Meet the new camera app that airbrushes away your pimples

Pixtr uses facial recognition tech to "fix" your imperfections

Now we can all be magazine-ready
(Image credit: Pixtr)

Say cheese! A new photo app called Pixtr is coming soon to iPhone and Android, and promises to give imperfect ol' you a digital facelift by airbrushing out the ugly. Greasy pimples? Zapped! Wish your face had softer curves? The app does that, too. It's Photoshop without the hassle. You get the cover-star treatment while (hopefully) leaving all of your limbs intact.

Pixtr is the brainchild of Israeli entrepreneur Aviv Gadot, who came up with the idea when his wife wouldn't let him upload any of his photo snaps to Facebook. "My wife was always grabbing my phone and deleting most of my pictures," he told Business Insider. "She's beautiful and she feels bad about how she looks in photos. That's wrong. I wanted her to feel good about herself."

The app uses facial recognition technology to automatically make image adjustments, including but not limited to "slimming a nose or a jawline, trimming eyebrows, [and] correcting camera distortion." While Pixtr will be free to download, it'll cost you $1 to correct a "batch" of photos (how many photos are in a batch remains unclear).

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

So: What do you think? Would you use it? Or does its merely tap into the ugly nether regions of our insecurities and narcissism? While I can see it becoming a hit with the OK Cupid crowd, to be completely honest, I'm a little worried about the coming glut of smudgy-cheek selfies. (Via Business Insider)

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.