---
title: "Finally, an App That Turns Your Selfie into an Anime Character"
description: "The Android app TwinFACE promises to give you \"the opportunity to create an anime picture based on a real selfie.\" But it does a terrible job."
date: "2019-09-24"
modified: "2019-09-24"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/app-selfie-anime-characters"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "anime"
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "neural network"
  - "the digest"
---

# Finally, an App That Turns Your Selfie into an Anime Character

![The Android app TwinFACE promises to give you "the opportunity to create an anime picture based on a real selfie." But it does a terrible job.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/this-terrible-app-turns-your-selfies-into-cursed-anime-characters.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: TwinFACE/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Anime-ted

There are countless uses for neural networks: one [composes terrifying jazz](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jazz-generated-neural-network-terrifying>), and another dreams up an entire [text adventure game](<https://futurism.com/text-adventure-game-neural-network>) in real time.

So it should come as no surprise that a smartphone app called TwinFACE, [now available on the Google Play store](<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twinface.anime>), is designed to transform your selfie into an anime character.

## Caveat Emptor

TwinFACE uses the same [open-source UGATIT code](<https://github.com/taki0112/UGATIT>) as an AI developed earlier this year by a team of South Korean researchers from video game company NCSoft.

But there's one catch: it doesn't do a very good job. The resulting portraits are, frankly, terrible and in some instances pretty scary. No wonder it's got a 2.5 star rating on the Google Play store based on 256 reviews.

Futurism's in-depth investigation revealed that the app sometimes adds a grotesque third eye, randomly rotates facial features, and generally confuses skin and hair textures.

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screenshot_20190924-102549.png>)

## Oddly Specific

Unfortunately, even a pair of glasses is too much to handle for the app, turning our tester's spectacles into a gnarly tribal tattoo.

Important to note before you try it for yourself: it also "does not work well with beards," according to the app's documentation, and won't work if you "include dolls in your photo."

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screenshot_20190924-102153.png>)

**READ MORE:** [TwinFACE — Selfie into Anime](<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twinface.anime>) \[Google Play\]

**More on anime AI:** *[Amazing AI Automatically Turns You Into an Anime Character](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-anime-character>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)