Retake AI: Face & Photo Editor

Review by eFreeware

The most distinctive thing about Retake AI is the setup it asks for before you edit anything. Rather than handing you sliders and letting you push pixels around, it wants a small set of your own photos first, and from those it builds a personal model that later does the work on single images. That inversion of the usual editing workflow is the whole idea, and it is what separates this from the crowded field of face apps.

It comes from Deep Flow Apps and sits in the Photography category on the Play Store, where it has passed 10 million installs and holds a 3.7 average across more than 57,000 ratings. Those are the numbers of a widely tried app rather than a niche tool, and the middling score suggests a mixed reception rather than uniform enthusiasm.

I would point this at people who take a lot of pictures of themselves and other people and dislike the fiddling that normally follows: choosing a filter, lifting shadows, smoothing skin, comparing versions. If the appeal of pressing once and being offered several finished takes sounds like relief rather than a loss of control, this is built for you. It is a free download, so the cost of finding out is your time and the photos you feed it.

Building a personal model from twelve photos

The core mechanic is straightforward to describe. You upload 12 pictures you like, and the app uses them to craft a personalized model of your face and photo style. Everything afterward runs through that model, which is why the first step matters more here than in an editor where you simply open a file and start adjusting.

The choice of 12 is interesting because it is enough to capture variation without being an afternoon's work. Twelve shots can cover different angles, light and expressions, which is presumably the point. The developer frames the result as a model that keeps the essence of the subject intact while presenting them at their best, and that framing is the promise the rest of the app rests on.

What I like about this structure is that the effort is front-loaded. You do the tedious part once, and every later edit draws on it. What I would weigh carefully is that the quality of those twelve pictures sets a ceiling on everything that follows; a set of near-identical selfies in the same light gives the model less to work with than a varied one. That is an inference from how the setup is described, not a claim about how well it performs in practice.

One tap, several finished takes

Once the model exists, the editing itself is deliberately minimal. You supply a single snap and the app refines it, presenting an array of options so you can pick the version you prefer. The developer's pitch is that this replaces the cycle of shooting repeatedly until one frame works, and that a single capture is enough to start from.

The output is described as a set of choices rather than one fixed result, which matters for how you would use it. A single automatic edit is take-it-or-leave-it; several variants let you choose the one that looks most like you on that particular day. That distinction is the difference between a novelty and something you might return to.

The developer is explicit that this is not an avatar generator. The stated aim is realistic retakes rather than artificial-looking filters or heavy makeovers, with results that blend into the original moment. That is a claim about output quality rather than a feature, and it is the kind of claim only your own photos can settle. What the app does offer is a clear position: rework the shot you actually took instead of replacing it with something stylized.

Old photos, new photos, and where they end up

The app is not limited to pictures taken today. The developer describes it working on a snap from years ago as readily as one from an event you have just come back from, which widens the appeal considerably. A photo you have always liked except for one detail becomes a candidate, and so does a group shot where you blinked.

Selfies and candid shots are both named as inputs, so the tool is not restricted to posed portraits. The sharing angle is stated plainly too: the app is pitched at people who want to post to Instagram and TikTok and who would rather their pictures look natural than obviously processed. If your photos mostly live in a group chat or a family album, the same editing applies; the social framing is just where the developer expects the demand to come from.

I would temper expectations about what a retake can rescue. Reworking a face in an existing frame is a different task from composing a new image, and the developer's language is about refinement, not reinvention. The most sensible way to approach it is as a way to get a better version of a photo you already have, not as a way to produce a picture that was never taken.

What it costs and what that buys

Retake AI is a free download with no ads, which is worth noting given how common interstitial advertising is in this category, and it offers in-app purchases.

You can install it at no cost and see how the model-building step treats your photos before deciding anything further.

Photo apps that ask for a dozen pictures of your face invite obvious questions, and having those documents surfaced rather than buried is a small point in the app's favor. It is not a substitute for reading them, but it is a start.

How it compares with the alternatives

The obvious comparison is with a conventional photo editor, the kind built around adjustment sliders, healing brushes and preset filters. Those give you direct control and ask for patience in return. Retake AI trades that control for speed: you decide once, at setup, and then accept or reject what comes back. Neither approach is better in the abstract; they suit different temperaments.

The second comparison is with dedicated face-editing apps that specialize in reshaping features. Those tend to be about deliberate, visible changes to a specific area. This app's stated aim runs the other way, toward results that read as a natural photograph rather than an edit. If your instinct when you see a heavily retouched picture is to wince, that positioning is likely to appeal.

A third point of comparison is a paid photo editor with a subscription. Retake AI is free to download and offers in-app purchases.

The verdict on Retake AI

Retake AI is a reasonable fit if you take a lot of photos of yourself and the people around you and find the editing part tedious. The setup step is a real commitment of twelve pictures, but it is a one-time task, and everything after it is designed to be a single tap with a short menu of results to choose from. For someone who wants a better version of a shot without learning an editing suite, that trade is attractive.

The app has been installed more than 10 million times and holds a 3.7 average from over 57,000 ratings, which tells you it has been widely tried and that opinions differ. It launched in September 2023 and was updated in September 2026 with bug fixes. That is the record of an app that is being kept current rather than one that arrived and stopped.

My advice is to install it, run the twelve-photo setup with a varied set rather than a dozen near-duplicates, and judge the results on your own pictures. If the edits look like you on a good day, the app has done what it promises and the free download makes that a cheap experiment. If they look like someone else, no amount of tapping will fix the underlying match, and you will know quickly.

It will suit people who want flattering, natural-looking edits of selfies and older photos without learning manual retouching, and who are comfortable handing over a set of pictures to build the model. It is a free download, and a rating that suggests the results land for some users and not others.

What's new in version 4.1.9

Bugs are fixed.