doesn’t require users to login with their social media accounts. So at the moment, it does seem like a bit of fun and the privacy/security concerns raised appear to be largely exaggerated.
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