From its sudden popularity to privacy concerns, it’s been impossible not to mention the FaceApp app and its special aging mode. The Android store already reports hundreds of millions of installs, with no signs of slowing down. Yet some are wondering about the algorithm’s accuracy. How good are its predictions? Photos of several celebrities help us find out.

FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
Ian McKellen

There isn’t much more to add about FaceApp at this point. Several specialized outlets have highlighted privacy risks, but the general public shows, once again and despite warnings, that it’s not a relevant factor. The only thing left to study is its performance—how solid the algorithm is at creating elderly people. The United Kingdom’s “tabloid” The Sun made a very interesting comparison using photos of celebrities when they were young, processed by FaceApp, and how they look now. Here are the results:

FaceApp’s Celebrity Aging Test

FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
The genius behind Gandalf and Magneto looks great at 80, and we’ll soon see him again on the big screen alongside Helen Mirren in The Good Liar. The eyes were a great success for FaceApp in this conversion. One of the best.
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
At 89 years old and in full celebration of the half-century of the Moon landing, the famous astronaut Buzz Aldrin was a perfect candidate for FaceApp, and I must admit it did not do a bad job.
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
Considered one of the UK’s “national treasures,” historian and presenter David Attenborough turned 93 last May. I think the original photo made FaceApp look “out of its range” here.
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
Hard proof that “age is just a number,” Harrison Ford doesn’t seem to feel his 77 years, and he’s already preparing for the fifth installment of Indiana Jones. FaceApp’s prediction? Much better than I expected in this case.
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
Personally, I find it hard to believe Judi Dench is 84. From Henry V to The Chronicles of Riddick, via Pirates of the Caribbean and Murder on the Orient Express, this lady is inexhaustible, and FaceApp’s interpretation perhaps falls a step behind.
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
If you want to see more of Meryl Streep, then you’re in luck. She’s in the second season of Big Little Lies, and from what I’ve heard she’ll work on a couple of movies distributed by Netflix. Her processing in FaceApp is chilling.
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
What is Morgan Freeman up to? This year he worked with John Travolta in The Poison Rose, and soon he’ll be seen alongside Gerard Butler in the third installment of the Olympus Has Fallen saga. FaceApp didn’t exactly know what to do with Morgan’s face (they say the actor has had some touch-ups...).
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
The Sun couldn’t avoid injecting a bit of royalty into its FaceApp analysis, and decided to have the algorithm process Prince Philip. The Duke of Edinburgh is 98 years old, and considering the original image, that probably leaves him out of FaceApp’s range.
FaceApp: How Accurate Is the App for Aging Faces?
And of course, the Queen. 93 years old, of which she has been monarch of the United Kingdom for 67 and a half. The relationship between The Sun and the Queen is... complex, to say the least, and the least we could expect is a FaceApp session with her face.