First Impression
I downloaded FaceApp three days ago because my boss asked me to put together some promo images for a work presentation, and I needed to make a few people look a bit more polished without hiring a photographer. Honestly, the first thing I noticed was how much stuff they throw at you. You open the app and there are banners everywhere telling you to subscribe. I just wanted to try the old age filter on my friend Steve from accounting. The interface is clean enough, I guess, but it felt like every tap was trying to upsell me. The free version lets you try things but there’s a watermark and some filters are just grayed out. That kind of annoyed me on a Tuesday night when I was in a hurry.
What It Does Well
The AI is pretty smart, I’ll give them that. I uploaded a selfie from my OnePlus 11 gallery and the app immediately detected my face and gave me a bunch of options. The age progression filter made me look like a grumpy 70-year-old man with a mustache, and my girlfriend laughed so hard she spilled her coffee. The skin smoothing is actually decent — it doesn’t make you look like a wax figure unless you crank it up too much. I used the “natural” setting for my work pics and it toned down the shine on people’s faces without making them look fake. The hair color change is also surprisingly realistic. I put myself in bright blue hair and it looked like I actually dyed it. The smile adjuster worked well too, although sometimes it gave people a creepy Joker grin if you pushed it too far. For quick edits where you just want to fix a blemish or whiten some teeth, this app does the job in about ten seconds. It’s definitely easier than messing around in Photoshop for an hour.
Where It Falls Short
So here’s the thing — the free version is basically a teaser. Every time you want to save a picture without a watermark, you have to pay. And it’s not cheap. I looked at the subscription and it’s like $7.99 a month or something close to that. For an app I might use once a week? That feels steep. I tried to edit a background out of a photo and it told me that feature requires a subscription. Same with the beard styles and some of the makeup filters. The app runs fine on my OnePlus 11, no crashes or anything, but the processing can take a good 10-15 seconds for the heavy AI stuff, which feels slow when you’re impatient. Also, the results aren’t always perfect. I tried to swap genders on a picture of my buddy Mark and it made him look like a completely different person with a random haircut. Not even close to him. So the AI is hit or miss depending on the angle of your face and lighting. And if you have glasses on? Forgets about it — the app gets confused and messes up the edges.
Is It Worth the Price?
Honestly? Not really for me. If you’re a content creator or someone who makes social media posts every day and needs polished selfies, maybe the subscription is worth it. But for a regular person like me who just wanted to fix some work photos and have a laugh with friends, it’s hard to justify spending $8 a month or whatever crazy yearly plan they push. I did the free trial thing, used it for a couple of hours, and then canceled right away. I wish they had a pay-once option or even a per-edit purchase, like 99 cents per watermark removal. That would make way more sense for casual users. As it is, the app feels designed to trap you into a subscription. It’s a bummer because the tech is genuinely cool, but the pricing model is aggressive. I’d rather use a free web tool or just deal with the watermark for my silly photos.
Developer & Support
I had a weird issue where the app kept telling me my photo was too blurry, even though it wasn’t. So I hit up their support through the in-app contact form on a Wednesday. I got an automated reply right away, but a real person didn’t get back to me until the following Monday. That’s like five days. The response was actually helpful — they told me to clear the cache and make sure the photo wasn’t too large. It fixed the problem. So the support team knows their stuff, but the wait time is pretty bad. If you’re in a hurry, don’t expect a quick fix. They also have a FAQ section in the app, but it’s hidden under a bunch of menus. I had to dig around to find it. For a company making millions off subscriptions, you’d think they’d have faster support. But at least they didn’t ghost me.
Privacy & Safety
This is the part that actually worried me. The app uploads your photos to their servers to do the AI processing. They say they delete them after 48 hours, but honestly, I’m not super comfortable with that. I used the app for work photos that had my colleagues’ faces in them, and I felt a little sketchy about it afterward. I wouldn’t upload anything sensitive or private, like ID photos or pictures of kids. There’s also no way to use the app fully offline, so you’re stuck with the cloud processing. Their privacy policy is long and boring, but I skimmed it and it says they don’t sell your data, but they do use it to improve their AI. That’s better than some apps, but still not great. If you’re paranoid about your face being stored somewhere, this probably isn’t the app for you. I’m not super paranoid, but I also won’t be using it for anything that matters.
How do I remove the watermark from FaceApp without paying for a subscription?
Unfortunately, the only way to remove the watermark in FaceApp is to subscribe to the paid version. The free version always adds a watermark when you save an edited photo, so if you need clean images, you'll need to pay for a monthly subscription.
Can I use FaceApp to change the background of a photo?
No, background editing requires a subscription in FaceApp. The free version only offers basic filters and age progression, while features like background removal, beard styles, and makeup filters are locked behind the $7.99 monthly paywall.
Why does FaceApp take so long to process edits on my phone?
Heavy AI features like age progression or gender swap can take 10-15 seconds to process, even on a phone like the OnePlus 11. This is normal for the app's complex AI, but it can feel slow if you're in a hurry. For faster results, stick to simpler edits like skin smoothing or teeth whitening.
Why does FaceApp sometimes give people a creepy smile or mess up glasses in photos?
The smile adjuster can produce an unnatural 'Joker grin' if you push it too far, so use it sparingly. Also, the app struggles with glasses—it often gets confused around the edges, so it's best to remove glasses before editing or avoid filters that alter facial structure.
How does FaceApp compare to using Photoshop for quick photo edits?
FaceApp is much faster and easier than Photoshop for simple fixes like skin smoothing, teeth whitening, or age filters—taking about 10 seconds per edit. However, Photoshop offers far more control and no watermark, while FaceApp's free version is very limited and requires a $7.99 monthly subscription for full features.
