Ever wish you could look like an anime character? You could always put on a bunch of makeup and buy special contact lenses for your eyes, but now there's an easier way.
An app everyone now seems to be talking about, called Meitu, will bring anime-level perfection to your selfies. According to the app's description, it has been listed in the top 10 in the App store "for eight years running," but this is the first time it's really making a splash thanks to a recent update that lets you "transform your selfies into hand-drawn pictures in an instant."
"Welcome to the New Year by transcending dimensions with your flawless beauty," the update release notes say.
To make yourself look like an anime character, you'll want to try out the hand-drawn section of the app. Just snap your photo or upload one from your camera roll, and scroll through a number of anime-like filters with names such as "Fairy Tale," "Petals," "Mermaid," and "Baroness." For the best result, the app recommends you look straight at the camera and tuck your hair behind your ears. I also found it works best when you're smiling with your mouth closed.
Available for iOS or Android, the app is advertised as "a one touch Photoshop for enhancing your beauty and putting the finishing touches on your photos." It lets you brighten your eyes, lift your sagging face, remove acne and other imperfections, get rid of under eye circles and bags, or stretch out your legs to make yourself look like a model. What a world we live in. You can also create collages of images.
Security-conscious individuals, however, might want to think twice about downloading Meitu. Developer Zoë Quinn warned on Twitter that the app has "some VERY shady code in it."
"It asks for permissions to far more things than it needs, and researchers have found it is phoning home (back in China) and sending back a ton of data it shouldn't be, including your GPS info, IMEI (unique phone ID needed to clone your phone) and other personal/sensitive info," she tweeted.
Meitu was unavailable for comment.