The Brief: Gradient is a photo editing app best-known for its celebrity lookalike comparison feature.

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What Is Gradient App?

Gradient is a free-to-download photo-editing application. In order to use the app’s features, users must sign up for a subscription. There is a free three-day trial before users are automatically billed $19.99 per month.

This app has a variety of photo editing features similar to apps like FaceTune. It’s come into the spotlight recently for its celebrity lookalike feature which is said to use AI technology to match a selfie with a celebrity, showing a transition between your face and theirs with a gradient morphing effect.

The Gradient app’s celebrity lookalikes don’t always really resemble the photo they started with, often pairing people with celebrities of different ethnicities and genders. Celebrities in the lookalike pool include portraits of historical figures like Immanuel Kant, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette, or Alexander Pushkin. Gradient’s comedic appeal may be part of the reason it’s currently ranked as the #1 photo and video app on Apple’s app store.

Safety & Privacy Concerns

The sudden viral popularity of Gradient is reminiscent of the excitement around Snapchat’s baby and gender swap filters and Face App’s aging feature. It’s also raised similar concerns about safety and privacy. Gradient the only application made by a developer called Ticket To The Moon, Inc., a relatively unknown company located in Delaware.

Users must be at least 13-years-old to use the service. Gradient’s terms of use and privacy policy state that and that it won’t claim any images as its own and that “face data” won’t be stored, shared, or transferred off devices. These policies also state that images and content can be used to provide its services and by companies related to Ticket To The Moon.

#GradientPartner

All the buzz around this app is likely more than just a chance-occurrence. Several high-profile celebrities including members of the Kardashian-Jenner family have posted screenshots from Gradient with the hashtags #ad or #gradient partner, indicating that these posts were paid promotions.

Examples & Memes

Privacy concerns aside, Gradient has many people sharing their celebrity-look-alikes and their reactions to being compared to beloved and unpopular public figures.

A self-drag clown meme: