--- title: FaceApp Challenge Raises Security Concerns. Here's What to Know description: Thanks to the Face App challenge people are sharing selfies that imagine what they would look like in 2040—despite security concerns. Here's what to know. canonical: https://time.com/5628141/face-app-challenge/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-17T13:30:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T22:31:39.000Z og:title: FaceApp Is Getting People to Age Overnight. Here's What You Should Know About Its Security Concerns og:description: Want to pretend you know what a ton of years looks like on your face? og:url: https://time.com/5628141/face-app-challenge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7085b2b72f1f1dc8/698a0037e76ad258f2636299/faceapp-security-concerns.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: 'FaceApp' Raises Security Concerns og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FaceApp Is Getting People to Age Overnight. Here's What You Should Know About Its Security Concerns twitter:description: Want to pretend you know what a ton of years looks like on your face? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7085b2b72f1f1dc8/698a0037e76ad258f2636299/faceapp-security-concerns.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FaceApp Is Getting People to Age Overnight. Here's What You Should Know About Its Security Concerns > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) and [Josiah Bates](https://time.com/author/josiah-bates/) Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:31 PM UTCPublished: Jul 17, 2019 1:30 PM UTC  FaceApp application displayed on the screen of a smartphone. FaceApp application displayed on the screen of a smartphone. Manuel Romano—NurPhoto via Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) and [Josiah Bates](https://time.com/author/josiah-bates/) Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:31 PM UTCPublished: Jul 17, 2019 1:30 PM UTC Time may come for us all, but it came a lot more quickly over the last few days if our feeds are any indication. In the spirit of the FaceApp Challenge, people are sharing [photos of themselves](https://time.com/5361833/what-is-huji-camera-photo-app/) looking much older than they are, and it’s the handiwork of a phone app that can present an image of what you might look like 20 or more years older. (The developer behind the app is based in St. Petersburg.) This particular app is nothing new, it’s just newly popular and rising to the top of the mind now––thanks to a few shiny updates since it made headlines in 2017\. As for the [FaceApp cost](https://time.com/4801316/best-apps-2017/), it’s free. Not only will it morph your face in a photo to look older, you’ll have a menu of options to adjust your mouth to a smile among other things that “add magic to your selfie.” Or, you can look younger if you like, or you can just look at an old picture. You can find the [FaceApp on Google Play](https://play.google.com/stor/apps/details?id=io.faceapp&hl=en%5FUS) and the [Apple App store](https://time.com/selfies-cities-world-rankings/). The CEO Yaroslav Goncharov explained how the app was built in an interview with [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/08/faceapp-uses-neural-networks-for-photorealistic-selfie-tweaks/). “They are relatively low level/general use libraries that can be used to build almost anything,” he says, adding: “It took us eight months to release the first version of FaceApp, thanks to our prior background in deep learning and computer vision.” It’s not without its fair share of controversy, and has even [raised concern about privacy](https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/16/ai-photo-editor-faceapp-goes-viral-again-on-ios-raises-questions-about-photo-library-access-and-clo/) given the photo access involved. For context, other photo apps in this vein, like [Ever](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/millions-people-uploaded-photos-ever-app-then-company-used-them-n1003371), have been used to train the company’s facial recognition technology in the past. While the privacy issues surrounding FaceApp have been prevalent, experts say this app isn’t that different than other apps that take data from users. Craig Shue, an associate professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute tells TIME the terms of service for this app appear to be pretty consistent with similar apps that use [the cloud](https://time.com/4841014/cloud-data-security-cybersecurity-hackers/) and that people have to decide how much of their data they’re willing to share. “Its all about your tolerance for risk,” Shue says. “There is a trade-off here where people might be using the app because it’s entertaining. That comes with the cost that you’re giving your data to some other company to what they want with it. In this case the user is giving this third party company a very high quality image of themselves that they can then do what they want with.” Shue acknowledges that because a Russian company created the app, their privacy laws are different than the laws in the U.S. But, Shue says, the app doesn’t appear to operate suspiciously. “People here generally don’t keep up with the laws in Russia, so they may think that they have more assurances about how their data is being maintained than what they actually do because its’ hosted in a foreign country,” Shue says. Lorrie Cranor, the director of CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University’s security and privacy institute, says people who have concerns about FaceApp should also have them with other apps that take users’ data. “You’re giving a blank check to the company. A lot of people think that a privacy policy gives them protection but it usually doesn’t,” Cranor tells TIME. “Anytime you provide your image you never know what is going to happen with it. That hasn’t stopped celebrities like Drake, the Jonas Brothers and Tim Tebow from getting in on the [Face App challenge](https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/). The kids on the [internet](https://time.com/5626827/the-25-most-influential-people-on-the-internet/) may be growing up. See below for some of the most popular contributions online to the trend. And non-celebrities are in on the face app challenge too. > [](https://twitter.com/realogbaddie/status/1151270572183216129) > [](https://twitter.com/PetrusduPlessis/status/1151191542847213568) > [](https://twitter.com/JJRyanOnAir/status/1151216837981593600) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5628141/face-app-challenge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5628141/face-app-challenge/"},"headline":"FaceApp Is Getting People to Age Overnight. Here's What You Should Know About Its Security Concerns","datePublished":"2019-07-17T13:30:17.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T22:31:39.000Z","description":"Thanks to the Face App challenge people are sharing selfies that imagine what they would look like in 2040—despite security concerns. 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