Quick answer
FaceApp is free to download and free to use, with limits. The free tier gives you the core editors (age, hair, beards, makeup, filters, basic portrait enhancement) but most results carry a watermark, several of the best-looking effects are locked, and exports are lower resolution with ads between edits. FaceApp Pro is a subscription sold in weekly, monthly and yearly options that removes the watermark and ads, unlocks every filter, raises export quality and adds batch processing. Exact prices change by country and promotion, so check the App Store listing before you commit. Two things Pro does not include, no matter what you pay: face swap and the original gender swap, both removed in 2023. If those are what you came for, a dedicated app like Reswap makes more sense than any FaceApp tier.
What FaceApp Is in 2026
FaceApp launched in 2017, went viral in 2019 with its old-age filter, and has settled into a stable, subscription-funded portrait editor. It still does one thing very well: realistic, single-tap edits to a face that already exists in a photo. Pick a selfie, tap an effect, get a plausible result in seconds.
Keep that mental model for the rest of this guide: FaceApp edits the face in your photo. It does not put you into a different photo, and has not since it dropped face swap, a story we covered in why FaceApp removed face swap in 2023.
What the Free Version Includes
The free tier is more generous than people expect. As of 2026, without paying anything you get:
The free tier also comes with the usual friction: a watermark on exports, ads between edits, lower export resolution, and recurring prompts to start a Pro trial. It is enough to play, post a quick result to a story, and decide whether the paid tier is for you. It is not enough for anything you would print or use as a profile photo.
What FaceApp Pro Unlocks
Pro is the full product. The upgrade removes the friction and unlocks the catalog:
In practice the difference people notice first is the watermark, and second is how much better the locked hairstyles and beards look than the free ones. The free tier shows you the idea; Pro shows you the result you were hoping for.
How FaceApp Pricing Works
FaceApp Pro is a subscription, not a one-time purchase. As of 2026 you can choose between a weekly plan, a monthly plan and a yearly plan, each auto-renewing through the App Store or Google Play. Weekly is the cheapest way in and the most expensive per month if you forget to cancel; yearly is the cheapest per month and the biggest commitment. A free trial of a few days is usually attached to the yearly plan, and sometimes to the monthly one, depending on region and current promotion.
We are deliberately not printing dollar amounts. FaceApp adjusts pricing by country, runs promotions and tests offers, so any number written today would be wrong next month. Open the App Store listing, scroll to In-App Purchases, and read the current prices for your region before tapping Subscribe. If you start a trial, set a reminder for the day before it converts.
Two practical notes:
Free vs Pro at a Glance
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Age effects (old, young) | Yes, watermarked | Yes, full set |
| Hair color and styles | Partial | Full library |
| Beards and facial hair | Partial | Full library |
| Makeup and smile | Basic | Full |
| Filters and color grading | Standard set | All |
| Portrait enhancement (skin, teeth, eyes) | Limited | Full |
| Watermark on exports | Yes | No |
| Ads | Yes | No |
| Export resolution | Reduced | Full |
| Batch processing | No | Yes |
| Face swap | Not available | Not available |
| Gender swap (original) | Not available | Not available |
| Pricing | Free | Weekly, monthly or yearly subscription |
The last three rows are the ones worth reading twice. Pro is a better version of what the free tier already does. It is not a key to features that were removed.
What Was Removed, and Is Not Coming Back
Face swap disappeared in May 2023 with a one-line statement about a "shift in development strategy." It is not in the free tier, it is not in Pro, and nothing in the last three years suggests it is returning. The full background is in our story on the 2023 removal.
Gender swap changed at the same time. The original 2019 gender swap, the one that flooded social feeds with convincing portraits, was pulled. What remains in 2026 is a set of adjacent effects (hairstyles, makeup, facial hair) that can approximate a softer or more masculine look, but it is not the same single-tap transformation and the results are noticeably more conservative. If that specific effect is what you want, we walk through the options in the FaceApp gender swap alternative guide.
So before paying for Pro, ask which feature you are buying it for. "The age filter without a watermark" or "the good hairstyles": Pro delivers. Swapping a face or a convincing gender change: no FaceApp tier will deliver it.
Privacy in 2026, Briefly
FaceApp's 2019 privacy backlash shaped its current posture. Today FaceApp states that processing happens on cloud servers (not on your phone), that uploaded photos are deleted within a defined window, and that it does not sell your photos. The parent company's Russian origins still come up in coverage, and the terms are broader than those of privacy-first apps. Not a reason to avoid the app outright, but a reason to read the policy before uploading a full set of selfies.
The four questions that matter for any face editor are how long photos are retained, whether they train the model, who else gets access, and where processing happens. We break each down in face swap app privacy in 2026. Short version for FaceApp: acceptable on retention, vague on training, and the jurisdiction question is yours to decide.
When FaceApp Pro Is Worth It
FaceApp Pro is a good buy when:
It is a weak buy when the free tier already covers the two effects you use, or when you are hoping the locked features hide something they do not.
When a Dedicated App Makes More Sense
If what you actually want is to see yourself in a different photo, at a wedding you could not attend, in a cosplay, on a beach, in a professional headshot setting, FaceApp is the wrong category of tool regardless of tier. It edits faces in place. It does not generate a new image with you in it.
That is the job Reswap was built for, and it is worth being honest about the trade-offs. Reswap is iOS only (iOS 18 and later), and it works differently: you upload a few selfies once, the app validates the face on your device before anything is sent, and from then on you pick any photo and it generates a new image with you in the scene. Because the output is generated rather than pasted, lighting, skin tone and hair edges match the scene instead of floating on top of it. The free tier gives you 3 swaps per month with no watermark, and Reswap Plus starts from $4.99 per week for more. You can see it on the App Store.
Reswap does not do age filters, hair color or beards. If those are your use case, FaceApp is the better app and Pro is the right tier. If your use case is realistic photo swap, Reswap or one of the tools in our FaceApp alternatives roundup will get you much further than any FaceApp subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does FaceApp cost money?
FaceApp is free to use with limits (watermark, ads, locked effects, reduced export quality). Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription with weekly, monthly and yearly plans. Prices vary by region; check the App Store listing.
Is FaceApp Pro worth it?
Yes if you regularly use the age, hairstyle, beard or makeup effects and want clean, watermark-free exports at full resolution. No if you are buying it hoping to get face swap or the original gender swap, because neither is included in any tier.
Can I get FaceApp Pro features for free?
A short free trial is typically offered on the yearly plan, and occasionally on the monthly one. Beyond that, the only legitimate way to remove the watermark and unlock everything is to subscribe. Modified APKs and "Pro unlock" downloads are a security and privacy risk and are not worth it for a photo editor.
Does FaceApp still have face swap in 2026?
No. Face swap was removed in May 2023 and has not returned. The same applies to the original gender swap. Subscribing to Pro does not bring them back.
What is the difference between FaceApp and Reswap?
FaceApp edits the face in a photo you already have (age, hair, beards, makeup). Reswap generates a new photo with you in any scene from a one-time selfie upload. They solve different problems, and which one is worth paying for depends entirely on which problem you have.
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