MaskerAid →

Relay FM podcaster1 and all-around nice human Casey Liss has a new app out today. It’s called MaskerAid, and it’s pretty darn clever. Here’s a bit from his announcement blog post:

In short, MaskerAid allows you to quickly and easily add emoji to images. Plus, thanks to the magic of machine learning, MaskerAid will automatically place emoji over any faces it detects.

Like Casey outlines in his post, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with using social media to share photos or details about my children and their lives.

Obscuring faces — or adding emoji to an image just for fun — is super simple with MaskerAid. It takes mere moments to learn the app’s interface and you’ll be off to the races. I was impressed with it the first time I opened the TestFlight invite months ago, and if it sounds like it scratches an itch you have, you should check it out on the App Store.

Here’s a photo I edited with it, featuring the app’s creator and yours truly on one of those annoying pedal-powered pub crawl group bicycle things in Texas. We were there for Myke Hurley’s bachelor party, so I’m pretty pleased with my emoji usage here:

Made with MaskerAid

MaskerAid is a free download for the iPhone and iPad. The free version lets you add the smiley face emoji to your photos; a one-time $3 in-app purchase unlocks the full emoji library.


  1. He’s also on some other show that I hear is pretty good.