ROCK ISLAND, Illinois – An app that’s giving people a glimpse into the future may also be compromising your private information. FaceApp takes your photo and ages it, but you may not realize what you agreed to when you download it.
Cool Beanz barista, Alyssa Meincke, noticed it all over her Twitter.
“It just makes you look older and like an elderly person,” she explains bluntly.
“All the NFL teams started uploading pictures of their players in 60 years,” customer, Austin Czoech mentions. “Most things in life are easier if people around you are doing it, especially for something like an app.”
To use the app is simple, all you have to do is open FaceApp, take a picture of yourself, and watch yourself age years from now. But little do some know, that giving away your pictures could be an invasion of their privacy.
“Just read with understanding and know what you are doing with it,” advises Brian Handley, the owner of Computer Evolution.
FaceApp requests access to personal data and your photo library, but Handley explains you should be cautious downloading any app.
“Do you need to give access to all those photos? Can you opt out of it?” questions Handley.
Although people have concerns giving their information away, Handley says there’s no need to worry.
“I mean yes, people could use it for facial recognition, but what are they really going to be using it for?” says Handley. “I think they probably have better things to do than this.”
For now, it’s not a risk people are too scared about, it’s only a picture that could frighten some.
“Unfortunately, you kind of have to assume it’s going to end up in the wrong hands at some point,” says Czoech.
“Everyone has everyone’s information,” Meincke says. “It’s just done, it on the internet.”
The app is owned by a Russian parent company called Wireless Labs. Forbes reports the app now owns the right use the names and pictures of 150 million people.
