Viral Aging Face App Might Be Breaching Your Personal Data

In case you haven't noticed yet, a new face filter that shows you an aged version of yourself is going viral—yes, that explains the influx of familiar-looking grandmas and grandpas you've been seeing on your timeline lately. It's quite fun, and we must admit that it gave us a few belly laughs in the past few days. But here's the thing: You might be giving the app more access to your personal data than you think.

FaceApp, or the program that's been aging everyone by 50 years, is currently the number one free app in the Apple App Store. Forbes reports that over 100 million Android users have downloaded it on the Google Play Store as well, according to information from data gathering service App Annie. This sudden popularity has raised a few concerns because a particular section of its terms of service basically implies they could use your data however they wish

In short, the photos and videos you take from FaceApp and everything in your camera roll could be stored by them and used without your permission (well, technically, you permitted it if you clicked on "agree"). How they would use it is not explicitly stated, so the possibilities are endless. And from the number of people who have downloaded and used this app, it's only safe to assume that they now have access to not only your data, but also of hundreds of millions of other people worldwide. 

That said, FaceApp isn't the only app that you should be wary of when it comes to data access. Other camera and photo editing apps have similar permissions and terms, so it's always in your best interest to double-check what you're actually giving them before hitting agree. 

Of course, if you still want to see what you'll look like in 50 years or so, don't let us rain on your parade. But just so you know, it might be at the expense of your privacy!

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