Facebook wants more funny faces. The social media giant has acquired the popular app Masquerade, which lets users alter their photo and video selfies with an array of filters and animation.
In a blog post explaining that the acquisition was happening, Masquerade CEO Eugene Nevgen said the company was excited to join Facebook and bring its technology to more people. Lots more people.
“Within Facebook, we’re going to be able to reach people at a scale like never before,” Nevgen wrote. “For starters, we’ll be able to bring our technology to Facebook’s audience of nearly 1.6 billion people. This is a scale of audience we never imagined was possible.”
The free app, MSQRD, which is also available on Android, has been a hit during its short time in the App Store, with an average rating of five stars, Tech Insider points out. Watch late night host Jimmy Kimmel demonstrate how it works:
.@IamGuillermo & I trade faces with #MSQRD app… @MSQRDmehttps://t.co/WvUTvFiojZ
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) March 2, 2016
Masquerade will remain a standalone product for now.
“While we will be partnering with Facebook to integrate our technology, the app will stay up and running so you’ll continue to record fun selfies and keep using the product,” Nevgen said. “You can also expect us to keep adding fun features!”
On its website, Masquerade calls its “proprietary self-learning face tracking algorithm as well as a framework for creating special effects” the company’s “crown jewels,” adding that they have “accumulated enormous expertise in solving the problem of face detection and tracking.”
Facebook certainly took notice of that expertise.
A Facebook spokesperson told Tech Insider that the app has “world-class imaging technology for video” and the company is excited to “continue enhancing the Facebook video experience.”
The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.
