JUMPon theTREND
The AI Mermaid AI trend in short
What it is: You dive into turquoise water and your legs shimmer into a scaled tail as you swim past coral through shafts of light.
How to do it: Add a clear selfie on this page, see yourself in it free, then make the 5-second video. No app, no prompt.
Who to put in it: You (the classic), Your beach-holiday friend, Your partner, with their yes, as a merman.
AI Mermaid: posts and how-tos
- Thairath · 3 Jun 2025: how TikTok's AI Mermaid filter works and why it went viral in Thailand
- YouCam (Perfect Corp) · 11 Jun 2025 guide to the TikTok mermaid filter, with an AI Merman version
- Vidu · Mermaid Spell template: a portrait or full-body photo into a mermaid video (read 18 Oct 2026)
- insMind · AI Mermaid video effect with swimming, winking and head-turn motions (read 18 Oct 2026)
- Magic Hour · Mermaid Swims template (read 18 Oct 2026)
Clips belong to their creators and link to the original post. Creators can ask us to remove a link.
What is the AI Mermaid AI trend?
The AI Mermaid is a 5-second video in which you float above a coral reef, shimmering scales race up from your ankles, your legs sweep together into one long iridescent tail, and with a single flick you glide up through the sun rays and smile at the camera. Add one photo, get a free preview still of yourself in the water in about a minute, then make the video in 1080p for 100 credits ($9.90). Your face stays yours the whole way: only the legs change.
It's our version of a trend that started as a photo filter. In early June 2025 TikTok's 'AI Mermaid' filter, which turns one uploaded photo into a mermaid portrait, went viral: Thailand's Thairath reported on 3 Jun 2025 that actors and beauty influencers had joined in, that results took about 15 minutes, and that each account could use it 10 times a day. Perfect Corp's YouCam blog wrote it up on 11 Jun 2025, adding an 'AI Merman' version. Since then the still has learned to move: PixVerse's effect list on fal includes 'Fin-tastic Mermaid', Vidu sells a 'Mermaid Spell' template, insMind, Magic Hour and Pippit have mermaid video templates, and Dreamina can animate its mermaid photo filter (all read 18 Oct 2026).
Ours is a generic mermaid, not any film's. There's no seashell top, no crown and no sidekick crab: you wear a fitted long-sleeved swim top, the change happens below the hips, and the sea does the rest. The idea is far older than any app. Hans Christian Andersen published his fairy tale 'The Little Mermaid' in 1837, and mermaids and sirens turn up in sea stories long before that. People search for the look as "ai mermaid filter", "ai mermaid video generator", "mermaid ai trend tiktok" and "turn me into a mermaid ai" (Google completions, 18 Oct 2026).
Is the AI Mermaid trend still growing?
Established. The filter went viral on TikTok in June 2025 and became a staple: on 18 Oct 2026 at least seven sites and apps sell a mermaid photo or video effect, and Google still completes "ai mermaid video generator free" and "mermaid ai trend tiktok". It isn't a breaking trend, and it isn't seasonal, so expect a steady trickle with bumps in summer and around beach holidays.
How to do the AI Mermaid trend: by hand or in one click
By hand: put your photo into the scene with an image model, regenerate until the face looks like you, give that still to an image-to-video model with the moves written out, then check the face holds to the last frame.
Here, in one click: add a photo for each person, see a free preview still of you in the scene, then make the 1080p video from it. You pay only when it’s ready.
AI Mermaid mixes
- Coral reef
- Moonlit lagoon: Setting: no daytime reef. A calm lagoon at night seen from just under the surface: deep blue-black water, a full moon wobbling through the surface above, pale silver moonbeams slanting down, soft glowing blue plankton drifting around them and dark rocks with swaying seagrass below. The tail's scales catch the moonlight in silver, deep blue and violet. The same beats: scales ripple up from the ankles, the legs join into one tail, a flick, and they glide up towards the moon and smile at the lens. Sound: muffled underwater hush, a soft shimmer as the scales form, a swirl of bubbles.
- Your pet: The pet version: no person. The pet from the photo, the whole animal in its own build, colours and markings, with no clothes or costume, paddles in the same clear turquoise water above the coral reef with sun rays from the surface and its fur or whiskers drifting softly. Its back legs and tail shimmer with iridescent teal-and-violet scales and join into one small fish tail with a sheer fin in proportion to its body; its front paws, head, ears, eyes and face stay its own and never change. It flicks the new tail and glides forward towards the camera through a few bubbles, looking happy and curious. Never a person, never human features, never standing upright. Sound: underwater hush, a soft shimmer, a swirl of bubbles.
Photo tips for AI Mermaid
- One sharp photo of you, face to the camera and well lit: your face stays on screen through the whole swim.
- Waist up or full length both work; your outfit doesn't matter, the scene dresses you in a long-sleeved swim top.
- If you wear glasses, keep them on for the photo and the mermaid keeps them. Take off sunglasses and hats.
- One person per photo: your own, or an adult's who said yes, never a child's.
- For your pet, one clear daylight photo of the whole animal with its face visible, so it stays recognisably yours with a tail.
Who to cast
- You (the classic)
- Your beach-holiday friend
- Your partner, with their yes, as a merman
- Your dog or cat as a mer-pet
AI Mermaid FAQ
Is there a free AI Mermaid AI video generator?
You can preview yourself in the AI Mermaid scene free. The full 1080p video costs 100 credits, charged only when it's ready. Credits come in packs from $9.90 for 100 and work on any trend.
Which app makes the AI Mermaid AI video?
Creators put their photo into the scene with an image model, then animate it with an image-to-video model. This page does both for you from one photo: a free preview still first, then the video.
How many photos do I need for AI Mermaid?
One clear, front-facing photo per person (or pet). This template has room for 2. Add up to 3 photos of each for a closer likeness.
What happens to my photos?
They are stored privately, sent to the video model through short-lived links, never used for training, and deleted with your video after 30 days.
What is the AI mermaid trend?
You turn a photo of yourself into a mermaid. It started in June 2025 as TikTok's AI Mermaid photo filter; the video version shows the change itself, your legs becoming a scaled tail as you swim. Ours does it in 5 seconds from one photo, with your own face.
How do I make an AI mermaid video?
Add one clear photo of your face, check the free preview still, then make the video. There's no prompt to write: the reef, the light, the tail and the sound are built in. Post it with the sound you like in TikTok, Reels or Shorts.
Is the AI mermaid video free?
The preview is free: add a photo and see a still of yourself floating above the reef in about a minute. The 5-second video is 100 credits ($9.90), in 1080p.
Where is the mermaid filter on TikTok?
Thairath's 3 Jun 2025 guide said to search "AI Mermaid" in TikTok's Discover tab, pick the filter and upload a still photo; it made a mermaid picture, not a swim. Filters come and go, so it may not be there now. Here you get the moving version, from the scales at your ankles to the swim.
Will it still look like me?
Yes: only your legs change. Your face, hair, facial hair and glasses come from your photo and stay on screen through the whole clip, including the turn and the smile at the end. The free preview shows your face before you spend anything.
Can I be a merman?
Yes. It works the same for anyone: your photo, your face, a long tail. YouCam even sold the male version as a separate 'AI Merman' filter; here it's the same template.
Can my dog or cat be a mermaid?
Yes. Pick Your pet and add a photo of the whole animal: its back legs turn into a little shimmering fish tail, its face and markings stay its own, and it glides towards the camera. When TikTok's filter went viral, Thairath noted pet versions came out less realistic than people, so pick a clear, bright photo.
What does the mermaid wear?
A fitted, long-sleeved aqua swim top, whatever you wear in your photo. The change happens below the hips, so the video stays the kind you'd post anywhere.
Is there a night version?
Yes: Moonlit lagoon. The same change happens under a full moon, in deep blue water with glowing plankton, and the tail catches the light in silver and violet.
Can I do it with a friend?
Not in one video: each one has a single person or pet. Make one each and post them back to back, or stitch them in TikTok.
Is this the Little Mermaid?
No. It's a generic mermaid with no film character's look: no red hair added, no seashell top, no sidekicks. The story behind most mermaid tales is Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale, which belongs to everyone.
What's the AI mermaid video prompt?
Other tools ask you to describe the swim yourself (insMind suggests swimming, winking, turning your head or dancing underwater). Here you don't write one: you add a photo and the scene is written for you, from the scales at your ankles to the smile at the end.
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