RealSmile vs Looksmax AI: An Out-of-10 Rating App vs a Free Browser Face Scan

What Looksmax AI says it does

Looksmax AI's store listings give three steps: upload your photos, the app analyzes your traits, and you get your results and personalized advice. Its website fills in the rating: the app looks at "your masculinity, jawline, eyes, hair, skin, and other features" and rates you out of 10, and you can compare your rating with friends. The listing calls the app "your personalized AI coach" and says its focus is "aiding men in elevating their facial attractiveness and confidence". Most of its website is a blog on haircuts, grooming, skin care and mewing, and 65 of its 72 pages carry the same heading: "Become A Chad and Become More Attractive With LooksMax AI". Pricing lives in the app stores rather than on the website: the US App Store lists seven in-app purchases from $0.99 to $5.99, including LooksMax Pro and a weekly item at $3.99 each. Google Play shows more than 10 million downloads and a 4.0 rating from about 1.2 million reviews; the App Store shows 4.5 from about 43,000 ratings. Both listings date the latest update to April 4, 2024.

RealSmile is built the other way round: nothing to install, a free result that needs no account, and a method you can read before you upload anything. The free scan gives your Face Score and strongest metric; the paid options are a one-time report, one-time photo audits and an optional Pro subscription. The two answer different questions. Looksmax AI is an app you keep and come back to for a rating and tips across face, hair and skin. RealSmile is a face scan you open in a browser, with its workings published.

A rating out of 10 vs a score per metric

A single rating out of 10 is quick to read and easy to compare with a friend, and that is what Looksmax AI's pages lead with. On its own it cannot tell you which feature moved it: Looksmax AI says the rating draws on masculinity, jawline, eyes, hair, skin and other features, but its pages do not say how much each one counts.

RealSmile's free result is also one headline number, your Face Score (a percentile), plus the metric where you measure strongest. The optional report goes further. Every metric your photo supports (typically 15 of 17) gets a 0-100 score for how close its reading is to that metric's ideal range, the measured value itself (a canthal tilt in degrees, an FWHR ratio), a band from Below average to Elite, and an action plan for the weaker ones. Those per-metric scores measure closeness to an ideal range, not rank against other people; the Face Score is the percentile. A breakdown is harder to share than one number, but it shows which feature to work on first. The free scan returns your Face Score and strongest metric, and the face report page shows what the full report covers.

Methodology transparency and PMC citations

RealSmile publishes how it measures. The measurements guide explains each of the 17 measurements the engine takes and which ones you can change, the citations page writes up 12 peer-reviewed studies, and the validation page shows how the Face Score was checked against human ratings and keeps the engine's version history. Three studies matter most here. Little, Jones and DeBruine 2011 (PMC3130383) reviews the facial traits that affect attractiveness judgements, such as symmetry, averageness and sexually dimorphic shape. Carré and McCormick 2008 (PMC2570531) linked a wider facial width-to-height ratio to aggressive behaviour in men, in a lab task and among hockey players. Willis and Todorov 2006 (PMID 16866745) found that judgments of attractiveness, likeability, trustworthiness, competence and aggressiveness made after a 100-millisecond look at a face closely matched judgments made with no time limit. Looksmax AI's privacy policy says "proprietary algorithms" produce its rating, and none of its public pages explains the calculation or cites research for it, so there is no published method to check the rating against.

Looksmax AI vs Umax AI: which app is which

The names get mixed up, but these are separate apps from separate developers. Looksmax AI is made by Mnkybrain Labs; its pages describe a rating out of 10 with tips and show no animal types, tier labels or streak counter. Two App Store apps use the Umax name. "Umax - Become Hot", from Improvement Tech, follows a similar selfie-then-analysis flow, and its listing says analysis results require a subscription. "Umax AI: Face Scan & PSL Rating", from Reyadh Redwan Ahmed, lists a PSL score, detailed metrics, hairstyle and voice tools, a physique rating and an "Animal Face" mode that sorts faces into Fox, Deer or Puppy. That animal-type mode is in that app's listing, not in Looksmax AI's.

RealSmile is unrelated to all three. It is a browser tool, not an app; its report gives each metric a 0-100 score and a plain band. Store listings change, so check the current App Store or Google Play page of any of these apps before you choose. Our RealSmile vs Umax AI comparison covers Umax separately.

When Looksmax AI wins

A fair comparison should say where the other tool is the better pick. Looksmax AI fits if you want an app on your phone rather than a website, and if you want hair and skin rated alongside your face: RealSmile's metrics measure face geometry, and none rates hair or skin. It fits if a single rating out of 10 that you can compare with friends is what you are after, and if you want tips and a hairstyles pack in the same app. The app is free to download, its in-app purchases are listed from $0.99 to $5.99, and it has a large user base, with more than 10 million downloads on Google Play.

When RealSmile wins

RealSmile is the better pick when you want a face score without installing an app or making an account. The free scan opens in the browser at /looksmaxxing-test and returns your Face Score and strongest metric in about 30 seconds. It is the better pick when you want to see how the score works: the measurements guide explains each of the 17 measurements, the citations page writes up the studies it draws on, and the validation page shows how the Face Score was checked and how much it moves between photos of one person. It is the better pick when you want a breakdown instead of one number: the optional report scores every metric your photo supports (typically 15 of 17). And it is the better pick when you are choosing dating photos: the $19.99 Premium Dating Photo Audit takes up to 10 photos in one go, scores each one, picks your lead photo, lists the ones to delete and adds a 30-day plan in a 5-page PDF. Looksmax AI's pages describe no multi-photo audit.

Verdict by user type

Different users want different things from a looksmaxxing tool, and the right pick depends on the question you are actually trying to answer. Here is a four-way breakdown so you can self-route to the right tool for your situation.

• Wants an app, and a rating out of 10 that includes hair and skin: Looksmax AI. It lives on your phone, its pages say it rates hair and skin too, and you can compare ratings with friends.
• General audit-curious user (wants a quick free face score in neutral language, no install): RealSmile. The free scan opens in the browser, runs in about 30 seconds, and needs no download or account. The face report page shows what the per-metric breakdown covers before you upload anything.
• Dating-app user (picking a lead photo for Hinge / Tinder / Bumble): RealSmile's $19.99 Premium Dating Photo Audit. The multi-photo audit with a lead pick and a delete list is the deliverable that closes the photo-selection decision; Looksmax AI's pages describe no comparison across a set of photos.
• Methodology-curious user (wants peer-reviewed citations behind the score): RealSmile. The measurements guide and the citations page publish the method and the studies; Looksmax AI's pages say only that "proprietary algorithms" produce its rating.

Frequently asked questions