Ugly Meter iPhone App Review

Facial Recognition

The Ugly Meter made by Dapper Gentlemen is advertised on their website with the term ‘When your friends won’t tell you the truth, the Ugly Meter will.’ It is said to use face recognition technology to determine just how attractive a person is, which in theory, works by measuring the distance between the eyes, width of the nose, length of jaw line, depth of eye sockets and shape of the cheekbones.

To use the app you must select a picture on your iPhone which is then scanned to give you a score out of 10, with 1 being beautiful and the closer to 10 you get, the more branches of the ugly tree you hit falling out of it. Some ratings even come with various insults such as ‘You look as if you just ran a 100 yard dash in a 90 yard gym.’ Simple but effective.

Bad Press

There has been a bit of an uproar over this quite controversial app because it could be detrimental to people’s self esteem. There is also fear that it will be used for malicious purposes, and even that it could create eating disorders and drive people to seek plastic surgery. It is actually quite surprising how seriously this app has been taken, when it is just that, an app designed to entertain on your iPhone. The consumer reviews on Apple’s website rate this one star and various media reviews are very strongly worded indeed.

Putting it to the Test

To put it in perspective we scanned in pictures of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt who scored 6 and 5 respectively, pitched against Susan Boyle and Chris Evans who were scored 7 and 4.2 respectively. Thus indicating that Susan Boyle and Angelina Jolie are of similar attractiveness, as were the men. I’m sure you’ll agree, Angelina has nothing on Susan Boyle.

To test the app further, duplicate pictures were scanned in the Ugly Meter but somehow they were given different ratings. This proves just how unreliable this app really is.

The Ugly Truth

I came to the conclusion that it is in the same mould as those adverts we regularly see on TV with ’text your name and your partners name to love match/baby name/wedding date’ (delete as appropriate) and not to be used as a basis of decision making or self worth. So if you or your partner scored highly on the Ugly Meter don’t take it to heart, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In conclusion, the Ugly Meter is not worth your time or money. And definitely not recommended for school aged children. The most fun you can possibly get out of the Ugly Meter is having a banter down your local pub on a Friday night.