Â
Face and hand effects privacy notice
Computer Help
Android App Help
iPhone App Help
iPad App Help
Mobile Browser Help
Facebook Lite App Help
Computer Help
Android App Help
iPhone App Help
iPad App Help
Mobile Browser Help
Facebook Lite App Help
Face and hand effects are augmented reality features that react as people in the scene move, speak and express themselves. They include filters, masks, avatars and other interactive digital experiences. You can use these effects in your camera, photos and videos.
Information we use to make face and hand effects work
When you use face and hand effects, we need to show them in the right place in your camera, photos and videos and make some effects react to your gestures, expressions or movements. For example:
- If you use a cat mask, we need to make sure the ears appear on the top of your head and stay there as you move.
- If you use a filter that changes your eye color, we need to make sure that the tint stays fixed to your eye and doesn’t move onto parts of your skin.
- If you play an augmented reality game, we need to make sure that gestures like nods, blinks and hand movements can be used to interact with the characters and menus or make sounds.
- If you use an effect that dramatically zooms in on your face, we need to make sure your face stays centered in the frame as you move.
To do this, we estimate the location of parts of your face (like your eyes, nose or mouth) and points on your face, eyes or hands. For some effects, we apply these points to a generic model of a face and adjust it to mimic your facial expressions and movements. This information is not used to identify you.
What we do with this information
We don’t store this information on our servers or share it with third parties. The information may be stored on your device to make repeat experiences work better.
Using face and hand effects with other people
When you use face and hand effects, we may process information from images of other people who appear in your camera feed, photo or video.
Additional information for Texas and Illinois residents
If you are a Texas or Illinois resident, you will need to turn on face and hand effects before you are able to access them. The first time you try to use face and hand effects, you'll be asked to turn on effects.
Your Face and hand effects setting will be saved as follows:
- Turning on effects in either Facebook or Messenger will turn on effects in both of those apps (subject to the note on Portal, below).
- You will need to separately turn on effects in Instagram. This is true even if your Instagram account is linked to your Facebook account in Accounts Center and you log in to Instagram using your Facebook account.
- You will also need to separately turn on effects in each of Meta Spark Studio and the Meta Spark Player apps.
- To learn about how effects work on Portal devices in Texas and Illinois, please see the Portal Face and Hand Effects Privacy Notice.
You can change your Face and hand effects setting at any time. If the setting is turned off, you will still have access to other features.
If the information used to make face and hand effects work (described above) was stored on your device, it will be deleted within three years of your last use of the effect it was created for, or when you turn the Face and hand effects setting off, whichever occurs first.
By turning on effects, you agree that you will only use effects if all of the people who appear in your camera feed, photo or video have also turned on effects through their accounts, or you are their legally authorized representative and consent to the terms of this notice on their behalf.
If you're the parent of a child who uses Messenger Kids, please see the Messenger Kids Face and Hand Effects Privacy Notice.