Gradient app: how to find out which celebrity you look like – and if the app is safe

Gradient, an app which matches users with a celebrity lookalike, has taken Instagram by storm.

Endorsed by Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, the app simply asks users to upload a selfie before trawling an archive to find a famous face which bears a resemblance to the uploader.

Here's everything you need to know about the viral app.

How do I download and use the app?

To get your hands on the app, simply download it from either the iOS app store if you're an iPhone user, or the Google Play store if you're an Android user.

Once downloaded, simply upload a selfie to the app and wait for the programme to trawl through its archive and find a match.

Once a match has been found users will be presented with a four-image transition grid, which merges the selfie with an image of a matched celebrity.

The transitional image can then be sharpened, brightened and more with the app's editing tool.

Is it free?

Once downloaded, phone users can sign up to a free three-day trial.

Users should be wary, however, that once the trial period is over, they will automatically be charged the app's highest tariff: an eye-watering £19.49-a-month scheme.

If you want to retain the app following the trial period you can opt into one of the app's cheaper schemes, which start from £3.99-a-month.

Users can cancel their subscription at anytime.

Is it safe?

Earlier this year, concerns were raised over cyber security relating to FaceApp following links to Russian spying.

And the emergence of Gradient has sparked fresh concerns over the privacy of user's uploaded images.

According to the app's terms of service, Gradient "does not claim ownership of Your Content that you upload or stylise through the Service."

Confusingly, however, the terms of service then go onto read: "You hereby grant to Gradient a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use Your Content to provide our Service, subject to the Privacy Policy."

The app also claims that "face data" won't be stored or transferred off the user's device, but will be provide, improve, test, and monitor the effectiveness of Gradient".

The app is made by Ticket To The Moon, an app developer based in Delaware, USA, according to Mic.