Donald Trump is among the popular personalities who have been given the Meitu treatment by users. (Photo : YouTube Screenshot)
Photo editing app Meitu has caught on in the West for its novel feature of applying cartoonish detail on portraits. While the app has been available for quite some time already in China and Asian markets, its recent availability in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere made it into an overnight sensation.
Instagram and other photo editing apps have been known to cover unwanted blemishes and other facial anomalies for posting in social media. But Meitu takes that to another level by turning selfies into fancy cartoons through its "hand-drawn" feature, The Telegraph reported.
China Daily emphasized that Meitu also contains other features available in other photo editing apps such as red-eye removal, captions, and red-eye removal. Nonetheless, the app's popularity is hinged on turning cartoons out of faces--a matter that caught the experimental fancy of curious users.
Meitu's hand-drawn feature provides users with seven filters to use from: Angelic, Blossoms, Fairy Tale, New Year, Petals, Mermaid and Baroness. Each of the selections provide charming, sometimes bizarre, renditions of photos, depending on the kinds.
Primarily targeting women users, Meitu has also become a popular app for men looking to provide wackier self-portraits, as well as that of other people's. Understandably, the app gained further traction when certain users began using the app on photos of famous personalities.
Portraits of the likes of Taylor Swift, ex-U.S. President Barack Obama, and current U.S. President Donald Trump have received the Meitu treatment from users. That makes the app a highly popular tool to lampoon otherwise-serious stars, sometimes with scary results depending on the filter chosen.
Though a relative newcomer in western markets, Meitu stands as among China's most popular apps. The company, valued at around 4.9 billion Hong Kong dollars at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, also sells smartphones with dedicated selfie features as well as video livestream service.
However, recent concerns regarding Meitu's safety places even greater controversy on the app's already-intriguing reputation. In a previous report by Yibada, security researchers speculated that the app stalks on its users through a set of tracking features.
