My Experience with ElfYourself
I’m a broke college student, so when my friends started sending around those goofy elf videos last Christmas, I figured I’d never be the one making them. Then my group project partner, Jake, insisted we make one for our final presentation as a “fun break.” I downloaded ElfYourself on my iPhone 14 about two weeks ago, and honestly, I was surprised by how quick and painless the whole thing was. We just picked a dance theme, uploaded a couple of photos from my camera roll—Jake looking grumpy, me laughing like an idiot—and the app did the rest. The facial mapping actually worked way better than I expected. It caught both of our weird expressions perfectly, even my crooked smile. I ended up sending the video to my mom and she actually cried laughing; that kind of made my whole week. It’s not something I’d use daily, but for the holiday season, it’s a solid way to kill ten minutes and get a good laugh.
Features Worth Noting
The biggest selling point for me was how easy it is to get started. I didn’t have to watch a tutorial or mess around with settings. You open the app, pick your dance screen from a few options—there are maybe six or seven—and then it asks you to upload a clear face photo. I uploaded one of my roommate Sarah from her Halloween party and one of me from a boring Tuesday morning. It popped the faces right onto the elf bodies, and they were already dancing before I could finish my coffee. I also liked that you can add your own music from your phone’s library instead of being stuck with the default holiday songs. I put on some old-school hip-hop for ours and it matched the silly dancing surprisingly well. The app lets you save the final video to your Camera Roll without any weird watermarks, which I really appreciated because I could just drop it into our group chat or Instagram story without extra steps.
What Needs Work
Okay, so it’s not perfect. The biggest issue I ran into was the limited number of free dance themes. After the first two, everything else was locked behind a paywall. For a free app that’s fine, but I wish there were at least three or four free options—especially since some of the paid ones are like $1.99 each. Another thing: the facial recognition struggled a bit when I tried using a group photo with people standing far apart. It only let me use the first face it found, and I couldn’t manually select someone in the background. Also, the video export quality felt a little low-res, like 720p maybe? It looked okay on my phone screen, but when I AirPlayed it to my TV, it got blurry. Not a dealbreaker for a silly elf video, but if you wanted to send it to grandma on a bigger screen, it might look a bit rough.
Pricing
It’s free to download, which is great for my wallet. But you should know: the app pushes you pretty hard to buy extra dance themes and costumes. I stuck with the free option and that worked fine for what I needed, but if you want to try out the funny ones like the snowboard elf or the disco elf, you’re looking at paying per dance or buying a bundle for a few bucks. There’s also an option to remove the ElfYourself logo at the end of the video for $0.99. Honestly, I didn’t mind the logo—it’s small and quick. For a student on a budget, the free version is enough to have fun and share a laugh without spending a dime.
Developer Notes
I didn’t contact support, so I can’t speak to that side. But the app itself updated once since I downloaded it, and that didn’t break anything or wipe my saved video. The developer, Magic Mirror LLC, seems to keep the app alive enough for seasonal use. I did peek at the App Store reviews before downloading, and they’re mostly positive—around 4.6 stars—though I did see some complaints about free themes disappearing after a year. That’s a bit annoying if you want to reuse the same dance next Christmas, but for a one-off project like mine, it didn’t matter.
Security & Privacy
This one is important to me because, you know, it’s using your actual face. The app asks for camera roll access and that’s it—no location tracking or contacts permission requested. I did read the privacy policy briefly (I’m a paranoid student), and it says they don’t store your uploaded photos on their servers after the video is made. The video is processed locally on your phone, which made me feel a lot better. I wouldn’t upload a really personal photo, but for a goofy elf face, I felt okay about it. No weird spammy ads popped up either, which is more than I can say for some other free apps I’ve tried.
How do I add my own music to an ElfYourself video?
After selecting a dance theme and uploading your photos, you can tap the music icon to choose a song from your phone's library instead of using the default holiday tracks. This lets you customize the video with your own playlist, and the app syncs the dancing to the beat surprisingly well.
Can I use a group photo to create an ElfYourself video with multiple people?
ElfYourself's facial recognition works best with individual close-up photos. If you try using a group photo where people are far apart, the app may only detect the first face and won't let you manually select others in the background, so it's better to upload separate clear face photos for each person.
Why are some dance themes locked, and how much do they cost?
ElfYourself offers only two free dance themes, with the rest locked behind a paywall costing around $1.99 each. If you want more variety without paying, you can stick with the free options, which still work well for a quick, fun video.
The video quality looks blurry when I play it on my TV—what can I do?
ElfYourself exports videos at a lower resolution, likely around 720p, which looks fine on your phone but can appear blurry on larger screens like a TV. For best results, keep the video on your phone or share it via social media, as the quality is adequate for small screens.
How does ElfYourself compare to other holiday video apps like JibJab?
ElfYourself is simpler and faster to use than JibJab—you just pick a dance theme, upload a photo, and the app instantly creates a dancing elf video without tutorials or complex settings. However, JibJab offers more free content and higher export quality, while ElfYourself is better for a quick, no-fuss laugh with friends.
