What To Know Before Getting The App That Turns Everyone Into ‘Disney’ Characters
Images via Voilà AI Artist
Once things on the internet catch on, they snowball beyond belief. This has been the case for Voilà AI Artist, a face-tuning app that transforms your selfies into different cartoon styles, most notably a Disney-inspired aesthetic.
The app whose photos are now popping up everywhere is free for iOS and Android users, while a premium, ad-free Voilà Pro version gives users the option to remove watermarks and receive results quicker. Selfies can be rendered in a variety of ways, including in the styles of Old Master paintings, caricatures, and a “3D Pixar-Inspired Cartoon” look “out of animated movies.”
As CNET discovers, the app isn’t so effective on pets, images with “cut-off heads,” and photos where faces can’t be identified by the app. For best results, you’d therefore want to use a front-facing selfie.
Here’s the bit that everyone’s concerned about. Sure, it’s all fun and games, but what does the app do with your data? According to the privacy policy by Voilà AI Artist developer WeImagine.AI as of March 1, 2021, photos will be deleted 24 to 48 hours from the last time they were used on the app so users will have enough time to revisit the images “for additional modifications.”
However, it also details that the app collects data from individual users, but the extent of this usage is unclear. In WeImagine.AI’s words: “We use your data to provide and improve Service. By using Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.”
Personal data will be shared with third-party partners and advertisers, including some who might be located outside your country. These include affiliates, sibling companies, subcontractors, and advertisers who track web browsing activity.
Users on the free version of the app will be shown advertisements that “may be targeted based on your use of the App or your activity elsewhere online” within the app.
WeImagine.AI also states that while it does not request for metadata attached to photos, like the location they were taken, “metadata including, for example, geotags) may be associated with your photographs by default).”
With all this in mind, it’s up to users’ discretion—and curiosity—to judge if transforming themselves into Disney characters is worth it.
[via CNET and Snopes, images via Voilà AI Artist]
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