That App Making You Look Old Could Be a Security Risk

Everyone is doing it. You can't go on social media without seeing your friends and celebrities looking older....much, much older. We've even done it. But that FaceApp everyone is using is actually a security risk for your phone and your pictures.

FaceApp has changed photos for millions of users since it was created in 2017 by developers at Wireless Lab in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was even the top trending free app in the Apple store Wednesday. But The New York Post warns "FaceApp, which you grant permission to access your photo gallery, also includes in their Terms and Conditions that they have the right to modify, reproduce and publish any of the images you process through its AI."

What does it mean?

It means they can use any of your pictures - whether it's to look old or change your hair color, in any way they want, and you can't do anything about it.

It's not just that. Tech Crunch points out something else important: FaceApp processes your picture in the cloud. That means it sends your photo off your phone, processes it, then sends it back. So, FaceApp has access to all your pictures, and now it's sending some of them to the cloud.

"Given how many screenshots people take of sensitive information like banking and whatnot, photo access is a bigger security risk than ever these days. With a scraper and optical character recognition tech you could automatically turn up a huge amount of info way beyond “photos of people," points out Tech Crunch.

In reality FaceApp doesn't do anything different than any other viral app. "It takes a photo, alters it for amusement and encourages sharing on social media to drive traffic," says Forbes.

And let's be honest....Facebook has been collecting your information for years. So use social media and apps with caution.

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