Is AI face swap safe? What happens to your photo

Seven questions to ask any face swap app

Read the privacy policy before you upload, not after. If it doesn't answer one of these, take that as the answer. Our column comes from our privacy policy and consent rules, both dated 13 Oct 2026.

Policies change, so check the date at the top of any privacy policy you rely on.

What happens to your photo here, step by step

This is the whole path a photo takes on Jump on the Trend, from the moment you add it to the day it's deleted.

• 1. You add a photo. It's stored privately on our servers in Finland. An automated check counts the faces, rates the photo and flags anyone who looks under 18; if someone does, we don't make the video. You can add a photo and see the preview before you sign in.
• 2. The free preview. Tap for it and you get a still of you in the scene, usually in under a minute. Nothing is charged.
• 3. You make the video. You sign in with your email and a one-time code. When you press Make, you confirm that everyone you uploaded is an adult who said yes, and we record that confirmation with the video. The credits are held, not spent.
• 4. The render. Your photos and the trend clip go to the US-based AI service that makes the video. The video takes about 5–10 minutes and we email you when it's ready. The credits are spent only when it's delivered; if it fails, they come back automatically.
• 5. Private until you share it. The video waits in Your videos. Nobody else sees it unless you save it and post it, or make a share link.
• 6. Deleted after 30 days. Automatically, and any share link stops working then too. Delete my data does it now.

What deletion doesn't cover

A few things are kept longer, and the privacy policy says for how long: your account email while you use the service, payment records for 6 years because Irish tax law requires it, server logs for a few weeks, and database backups (with no photos in them) for 7 days. Your card number never reaches us; Stripe handles the payment.

Deletion covers our copies. A video you've saved to your phone or posted on TikTok or Instagram is yours to manage there, and our 30-day clock can't reach it. No app can promise otherwise, so show the preview to everyone in it before anything gets posted.

Whose face you can use

You, adults who said yes to being in this video, and your pets (or pets whose owner said yes). Ask first, every time: a friend who agreed to last month's video hasn't agreed to this one.

Duo trends make this practical. Hotel Lobby and Raindance each have two people in them, and you add a photo of each. Show your friend or partner the free preview before you make the full video. It's the easiest way to ask, and they see exactly what they're saying yes to.

What we never make: videos of anyone under 18; of anyone who didn't agree, including exes, colleagues and strangers; nudity or sexual content; anything meant to bully, harass, scam or impersonate someone, or to make people believe something false, political deepfakes included; and hateful or violent content. The full list is in our consent and content rules.

How it's enforced: every photo goes through the automated check, you confirm consent when you press Make, and we act on reports and may close accounts that break the rules. No check catches everything, which is why the takedown route below matters.

Someone made a video of you without asking

If it was made here, email [email protected] with the link (it starts jumponthetrend.app/r/) and a line saying it's you and you didn't agree. We take it down, usually within 2 working days, and delete the video and the photos used for it. We don't ask for ID unless something is unclear. The details are on our takedown page.

If it's on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, use the report button on the post itself. In the US, since 19 May 2026 the TAKE IT DOWN Act has required platforms to remove intimate images posted without consent, AI-made ones included, within 48 hours of a valid request.

Is AI face swap legal?

Generally, yes, for the normal case: your own face, or a friend who agreed, dropped into a viral clip for fun. It goes wrong around consent, sexual content, children and deception, and that's where countries have been adding laws. Laws differ by country and change quickly. This is a general overview, not legal advice.

Ireland: Coco's Law, in force since 10 Feb 2021, makes it a crime to share or publish intimate images of someone without their consent, intending harm or reckless about it. Lawyers at McCann FitzGerald wrote in Jan 2025 that it potentially covers deepfake intimate images, though they knew of no such prosecution yet.

England and Wales: since 6 Feb 2026 it's an offence to create a fake intimate image of an adult without their consent, or to ask someone else to make one, even if it's never shared (Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, section 138).

United States: the TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed in May 2025, makes knowingly publishing intimate images of someone without consent a federal crime, and it covers AI-made “digital forgeries”.

Beyond sexual content, using someone's face to scam, impersonate or mislead people can break fraud, harassment or data protection law wherever you are. The trend clips and their music belong to other people too, so follow each platform's rules when you post. Our terms say what you can do with what you make here.

Red flags in any face swap app

Most of these take two minutes to check in an app's privacy policy and terms. The real cases show why each one matters.

• No deletion period. “As long as necessary” isn't a number. Look for a number of days.
• A licence to your photos that's “perpetual”, “irrevocable” or “transferable”. When the Zao face swap app went viral in China in 2019, its terms let the developer use uploaded photos free of charge, indefinitely, and pass that right to others without asking. It dropped the clause after a backlash, and WeChat banned sharing Zao videos.
• “We may use your content to improve our services”, with no opt-out. That can include training AI on your face. A clear policy says no in plain words.
• Face recognition switched on by default. The US FTC alleged that the Ever photo app switched face recognition on for everyone, with no way to turn it off for users outside three US states and the EU until April 2019, and kept the photos of people who deactivated their accounts despite promising to delete them. Its final order in May 2021 made Ever delete those photos and the models built from users' uploads.
• It asks you to log in to Facebook inside the app before it does anything. In May 2022 Trend Micro reported more than 200 versions of the Facestealer malware on Google Play, many posing as photo editors, which stole the Facebook logins people typed into an in-app sign-in page.
• No named company, no contact and no way to report a video. If you can't find who runs it, you can't use your data rights or get a video of you taken down.
• No age rule. An app that takes photos of children without any check is one to skip.
• “Free” that needs your card first. Check whether a free trial turns into a subscription before you've seen a single result. Here the preview needs no card and no account.

Three trends to test it on

Each one starts with a free preview, so you can see what happens to your photo before you spend anything.

1. Bulin 47↗ Rising ≈380M views · 1 person · 15s One selfie, just you. The lowest-stakes way to try it: nobody else's face is involved. See yourself in it
2. Hotel Lobby ≈137M views · 2 people · 15s Two people at the orange wall. Ask your friend first, then show them the free preview before you make it. See yourself in it
3. Raindance ≈200M views · 2 people · 28s The pier at golden hour for you and your partner, or your parents for their anniversary. Both people need to have said yes. See yourself in it