My Experience with Face Dance: AI Photo Animator
Last Tuesday night I was sitting on my couch trying to make a dumb birthday video for my friend Mike. My old app kept crashing after the last update so I went hunting for something new. I found Face Dance and figured what the heck, it’s free. I picked a photo of Mike making a goofy face at a barbecue last summer and selected this disco dance animation. I swear when the app processed it and his face started grooving to some funky beat I laughed out loud. The facial mapping caught his weird squint and crooked smile perfectly. For those first few minutes I was having a blast. I sent the video to our group chat and everyone was cracking up. That moment alone made the download worth it. Over the next couple days I tested it with different photos – my dog, my sister’s wedding picture, even an old black and white selfie. Each time the app did a solid job tracking the face and syncing the movements. But I quickly noticed the free stuff runs out fast, and that kinda killed the buzz.
Features Worth Noting
The core feature is obviously turning still photos into dancing videos and it works better than I expected. You pick a dance style like hip-hop, disco, or some traditional moves. Then you choose a music track to go with it. The app uses facial recognition to stick your face onto the animated character doing the dance. I was shocked at how the eyes blinked and mouth moved naturally on most tries. There’s also stickers and emojis you can slap onto the photo before animating. I added a silly mustache on my sister’s picture and it stayed in place during the dance. You can save your creations as videos or GIFs. Sharing directly to Instagram or TikTok is built right in, which saved me from having to save and re-upload. There’s also a little library of pre-made face dance videos you can drop your photo into if you don’t want to start from scratch. That saved me time when I was in a hurry. But the selection of free dances feels pretty small after you browse through them once.
What Needs Work
First problem: the ads are relentless. Every single time I finished a video a full-screen ad popped up. Sometimes I had to watch 15 seconds before I could close it. That gets old fast when you’re just trying to make a quick funny clip. Second issue: the free content is extremely limited. You get maybe five dances and three music tracks for free. Anything decent requires a subscription. I don’t mind paying for apps but I want to try before I buy. Here I felt pressured to pay right away. Third, the processing time varies wildly. On my iPhone 15 Pro one video rendered in 20 seconds, another took almost two minutes. No idea why. Once the app crashed completely in the middle of processing a video and I lost all my edits. That was frustrating. I also noticed the facial tracking can fail if the photo isn’t a straight-on shot. Side profiles wonky angles or someone with sunglasses? Forget about it. The app just gives you a weird distorted face instead of a funny dance.
Pricing
So here’s the deal. The app is free to download but you’re basically trying a demo. To unlock all the dance styles, music tracks, and remove ads you need to pay. They offer a weekly subscription for like $6.99, a monthly one for $9.99, and a yearly one for around $39.99. There’s also a lifetime purchase for $69.99 if you really love it. That weekly price is ridiculous for a silly face app. I’d consider the yearly if I used it more but three days in I’m not ready to commit. Also they don’t make it obvious what’s free and what’s paid until you try to use it. That bait-and-switch feeling annoyed me. I think a one-time small payment of $3.99 would be fair. But subscriptions on everything these days. No thanks.
Developer Notes
I contacted support because one of my videos kept failing to export. That was Saturday morning. I didn’t get a reply until Tuesday afternoon. So yeah, a few days. But when they did respond the person was actually helpful. They suggested I restart my phone and clear the app cache. That fixed the export problem for me. So points for being useful but minus points for speed. I also noticed the app has been updated recently – the version history shows bug fixes and new dances added. That makes me feel like the developer Codeway is still working on it and not just abandoning it. The app also has a pretty high rating on the App Store (4.1 stars) which probably means most people have an okay experience. I just wish they’d tone down the ads and be more upfront about what you get for free.
Security & Privacy
This part matters to me because you’re uploading your personal photos. The privacy policy says they process photos on their servers but don’t store them permanently. They use the images only to generate the animation and then delete them. I didn’t see any option to process everything locally on my phone though, which made me a little uneasy. They also collect standard analytics data and device info. Nothing crazy like reading your contacts or accessing your location. But I still wouldn’t upload anything super private or sensitive. Just silly selfies for jokes. Also there’s no option to use the app without creating an account, which is annoying. They force you to sign in with Apple or Google or email before you can even use the free stuff. That feels unnecessary for a simple photo app.
How does the real-time preview work in Face Dance, and can I adjust the intensity of animations?
The real-time preview lets you see how an animation will look before finalizing it, which is helpful since some effects appear ridiculous in the thumbnail but decent once applied. You can also adjust the intensity of effects, like dialing down eye movement to avoid a creepy look, giving you some control over the final result.
Does Face Dance work offline, and how does it handle multiple faces in a photo?
Yes, Face Dance has an offline mode that works without signal, though processing may take an extra five seconds. For multiple faces, the app handles them okay, but if people are too close together, the tracking can get messy and swap facial features like eyebrows between faces.
Why does my animated face look uncanny or have tracking errors, and how can I fix it?
Tracking errors often happen with group photos where faces are close together, causing the AI to swap features like eyebrows. For best results, use a clear, front-facing solo photo taken in a well-lit room, and avoid cluttered backgrounds to help the face detection nail the landmarks.
I'm stuck with limited templates in the free version—how can I get more without paying?
The free version restricts you to a handful of templates per day, which can be annoying. Unfortunately, there's no workaround within the app; you'll need to wait for the daily reset or consider upgrading to unlock unlimited access to all presets.
How does Face Dance compare to other AI face animators like Reface or Wombo?
Face Dance is simpler and more focused on preset animations like singing and dancing, while Reface offers more realistic face swaps and Wombo specializes in lip-syncing to songs. Face Dance wins on ease of use and offline functionality, but it lacks custom animation options and has a stricter daily template limit in the free version.
