Abbie Chatfield discovers 'creepy' FaceTime feature on iPhones

April 2024 ยท 4 minute read

Abbie Chatfield has been left horrified after stumbling upon a bizarre automatic filter that changes how you look while using FaceTime.

The former Bachelor star, 27, shared her discovery on Tuesday morning, uploading a video to Instagram demonstrating how her eyes appear to change shape when using the Apple iPhone video chat program. 

'Guys, I think I've uncovered something really f**king weird, and I don't know if this is, like, a "known thing"... [but] I just tried to FaceTime someone and I think that FaceTime puts a f**king beauty filter on your face,' she said.

Abbie Chatfield (pictured) was left horrified on Tuesday after stumbling upon a bizarre automatic filter that changes how you look while using FaceTime

Abbie Chatfield (pictured) was left horrified on Tuesday after stumbling upon a bizarre automatic filter that changes how you look while using FaceTime 

Abbie then gave a demonstration by uploading a selfie taken before and after switching on FaceTime.

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She also shared a video of herself rotating her face and staring into the camera while using the app.

'FaceTime? Why are my eyes so round in the middle?' she asked.

'Guys, I think I've uncovered something really f**king weird, and I don't know if this is, like, a "known thing"... [but] I just tried to FaceTime someone and I think that FaceTime puts a f**king beauty filter on your face,' she said

'Guys, I think I've uncovered something really f**king weird, and I don't know if this is, like, a "known thing"... [but] I just tried to FaceTime someone and I think that FaceTime puts a f**king beauty filter on your face,' she said 

Abbie then gave a demonstration by uploading a selfie taken before and after switching on FaceTime. In the normal selfie (pictured) her face appears unedited... ...while the FaceTime selfie (pictured) appears to blur her face and subtly change the shape of her eyes

Abbie then gave a demonstration by uploading a selfie taken before and after switching on FaceTime. In the normal selfie (left) her face appears unedited, while the FaceTime selfie (right) appears to blur her face and subtly change the shape of her eyes 

The Masked Singer judge asked her fans to weigh in, adding a poll asking whether or not FaceTime had added a subtle beauty filter to her video.

It turns out Abbie's suspicions were partially correct.

FaceTime does not use a 'beauty filter' per se, but it does have an optional 'eye contact' feature that subtly changes how your face appears on camera. 

Abbie discovered she was correct, as a fan told her FaceTime's new 'eye contact' feature digitally alters your image to maintain eye contact - even if you are looking somewhere else

Abbie discovered she was correct, as a fan told her FaceTime's new 'eye contact' feature digitally alters your image to maintain eye contact - even if you are looking somewhere else 

The purpose of the 'eye contact' feature was to enhanced on-camera politeness, but it has since been branded as 'creepy' and 'violating'. (Stock image of someone taking a video call)

The purpose of the 'eye contact' feature was to enhanced on-camera politeness, but it has since been branded as 'creepy' and 'violating'. (Stock image of someone taking a video call)

How to turn off eye contact on FaceTime 

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The feature digitally alters your image to maintain eye contact - even if you are looking somewhere else.

The purpose of the 'eye contact' feature was to enhanced on-camera politeness, but it has since been branded as 'creepy' and 'violating'.

Without the feature, if a person is looking directly at the person on the other side of the phone they won't appear to be looking at them in the eye as they're not directly looking at the camera.

However, the feature will digitally alter your image during a FaceTime so your eyes appear to be looking directly at the caller.

This feature is also automatically set to on, meaning many people may be using it without even realising.

To turn it off, open Settings and select FaceTime on your iPhone or iPad. Then toggle Eye Contact to disable.

Apple uses ARCore - the same technology used for Face ID and Animoji - to make this work.

Twitter user Mike Rundle without the filter Twitter user Mike Rundle with the filter

iPhone users have discovered a creepy feature on their FaceTime settings which forces them to have eye contact the person on the other end of the phone. (Pictured: Twitter user Mike Rundle without the filter, left, and with it, right)

Apple uses ARCore - the same technology used for Face ID and Animoji - to make this work. The setting is turned on automatically, to the shock on many iPhone users

Apple uses ARCore - the same technology used for Face ID and Animoji - to make this work. The setting is turned on automatically, to the shock on many iPhone users

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