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.
Hi Product Hunt,
I'm Finlay. I build apps out of Scotland and Forma is the one I've spent most of this year on. It started because every face rating app I tried told me I was an eight. That's flattering and completely useless. If everyone is an eight, nothing is being measured.
So Forma is deliberately not flattering. An average face scores near the middle, because that is what average means. The part I think actually earns its keep is the second half: it separates what is bone, which you are stuck with, from what is fat, fluid and skin quality, which move over months, weeks and days. Most of this category is selling exercises for the bone.
Two things I would genuinely like feedback on.
First, whether the honesty reads as useful or just harsh. That line has been the hardest thing to find and I am not certain I have it right.
Second, camera angle moves the score more than almost anything you could actually do to your face. Held above you it shortens your jaw, held below it widens it. I have written guides about it and it still happens constantly, and I have not solved how to stop people photographing themselves badly.
There is a free scan on the web with no sign up if you want to try it before the app.