About Retake AI: Face & Photo Editor
As someone who takes a lot of group photos that are always ruined by someone blinking, I downloaded Retake AI out of sheer desperation. I’ve tried other “AI photo fix” apps before, but they often left my friends looking like creepy wax figures. This one, from Codeway Dijital, promised a more natural touch for editing faces, and I was curious to see if it could actually deliver on making my photos look better, not just weirder.
Features & Highlights
The core feature is the “Retake” button. You upload a photo, and it scans for faces, highlighting any it thinks need fixing—usually closed eyes or a less-than-ideal expression. The “Open Eyes” tool is its party trick. I used it on a great vacation shot where my husband had his eyes shut. The AI generated new, open eyes that matched his eye color and the lighting, and it was shockingly convincing. It didn’t just paste a generic pair of eyes on him. The “Smile” feature is more subtle; it can tweak a neutral mouth into a gentle smile, which I found perfect for making a tired-looking portrait more pleasant. I also used the standard face-tuning sliders for skin smoothing and reshaping, but they felt secondary to the main AI magic.
User Experience
My first real test was a photo from my sister’s wedding. My cousin in the back row had a classic mid-blink moment. I tapped Retake, selected her face, and chose “Open Eyes.” After a few seconds of processing, her eyes were open and looking at the camera. I showed my sister the before and after, and her reaction was, “Wait, did we take two shots?” That was the moment I was sold. The interface is clean and focuses on the AI tools first. The processing isn’t instant—it takes about 5-10 seconds per fix on my phone—but watching the AI work its magic is part of the fun. I did run into a few hiccups with group shots of more than five people, where it sometimes missed a face or applied a fix to the wrong person if they were too close together.
Pricing
The app is free to download and use for basic edits and to try the AI features on low-resolution outputs. To get the full-quality, watermark-free results, you need a subscription. They offer weekly, monthly, and yearly plans. I bit the bullet and got the yearly plan because I had a backlog of photos to fix. For someone who takes a lot of important photos (family events, professional headshots), I think it’s worth the price for the specific problems it solves. For casual users, the free version might be enough for the occasional fix.
Updates & Support
I’ve had the app for about three months, and I’ve seen two noticeable updates. One improved the accuracy of the smile generator, and another added a new “Face Swap” feature I haven’t really used. The update frequency seems decent. As for support, I had a billing question once and used the in-app contact form. I got a generic but helpful reply within 48 hours, which resolved my issue. It’s not 24/7 live chat, but it’s functional.
Security & Privacy
I downloaded Retake AI directly from the official Google Play Store. The privacy policy states that photos are uploaded to their servers for processing but are not stored permanently or used to train their AI models after the edit is complete. This is a big point for me, as I’m editing personal photos. The free version shows occasional full-screen video ads, which can be disruptive, but they disappear with the subscription. I didn’t notice any other aggressive tracking within the app itself.
How does the 'Open Eyes' tool work in Retake AI?
The 'Open Eyes' tool scans faces in your photo and uses AI to generate realistic open eyes for anyone who blinked. It matches the person’s eye color and the lighting of the scene, so the result looks natural rather than like a generic pair of pasted-on eyes.
Can Retake AI adjust facial expressions like smiles?
Yes, the 'Smile' feature can subtly tweak a neutral or tired expression into a gentle, natural-looking smile. It’s designed to be subtle, so the person still looks like themselves—just a bit more pleasant and photo-ready.
Why does Retake AI sometimes miss a face in group photos?
The app can occasionally struggle with group shots of more than five people, where it might miss a face or apply a fix to the wrong person. This seems to be a limitation of its face detection when there are many faces close together, so you may need to manually select the face you want to edit.
How long does it take for Retake AI to process a fix?
Processing usually takes about 5 to 10 seconds per fix on a standard phone. It’s not instant, but the wait is short enough to feel satisfying as you watch the AI work its magic on the photo.
How does Retake AI compare to other AI photo fix apps?
Unlike many competitors that can make people look like creepy wax figures, Retake AI focuses on natural-looking edits that blend seamlessly with the original photo. For example, when fixing closed eyes, it generates eyes that match the person’s actual eye color and the scene’s lighting, so the result is often convincing enough that people can’t tell a fix was applied.
