Mug Life - 3D Face Animator Reviews

by Zugalz

My review had difficult questions for the devs to answer, and somehow they got it deleted. So I’ll just leave it at this. The premium experience is over priced and they would love for you to forget about it, there is no real world reason to charge for MugLife on a yearly basis, they are adding new content regularly but that is the free part, the part you pay for yearly is the power tools that are already developed. The other big problem is the lack of clear instructions for canceling your expensive membership. You can contact them directly and they will point you in the right direction, but people will not typically do that, and I have some knowledge about people’s habits in this regard with my experience in this industry. The instructions for this type of thing should be layed out in the F.A.Q. Section of their app, they could even just add a link to apples page which is already made, that lays out the steps. It feels like bad will toward their customer base to not do so.

by ShylerNoelle

MugLife interested me as soon as I saw it. And so, I downloaded it! I was very exited, and I got all set up and so. However, you never specified that it cost money for the custom. I know, It’s not a lot. But I’m only 12, I have an overprotective mother, and I don’t have my own card. The fact that it is not free needs to be specified! Also, I think a little more should be free. Come on, At leas let us control little bits of the eyes and mouth, like seriously, anyway, in general it is a good app and works great. It just has false advertisement and it too expensive for most kids, so I wouldn’t recommend this if you want to make your friend look like a fool for free, cause it’s not gonna happen.

Ok, I made this after your response, anyway, you didn’t get what I said. I said, this is false advertisement, I did not complain about it being useless! You can’t be creative in MugLife. You use what other people create. In the photos that show the person customizing the actions of the person. I immediately thought it was free, because there was no mention of it costing money. Yes, it does say in app purchases, but that doesn’t specify WHAT costs money. And I can not buy the extras only because I’m not allowed too. So it dose t make this very enjoyable, if we could just move the eyes or mouth, and the others have to cost money, it would be WAAAAAAAY better. So please TRY to understand my question and point of view. Thank you!

by Jacie Vore

MugLife says it will make you look amazing but here's some news for you buddy it doesn't all it does is over lap these face features on top of your face it will make you face change color and if your going to make an app that is like snap chat don't copy it almost completely and the developer responds better not get all smart with me I've read a lot of the reviews and half of them are fake and the bad reviews have a good point yes it does cost money and yes it is at a cheap price but some people don't have the card to do it with and some of us don't have the time to mess around with it my mom has a baby so she doesn't have the time to do she has to take care of the baby so nice try in an app but it needs some improvements a lot if improvements so at least tell the truth about rather then say something that's not true because more then likely people are going to download it like it then notice that your lying delete MugLife and give a bad review and yes it is your fault

by Bruthasmith

Download MugLife used it didn’t have any problem with that stuff forgot about it.

Download it again just now to use it and saw the 12-year-old kid review and the way you talked down to them and treated them like crap and try to reword the response to make it look like they wanted free stuff we’re not all they were doing is giving you constructive criticism from one of your customers point of view....

Has made me certain that I’m going to delete MugLife after posting this review and never use anything I find is made by you ever again you should be ashamed of yourself that’s not how business carries themselves

—- edit —-

That’s a disingenuous response it’s the number one most cited review on your page right now you know exactly what girl I’m talking about and then you immediately shift to the old the positive reviews is dismissive. Also attempting to make the conversation go private by offering support via email is only an effort to silence someone who speak publicly and negatively so if you have anything to say you can stay here everyone can see your response thank you very much. The very way you worded it correct other peoples misunderstandings clearly shows you have no intent on taking responsibility .... good day.

by Ordway2000

When you can’t open MugLife without purchasing then it is not an in app purchase. If you believe in this product go ahead and put the price out there.

Shameful deception. I do not trust you!!!!

So i got the same boiler plate response that everyone else received which basically said that we all misunderstood how to use MugLife . I know when i went back to see if the developer was right i was once again slapped in the face with the “Free”Trial” offer. If you have ever clicked on one of those land mines just know that you will automatically be charged the inflated subscription which will require a simple 5 step process to cancel.

To the developers and to Apple, if it takes one click to spend money it should only take one click to return it when we realize we have been ripped off.

I keep getting harassed by this developer to correct my inaccurate statements. I’m not sure what to say. An app that i have to click through a minefield of “free trials” to use MugLife is not a free app. MugLife amounts to click-bate my purpose with this review is to let people know that if they don’t want to spend money for a subscription and they don’t want to have to click past screens to decline that subscription they shouldn’t download MugLife.

“The customer is not always right but the customer is always the customer.” Zig Ziegler

by ScarlettFrey1995

You have to pay to access anything worth using on MugLife. While MugLife itself is free and plenty of pre-made effects are available for free the process they showed in the ad is not free and requires purchase. MugLife works fine and has plenty of effects for free but after a few minutes of playing around with pre-made options it gets boring and stale.
If you feel like forking out money to access the DIY feature go right ahead but I will not be. I deleted MugLife . It’s just not worth it. Without the DIY feature it’s boring and repetitive. In my opinion they should make MugLife itself cost money or explain that the features they are advertising cost money so that people will not download their app under false pretenses thinking what they want is free when it’s not.

by Sarahstarr88

So I got MugLife hoping to just have fun with my pictures but I ran into two problems. 1.) it because I have a beard it couldn’t figure out where my mouth was meaning that all the mouth animations ended up on my mustache (which looked pretty creepy). 2.) Everything they show in the preview requires a $3.99 in app purchase. It’s not that I can’t afford the $4 it’s the misleading nature of it all. If MugLife is $3.99 make it $3.99 don’t make people wait until they download it to show the real price. Perhaps a free lite version and a $3.99 full version would be a better solution. It would at least be more strait forward. Finally, and this is just a small thing, it isn’t yet optimized for the iPhone X screen. There were parts of the UI that were covered up by the notch at the top of my phone. This is a potentially fun app but the misleading advertisement and the fact that it can’t figure out my beard turned me off to it.

by Sir_Manlish

I got MugLife thinking it could be pretty fun to mess around with but it was fun for about five minutes and then I realized that the reason I got MugLife was so I could make pictures come to life with my own controls. I looked for a while to find the option to create my own and when I found it I was disappointed to see that it costs four dollars to access that feature. This kind of ruined MugLife for me because the whole reason I got MugLife that was supposed to be free was to create my own face motions and that feature isn’t even available unless you are willing to shell out money. I also don’t like how the fact that you have to buy that feature wasn’t advertised at all before I got MugLife . You should just make MugLife $4 if you are going to advertise the feature that you have to pay for in MugLife before you get it.

by Poofie And Bo

Hi, another complaint from a kid. Now I know that kid’s ideas are “unimportant,” but MugLife is seriously overrated and overpriced. You expect people to pay $2.00 a WEEK!? You should make more things free, the section that’s the whole point of MugLife you have to pay for! At least make some parts free, this is very unfair. The animation doesn’t look as clean as in the video in MugLife store and you can’t even use it on dogs (I tried and it didn’t work). Don’t get MugLife unless you want to pay $2.00 a week for cheap animations. You probably won’t answer or change anything since this is just one complaint from a child, but anyone wanting this or any kid trying to convince their parents, its a giant waste of time and I do not recommend it. (You can buy a Redbox movie for $2.00!)

by T1M75

In a world where we spend billions on our entertainment yearly and thousands individually, the $3.99 tag for MugLife is an easy yes. I spend next to nothing on entertainment and had no desire to even read a review when it came to deciding, I knew I was going to buy it. It’s simply too much fun not to have. Think about any, AND I MEAN ANY, picture you like or dislike ( clean or dirty HAHA ) and want to change. MugLife DOES GIFS, AND VIDEO SAVES OF EVERYTHING...think about it, then go buy it! Coupled with Face Swap, there is no limit to what you can make of yourselves or anyone else! You’re welcome Mug Life, it’s money well spent!

by Unicornliada

I think this is a funny game, but in MugLife Store it never said creating your own mug has a price. And it mainly showed creating your own, that made me think it is free. It was also very misleading, so I think you should make that more clear. I do understand that you need to make in game purchases, and it is very reasonable. But like I said before, I wish you would have made it more clear, beside that I think it is really fun! (But you should also have restrictions of what photos are aloud, because it does have some “scary” photos being used) Although, this is a very fun, and interesting game!

by TyCooper2010

I’ve been using MugLife to make animated GIFs of my family for the past 3 or 4 days, and it’s been awesome!
I very rarely spend money on apps, and yet I almost immediately splurged on the one-time $3.99 upgrade cost, because I really wanted the extra features. They’re incredibly robust and responsive for just being an iPhone app!
As far as the features that already exist, I have almost nothing but positive things to say.
However, there is a feature that I would absolutely LOVE to see added, if technically possible: Live facial-tracking using the iPhone’s camera.
While the point-based animating system is excellent, it’s still sometimes difficult to get a completely realistic looking animation, even after watching the tutorials.
Being able to use the camera on the iPhone to replicate my own expressions (very similarly to the “Animojis” on the iPhone X) would make this application a monstrously powerful tool, and is the only thing between me and a 5-Star review!
Good work, devs!

by Villen310mrt

MugLife is good for simple animations on simple faces (which is still a towering achievement of 3D mapping and animation) but it sorely lacks necessary features to push it to the true pro level.
MugLife seems narrowly targeted at people who want to make silly memes but it's capable of much more if only the developers tried to make it into more of a tool.

1. No way to set video or gif frame sizes. They arbitrarily downscale the input. If my device has the power for it, it should be possible to increase the resolution or override it under power-user settings.

2. No way to freeze parts of the images e.g. overlapping hair, objects etc. get animated along with the face and there's no way to stop this. Need an implementation of a freeze mask like in the Photoshop liquify tool.

3. Need ways to animate non-face objects. Some more geometry wireframes than just the face would help greatly.

4. Need more control on the alignment points. There too rough, likely by design to cater to simple usage.

by $lyNvester

Loving MugLife but is there anyway you can add an update to adjust the mouth I know there's a feature to it but like have a mouth type with just a line or have it where there is no mouth sometimes when I do anime characters their mouth doesn't always come out right! I spend hours trying to get it right I would easily give this a 5 if you can adjust it I know you can't make everyone happy I understand but the eyes moving is enough for some characters. I bought MugLife by the way! I'm loving it but if you can just make an update on that the will be perfect!

by Ryancarty

MugLife is awesome! Makes you look kind of like a good video game character and his freaky. I have a couple suggestions:

-I would redesign MugLife with a more modern, flat, minimalistic, colored design. Right now it feels a little cheesy like it was made several years ago. I don’t mean this as an insult, its not a bad design, it’s just not the current design style and would make MugLife look more legit because it appears to be doing really well
-I would focus less on Memes inherently. Keep making lots of awesome face animations and give us the option to add our own meme text, but when I’m forced to use meme text with a certain expression it feels locked in. The animation tool is really cool and sophisticated seeming, and it should be a face animation app with the option to make memes, Not a meme app with animations, if that makes sense.
-Enhance the account creation and abilities
**-Check out MugLife FYUSE. They have an awesome, unique camera related ability too so they are in a similar category. They have a very modern design, and a social network built in, in addition to the regular sharing options. They are a good example of all my notes.

Awesome app, thanks! Gonna show/freak out some friends.

by Slackmeister

This is an awesome app. I was able to quickly create little sequence. Having a great creating all kinds of snippets of animation that I later splice together in a video editor.

It would be cool to have a quick library of phonetics mouth postures and store them for quick access while creating your custom animations. Example, “B” mouth position, “Oh” mouth postion and a “rrrrr” mouth position. You can the spell out B-rrrrr-Oh to animate the word “bro” and then also save the word as a user library for later recall. That can be version 2! 🤔

BTW, thank you for making MugLife very affordable yet powerful. I hope that you guys don’t turn this into a monthly subscription model like other greedy app developers out there. Instead, I recommend having add-ons for future additional features.

by TheEquestrianGirl🐴

First of all, I just want to say that I have used so many apps like this- and this is definitely the best and most realistic one yet. I have had so much fun being amazed by what just one photo becoming something so interesting!
My only issue is that I wish that maybe you could create a limited amount of mugs for free without a subscription. However- this is just a suggestion and I absolutely understand why someone would pay for such a high quality app!
Overall, this has really worked so well for me and I would definitely recommend. I think it is really amazing how you were able to bring so much to an app! This was very impressive compared to the other apps I have used.

by ERAUdarouze

MugLife is incredibly good at automatically recognizing faces and the animation technique rarely distorts the photo excessively. Very impressive. I’d say the biggest drawback right now is the limited animations to copy. Custom animations are too tedious. A killer feature would be to allow animations to be extracted from a front facing camera selfie video. Allow the user to quickly record anything they want, with sound! Maybe add voice emulation eventually. MugLife could be an outstanding application of the forthcoming avatarkit API from apple that is behind Animojis. Excited to see what your future updates entail!

by Mtvargas1

When I first tried this it was on my Samsung s10. The interface was difficult on a small screen, especiallly for a newb. Once I got a tablet I could appreciate the design more and the way you set it up for varying skill levels. With a little patience and attention to detail, the outcome is flawless. I’ve learned if it isn’t, then 9 times out of 10 it something I missed or the resolution of the image isn’t good enough. And please folks stop acting surprised when you hit a paywall in an app. Seriously, you think devopers work just for the joy of making your social media look epic. Grow up! Y’all are whining cause its not free or because there’s too many ads. SMH. If you want a quality app there a cost involved. Period. Anyway, keep up the good work!

by Bobbiwho

I never write reviews unless there is something in it for me. i.e. hints, walk through etc. I am writing this review because I totally love it!!! After using the free part for a while I shelled out the few bucks to see what else it would do. What can I say more than I love it. It has had me LOL literally. One last comment. I did have an issue. I Emailed the developer and within hours they contacted me back. I'm happy with the response and outcome

Update: four months later I’m still loving MugLife. It’s been updated and improved several times. Devs are top notch professionals.

by Warlord1263

I got MugLife thinking it could be pretty fun to mess around with but it was fun for about five minutes and then I realized that the reason I got MugLife was so I could make pictures come to life with my own controls. I looked for a while to find the option to create my own and when I found it I was disappointed to see that it costs four dollars to access that feature. This kind of ruined MugLife for me because the whole reason I got MugLife that was supposed to be free was to create my own face motions and that feature isn’t even available unless you are willing to shell out money. I also don’t like how the fact that you have to buy that feature wasn’t advertised at all before I got MugLife . You should just make MugLife $4 if you are going to advertise the feature that you have to pay for in MugLife before you get it.

by Critique Fantastique

MugLife is a great idea and all, but it is a similar to SnapChat. Although the this app software is different from the SnapChat software and it does a different thing, MugLife layout is alarmingly the same. Each meme is like clicking a story and it looks very much like the average SnapChat page. I think that MugLife should get a new, better looking design that’s fun and appealing. It’s an awesome idea, I just think maybe it could be more fun and colorful, and maybe even cooler looking than SnapChat itself. Also, maybe advertise that meme-adding portion as well, if someone can’t afford the creative tools (i.e. little kids). The price it’s fine, but people should know beforehand that they have to pay to get most of MugLife , or at least be aware of another option on MugLife (most people do not look at the “in app purchases” bit before downloading).

by SadSoup

I recently downloaded MugLife out of curiosity and I love it! I’m honestly considering spending the $3.99 to unlock the other features, but I couldn’t help but notice an issue (?) when saving my animated pictures as gifs. The quality significantly went down. My once nearly HD quality picture was now a lower quality gif. Everything just seems more pixelated, especially the lips. I’m not sure if it’s my device, MugLife itself, or something that just can’t be helped and happens naturally. Other than that, this is probably the most entertaining and useful app I have on my phone!

by Rnichola

I had fun sending animated versions of my friends back to them. It’s a unique app with good application of the technology, and usable on both basic and advanced levels. Also, the technology behind MugLife is impressive considering it’s price point, in my opinion.

If I had any suggestions, I would say that a lot of the community animations are redundant and just poor copies of the built in ones.. consider moderating those and instead adding more high quality animations in the “mug me” section. Oh I just saw that you added two more, keep it up!