As soon as FaceApp was made accessible for downloading in the App stores, people across the globe couldn’t wait to test it out. Why was it creating such a buzz? Likely due to its old age filter that lets you see your potential older self. It seemed the curiosity of our appearances in old age was a shared one and this app gave us a sneak peek. Would we retain our charm or not? Even celebrities and high-profile individuals couldn’t resist this trendy app, joining in by using it and sharing the outcomes on their social media profiles.
Chris Hemsworth
FaceApp, a product of a Russian firm named Wireless Lab, is a versatile application that can be accessed by users of both iOS and Android devices. The app, conceptualized by a group of developers in Saint Petersburg, employs the neural network of a photograph to predict your physicality in old age, taking into account wrinkles, baldness, and skin condition. The app has achieved unimaginable popularity, appealing to both celebrities and the general public.
Robert Downey, Jr.
In a recent online magazine discussion, a developer from FaceApp’s support team thoroughly explained the app’s development process. She clarified that the intricate calculations needed for the AI technology in the filters necessitate server functions, effectively making local smartphone photo editing impossible. Any image untouched by their filters won’t get transmitted to the app’s servers, instead it will stay within the device. The company clarified it doesn’t ask for and doesn’t have access to any personal identifiers, such as email addresses, the phone model, cloud storage or any accounts associated with the phone.
Lady Gaga
Images edited and forwarded to them are automatically purged from their system within a 48-hour timeframe, which is the maximum duration they retain the images. They are not authorized and do not keep copies of any images users upload. The process of sharing and sending photos is both anonymous and encrypted. Users can rest assured that their photos will not be exploited by the company. The company is also unable to identify the individual or device from which the photo originates based solely on the image sent.
Kevin Hart
The pictures sent through the app by the user aren’t employed for the company’s personal promotional campaigns or in any associated or unrelated public instances. The images are not visible to anyone. They are exclusively processed by machines, and no individual working for the company has access to them.
FaceApp isn’t a recent application; it’s been around for about two years. However, its elevated popularity among celebrities is a recent phenomenon. Upon its initial release, the app faced criticism for being racially insensitive because of its filters that could alter a person’s race. One of these filters, named “hot,” could even lighten the user’s skin tone.
Tom Holland
With the app gaining significant traction, it has also attracted a slew of controversies. The main issues revolve around the app and its developers. A major topic of discussion across social media platforms was the suspicion that the app’s developers have connections with the Russian Government. The speculation suggested that Russians were extracting personal phone data from users and generating a covert, extensive database. This hypothetical database would comprise facial information for surveillance purposes. However, these allegations were categorically refuted and dismissed as baseless.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian
All the rumors proved to be false. The application was indeed created by a Russian company, but that doesn’t necessarily imply that it’s a spying app or part of a larger conspiracy plot. Furthermore, it doesn’t imply that the app’s developers are covert agents. The fear amongst the users was that the app may be running in the background, uploading everything stored in their phones. However, this was not the case. As previously stated, the app only uploads photos that the user selects for editing.
Jonas Brothers
Users were also worried about FaceApp retaining a copy of the picture they chose to edit and add a filter on. The reason for this is that the app modifies these pictures through intricate algorithms on servers, which cannot be incorporated into personal mobile devices. The data shared with this app is not more extensive than what is shared with any other app. Therefore, suggesting that the chance of misuse is not any higher than with other applications. So, there’s no need for undue concern.
Pharrell Williams
The app handles all its photo editing processes in the cloud. This involves the user selecting and uploading a photo for editing. The company assures that no additional images are taken from the phone’s gallery and transferred to the app’s cloud. To address potential concerns, the company has issued a statement outlining these practices. They further clarified that they might keep an uploaded photo in their cloud, purely for reasons related to performance and traffic management.
Sam Smith
This pertains to making sure that users don’t submit the same picture for every edit process. The majority of images get removed from corporate servers less than 48 hours post-upload. Moreover, they expounded all the app’s features are accessible to users without logging in, aside from in the settings section. As a result of this, approximately 99% of the users don’t log in, hence the company doesn’t have any means to identify individuals. The provided data isn’t sold to external parties. Though the firm’s R&D team is based in Russia, there’s never any user information transferred there.
Drake
If you haven’t used the app yet, don’t hesitate to upload a photograph. You could be pleasantly surprised by how gracefully you’ll age.