Facial recognition app KLIK comes out of testing with v1.0, debuts filters and learning mode

Élyse Betters | May 10 2012 - 9:47 am PT

Face.com’s facial recognition iPhone app, KLIK, just released version 1.0 today with filters and a new learning mode.

The app’s previous “testing” version, as Face.com’s co-founder and CEO Gil Hirsch described it to 9to5Mac exclusively, debuted in January. However, the latest flavor exhibits face-friendly filters akin to Instagram and improved recognition capabilities that also Facebook-tags people, while remembering those features for future occurrences in case the social network cannot (some Facebook users’ privacy settings do not allow for photo-tagging).

“We looked at the photos people were taking and chose filters suitable for people’s pictures,” explained Hirsch to 9to5Mac. “Our filters are face-friendly.”

Hirsch detailed how KLIK’s artistic filters compliment faces due to their subtle colors and saturations, while other apps’ filters are more generalized for pictures of animals or objects and are often too harsh. Meanwhile, the face-learning software not only tags friends in images, but it quickly trains itself to remember them. The team behind KLIK noticed Facebook users do a lot of uploading, but not much tagging, and that decreases the amount of sharing. Therefore, the facial recognition may not always be on par, but the app’s new learning mode quickly corrects this lapse.

When asked to differentiate KLIK from the slew of photography apps available in the App Store, Hirsch said, “KLIK actually adds a little bit more flair, because you can tag alongside filters and the discovery of people around you. It is much-more focused on people to deliver moments.”

KLIK relies on Facebook to recognize friends, so users must connect the app to the social network. The app also respects the privacy settings set up by Facebook, so users do not have to manage privacy in two different places. Moreover, tags can toggle on or off, and the images can share to Facebook, Twitter, or through email. All photographs add to the photo stream, which also displays pictures snapped by nearby friends. The app even features commenting and geo-tag capabilities. Hirsch said the potential to integrate photographs from other social networks, even Facebook’s newly-acquired Instagram app, is definitely a possibility for the future.

“People who love to take photos have to try this because of tagging and sharing,” Hirsch added. “As for the geeky ones, damn, this is like Shazam for people. It adds so much power and strength.”

KLIK is free and currently has a 4-star rating on the App Store based on 74 reviews as of press time. The app’s instructional video is available at Vimeo.