We built a face rating app that tells people what they cannot change

Forma launches here on Tuesday, and there is a decision inside it I am still not certain about.

Every app in this category sells the same promise. Scan your face, follow the plan, look better. It converts well. It is also mostly untrue, because a lot of what people are unhappy about is bone. Jaw angle, midface height, the tilt of the eyes. None of that responds to effort.

So we built the scan to say so. It splits the result into what is fixed and what genuinely moves. Skin gets four separate scores, because skin is the one thing that reliably responds to effort. The jaw gets an honest answer about what an exerciser actually does, which is widen the face at the back.

The trade off is real. Here is your score and here is your plan converts better than here is your score, and four of these six things are permanent. We are deliberately taking the worse pitch.

Two things I would genuinely like other makers' views on.

Does being honest about limits retain people, or does it just lose the sale earlier? I can argue it both ways and I do not have the data yet.

And how much do you give away free? Ours runs a full scan in the browser with no signup. It is the best acquisition tool we have, and it is also the exact thing people would pay for.