With the launch of iPhone X, Apple introduced its TrueDepth camera technology in its flagship smartphone. The company made use of its new camera tech and introduced Animojis – animated emojis that an iPhone X users can create using their own expressions. Since the Animoji feature was completely dependent on True Depth camera, it was not offered for the older iOS devices. However, Russian engineers have developed a messaging app called “Chudo” which bring Animoji-like characters to older iPhone models as well.
Chudo uses “machine learning technology to turn you into live animated characters that look like you, move like you, and emote like you.,” explains the founder of the company. He further claims that their team of Russian engineers spent last two years on developing a proprietary technology that mixes human face with characters designed by the team.
Before starting using Chudo, the user will have to take a headshot of him/herself using the app. The app will then create over 30 personalized Chumoji characters. Each character gets a unique look based on the looks of the user in the original photo. behind the scenes, there is AI, machine learning, and a dataset of 15000 facial scans.
Essentially, Chudo will enable any user with an iPhone 5s or a newer iPhone to get the Animoji-like characters on their devices. And this is the exact reason why Apple is not approving the app to make it live on its App Store. After the submission of the app by the CHudo team, App Store review team took over a month to arrive at their decision of rejecting the app.
Unlike Animoji, Chudo is available for Android devices and does not use any 3D facial information to create an animated character. The company’s founder points out that there are many other apps already available in the App Store that are very similar to Apple’s Animoji including Facehub whose characters are almost identical to Apple’s own Animoji character-set.
The team behind the Chudo app has turned to the internet to raise their voice against Apple’s unfair decision in an effort to make Apple change their mind and let the app hit the App Store.
It remains to be seen whether the app makes its way into the App Store or not. But, the Chudo app does seem an impressive one since it is capable of creating animated emojis just like Animoji without any requirement of True Depth Camera like technology. The app solely depends on machine learning.
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