Skip to main content

Mirror Emoji Keyboard turns selfies into characters that look like you

Mirror Emoji Keyboard
Mirror AI
Stock emojis are fun, but they lack any originality to make them feel personal. One startup, Mirror AI, is looking to change that. The company announced on Dec. 13 that iOS and Android users can download the beta version of Mirror Emoji Keyboard, an app that turns selfies into a custom emojis.

Mirror Emoji uses facial recognition technology to build a keyboard of emojis and stickers that look like you. Using artificial intelligence, the app looks for unique characteristics from a photo, then turns those features into emoji. The beta version of the app can generate hundreds of custom emojis that represent different expressions, but the developer says those numbers will increase into the tens of thousands in future versions of the app.

Recommended Videos

The app also works on photos of friends. These friend emojis appear alongside your personal emojis. The company is looking into customized emojis for groups and pets.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“[Mirror Emoji Keyboard] is the culmination of a year’s worth of work from our dedicated and experienced engineering team and is only the beginning,” Serge Faguet, CEO and co-founder of Mirror AI, said in a press release. “As our user base grows, our technology will continue to improve, leading to even greater personalization as well as automatic detection of clothing, pets and frequent companions in your camera roll.”

The custom emojis are generated in a matter of seconds, Mirror says. The keyboard is available currently within messaging apps, including Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and iMessage.

Mirror AI says that the app is designed to recognize both facial features and expression in a way that gives the platform an edge over other custom emoji apps. Mirror Emoji is the company’s first app since its inception earlier this year, and the startup plans to continue evolving the tech into more complex applications.

“An entire section of our brain is dedicated to human facial perception which is an incredibly hard problem for artificial intelligence approaches to solve and we are just starting to scratch the surface of the possibilities,” Mirror’s CTO and co-founder, Evgeny Kuryshev, said. “We are fortunate to have some of the top engineers in this field, which allows us to relentlessly work to improve this technology. A decade from now, Mirror aims to deploy our technology and usage data for complex tasks from powering virtual reality characters to advertising personalized to viewers’ faces.”

Mirror Emoji Keyboard is available as a free download from the App Store and Google Play.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
How to download Instagram photos for free
Instagram app running on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Instagram is amazing, and many of us use it as a record of our lives — uploading the best bits of our trips, adventures, and notable moments. But sometimes you can lose the original files of those moments, leaving the Instagram copy as the only available one . While you may be happy to leave it up there, it's a lot more convenient to have another version of it downloaded onto your phone or computer. While downloading directly from Instagram can be tricky, there are ways around it. Here are a few easy ways to download Instagram photos.

Read more
How to get verified on Instagram Threads
A verified account on Instagram Threads.

Like Twitter and Instagram, Instagram Threads allows users to become verified to confirm their identities and access some exclusive features. Similar to Twitter's verification process, you'll need to pay a monthly fee to be verified on Threads, so keep that price in mind as you get your verified Threads account set up.

So, without further ado, here's how to get verified on Instagram Threads in a few straightforward steps.

Read more
How to remove location data from your iPhone photos
How to transfer photos from an iPhone to an iPhone

We all love making memories, and a great way to collect those memories is to take a quick snap of a gorgeous landscape, a party in full swing, or a particularly incredible meal. The Apple iPhone now also adds a location to your pictures, meaning it can collate those images together into a location-themed album, or show you all the shots you've taken in a specific location. It's a fun little addition, and it's one that adds a lot of personality to the Photos app.

Read more