First of all have a look at what is FaceApp, its features, how it works, its privacy policy and news about FaceApp regarding its privacy policy and safety.
FaceApp is one of the mobile applications used for Androids and IOS manufactured by a Wireless Lab of Russian company. This app generates a greatly naturalistic transformation of a face using a photograph of that person by utilizing the neural networks that are based on artificial intelligence. FaceApp makes changes to a person’s facial appearance by using neural networks. The result is nothing except a slight change in smile and sharpening about the edges. Thus this app changes a person’s face to mold it by looking younger, elder or it can even change a person’s gender. This app was initially launched in 2017 in IOS and Androids.
FaceApp features
There are various features in FaceApp by which you can edit your uploaded photo by adding makeup, smile, different hairstyles, different hair colors, glasses, tattoos, and beards are also the options offered by FaceApp. The most attractive feature offered by the FaceApp is the transformation of gender by changing the person’s appearance into the opposite gender.
In 2019, FaceApp has to face criticism by the social media and also by the press due to using the privacy of the user’s data. The founder of this app, Yaroslav Goncharov, responded to all the questions by stating that Russia is not receiving the images uploaded by the users but they are Google Cloud platform of the server. US senator Chuck Schumer denominated FBI investigation in FaceApp to check about the protection of the data and also to have look on whether who can have access to the server’s data.
By USA TODAY, the privacy policy of FaceApp states that it just gathers the uploaded photos by its server.
But a researcher of French cyber security, Elliot Alderson has found all the claims wrong by investigation.
App safety
Although it is a warning to the presidential candidates not to use this app by The Democratic National Committee (DNC). DNC’s chief security officer, Bob Lord, stated that although this app has provided its users different transformation on pictures but unluckily this FaceApp is not risk-free. However, the risks are not too clear but it is very clear that the benefits of quitting this app overcomes the risks.
While on the other hand, there is also a statement by FaceApp that most of the images are deleted within 48 hours after its upload date from our server. They added more by saying that all the features of FaceApp are without any login options that means the app has no access to any of the data of the person.
DATA Storage
There is no evidence that Russia is gathering data through this app and this app also says that data is either stored in Amazon or Google’s Cloud Servers outside Russia.
Now the only question left “Is FaceApp safe?”. The simple answer is you are taking the risks all the time with every app when you download it. The best takeaway is a potent reminder that you have to carefully check the privacy and sharing settings of every app before you download it not only for the viral one such as FaceApp.