MSQRD
Historical: the AR face-filter app that kicked off the selfie-filter wars.
Retired
MSQRD appears to be discontinued or shut down — acquired by Facebook 2016; app shut down Apr 2020 This page is kept as an archive record and is excluded from search engines.
About
MSQRD was an augmented-reality selfie app that let users swap faces, wear digital masks, and apply live filters in photos and video. Its viral face-swap filters made it one of the breakout apps of 2016 and a direct rival to Snapchat Lenses.
Facebook acquired the Belarusian startup Masquerade in March 2016 and folded its AR technology into Spark AR, the effects platform behind Instagram and Facebook filters. The standalone app was shut down on April 13, 2020, ending one of the earliest chapters of mainstream mobile AR.
What it can do
- Real-time AR face filters and masks
- Live face swapping in video
- Selfie effects that seeded Spark AR
- Viral 2016-era filter catalog
Setup
The app is discontinued and no longer available on app stores; its technology lives on in Meta Spark AR effects.
Prerequisites
None; this is a historical entry.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 6/10
Scored 6/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: Verified via vendor site/docs/GitHub and reputable coverage, wave 132; Trending score 62/100 from researcher assessment.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.