Facebook Buys Popular MSQRD Face Swapping App

Alex Heath, reporting for Tech Insider:

Masquerade’s app lets you overlay playful, animated filters over your face using your phone’s selfie camera. The effects range from Leonardo DiCaprio at the Oscars (right) to a monkey, and they’re fun to play with. You can record video in the app or take a still photo to share on other social networks.

And:

Expect Masquerade’s face swapping filters to show up in the Facebook app eventually.

The social network also plans to keep Masquerade operational as a standalone, free app, as well as integrating its technology into Facebook. The effects join a line of creative tools Facebook has added to its app already, like stickers, finger doodles, and photo filters.

Masquerade built impressive technology for real-time camera manipulation (I also featured the app in a recent collection of MacStories Weekly for Club members). The acquisition makes sense – from anecdotal experience, in the past couple of months I’ve seen a lot of my friends post selfies modified with Masquerade and Face Swap.

→ Source: techinsider.io