Meitu: 'Beauty' selfie app surges in popularity as people perform drastic makeovers on their photos

The app claims to be 'a one touch photoshop for enhancing your beauty and putting the finishing touches on your photos', though most people appear to be treating it as a joke

An example of the kinds of bizarre images that can be created by the app

An app meant to make people more "beautiful" is taking over people's phones and feeds.

The Meitu app has been around for years. But it is surging in popularity as people brighten up their skin, turn their eyes huge and perform other makeovers on themselves.

The app claims to be a "one touch photoshop for enhancing your beauty and putting the finishing touches on your photos", and the results are dramatic. Any picture can be plugged into it and the app will recognise its users' face and then perform changes to it.

Those changes can include everything from a "Beauty Retouch" – "one touch for skin enhancement, eyes brightening and face-lifting" – to slimming or blemish-removal.

Commenters have given the app rave reviews, and it is one of the rare apps on the store to get five stars. Many note that the novelty quickly wears off, but otherwise describe it as working perfectly.

It isn't clear whether it's that or something else that has led it to take off in popularity in recent days. Some appear to be using the features jokingly, "beautifying" their faces in extreme and sometimes shocking ways and sharing the results.

The app is available on both the iOS and Android app stores, and is free on both platforms. The iOS version features support for Apple's recently launched iMessage App Store, meaning that people can send photos of themselves quickly and easily.