Viral selfie-morphing FaceApp launches on Android after huge iOS success

Android users will now be able to change their frowns to smiles, after a popular face-morphing app launched on Wednesday on Google Play.

FaceApp, which was initially available only for Apple iPhones, had reached one million downloads in two weeks, the app's developer told Mashable.

The app also reached #1 on the top free list in six territories, and #1 in the photo category across nine countries, according to founder and CEO Yaroslav Goncharov.

Goncharov adds that the app took some time to be released for Android, because they were making sure that the servers could first handle the iOS load.

Different from the filters we know through Snapchat, FaceApp instead morphs faces by blending in facial features so that it can change a closed mouth to a toothy smile.

Its handful of features allows you to age yourself or change your gender, too.

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According to Russian developer Wireless Lab, the app uses neural networks -- a machine-learning method -- to modify faces you upload. The remote backend servers do all the heavy crunching, and the app tries to keep modified photos looking realistic.

However, we found some of FaceApp's features, in particularly its "smile function", look somewhat pasted on, and not simply adjusted to fit. (The smiles on Bruno Mars and Twitter user Dylan Robertson look creepily similar.)

The app has also received some mixed reviews on the Apple App Store.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Despite this, Goncharov has claimed that the FaceApp is one of a kind, with no other products able to "claim (a) similar quality."

Selfie-editing apps are on the rise, with viral Chinese makeover apps like Meitu and Pitu also becoming increasingly popular in the West.

UPDATE: Feb. 15, 2017, 6:59 p.m. SGT This story was updated with Goncharov's comments.