Report updated May 19, 2026
FACEinHOLE®
For casual users looking for photo-editing tools to create humorous or personalized social media content for friends and family.
FACEinHOLE® is an established photo & video app that is a paid app. With a 4.8/5 rating from 13.9K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate creative photo editing tools allow users to generate humorous and engaging face swap content, though ghosting artifacts and semi-transparent image overlays degrade the quality of edited photos post-update remains a common concern.
What is FACEinHOLE®?
FACEinHOLE® is a photo-manipulation app for iOS that allows users to insert their faces into thousands of pre-made scenarios.
Users hire the app for low-stakes social humor and personalized content creation, using the massive scenario library to bypass the need for professional editing skills.
Current Momentum
v7.0 · 3mo ago
Maintenance- Fixed custom scenario creation bugs.
- Ships general performance improvements.
Active Nemesis
FaceLab: Face Age, Hair Filter
By Lyrebird Studio
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
Photo & VideoRating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Access to over 200,000 photo-manipulation templates for face-swapping
Tools to upload and define custom face-hole templates
Generation of animated video greetings featuring user faces
How much does it cost?
- Upfront purchase at $2.99
- Additional features available via in-app purchases
Paid-upfront model at $2.99, supplemented by in-app purchase gates for specific media creation tools.
Who Built It?
Lisbon Labs
Providing creative entertainment and interactive educational tools through face-swapping technology and musical exploration for families.
Portfolio
8
Apps
What other apps does Lisbon Labs make?
FACEinHOLE GIFs
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BEBOPS
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Explore the full Lisbon Labs report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Lisbon Labs.
What do users think recently?
Low confidence · 50 reviews analyzed · Based on 50 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate creative photo editing tools allow users to generate humorous and engaging face swap content, but report ghosting artifacts and semi-transparent image overlays degrade the quality of edited photos post-update and monetization friction increases as users encounter paywalls for previously accessible or basic editing features.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
How have ratings & review volume moved?
Rating, review sentiment, and total reviews over time, with release markers showing the post-launch impact.
Vertical markers = app releases. Hover any release for the post-release impact delta.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for FACEinHOLE®?
How's The Photo & Video Market?
How does it evolve in the Photo & Video market?
The app holds a #49 Paid position in the US Photo & Video category, but the recent shift to a paid-upfront model creates friction against free-to-play AI competitors. The 4.85 rating remains high, yet the 50-review sample size indicates low engagement with the latest build.
Rank progression
78 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
Which niche is FACEinHOLE® in?
to create humorous face-swapped photos and videos
Explore the full Photography Editors niche
Every app in this space — 164 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
With over 780k reviews and a high-frequency release cadence, this app dominates the specific 'face-morphing' and 'age-filter' niche that FACEinHOLE targets.
Differentiators
- Offers advanced AI-driven age progression and gender-swap filters that go beyond simple face-in-hole templates.
- Maintains a high-velocity update schedule with six major releases in the last six months alone.
- Focuses on automated facial transformation rather than the manual scenario-based positioning required by the target app.
Head to head
The target app must pivot toward AI-assisted alignment to reduce manual friction, or double down on its unique, massive library of niche social scenarios to differentiate from automated filters.
Contenders(2)
A powerful, AI-centric editor that captures the same audience looking for quick, high-quality social media photo transformations.
Differentiators
- Features advanced AI-powered background removal and object replacement tools that the target app lacks.
- Provides a robust suite of video editing capabilities that extend the app's utility beyond static image scenarios.
A massive, long-standing competitor in the face-editing space with a vast feature set that dwarfs the target app's simple scenario-based model.
Differentiators
- Integrates professional-grade virtual makeup and skin-smoothing tools that turn the app into a comprehensive beauty studio.
- Operates a high-frequency release cycle with 19 updates in six months, ensuring constant feature parity with industry trends.
Same space(2)
Focuses on the video enhancement segment, providing a specialized toolset for improving video quality.
Differentiators
- Specializes in AI-powered video quality restoration and enhancement, a clear departure from static face-in-hole templates.
- Targets the growing demand for high-quality mobile video content creation rather than simple photo-based humor.
A legacy giant in the photo editing category that provides a broad range of beauty and artistic filters.
Differentiators
- Offers a deep ecosystem of artistic filters and stickers that cater to a younger, trend-focused demographic.
- Maintains a massive, global user base with consistent, high-frequency updates that keep the app relevant.
New entrants(2)
A design-focused editor that has recently integrated advanced AI tools, appealing to users who want more creative control.
Differentiators
- Provides professional-level layer-based editing tools that allow for complex, multi-element photo compositions.
- Focuses on high-end design and graphic creation, positioning itself as a creative tool rather than a novelty app.
A rapidly emerging threat that leverages generative AI to create video content, showing high market traction since its 2024 release.
Differentiators
- Utilizes generative AI to create video from text or images, bypassing the need for pre-made scenario templates.
- Maintains an aggressive release cadence of 23 updates in six months to rapidly iterate on AI model performance.
Compare FACEinHOLE® against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for FACEinHOLE®
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- 200,000-scenario library creates a content-volume moat
- Multi-person templates drive organic social acquisition
Critical Frictions
- $2.99 upfront price creates barrier to entry
- Ghosting artifacts post-update erode core utility
- Broken photo permissions block basic usage
Growth Levers
- Integrate AI-assisted alignment to reduce manual friction
- Expand B2B licensing of scenario library
Market Threats
- AI-native editors offer superior quality
- Aggressive monetization of basic tools triggers churn
What are the next best moves?
Rebuild photo-access permissions because current breakage prevents core functionality → restore user trust
Broken photo access permissions is a critical blocker for the primary user job-to-be-done.
Trade-off: Pause the custom scenario creation feature update — core functionality must take precedence.
Audit monetization gates because users report bait-and-switch tactics → reduce refund surge
Monetization friction is a top-cited complaint theme in recent reviews.
Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available — no major lever displaced.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's massive 200,000-scenario library is a liability rather than a moat, as it forces a manual, high-friction user experience that AI-native competitors are rapidly rendering obsolete.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- AI-powered facial aging (available in FaceLab but missing here)
- Background removal (available in EPIK but missing here)
Key Takeaways
The app retains a unique content library but suffers from severe technical regressions and monetization friction, so the PM must prioritize restoring core photo-access functionality to prevent further sentiment decline.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The photo-editing market is consolidating around AI-driven automation, leaving manual scenario-based apps like FACEinHOLE® exposed. Unless the team addresses the current stability regressions and re-evaluates the paid-upfront model, the app will continue to lose ground to free-to-play AI competitors.
Ghosting artifacts in the latest release compromise the core photo-insertion job, leading to immediate user frustration and churn.
Broken photo permissions prevent users from accessing their own images, which effectively renders the application unusable for new installs.