Everything you need to master Pictonico — from perfect selfie setup to per-game strategies, AI personalization, and privacy deep-dives.
Go to pictonico.app in any mobile or desktop browser. No download, no account needed.
Use your front camera for a quick selfie, or upload a photo from your gallery. Group shots work too.
Choose from Nose Hair Pull, Remove Them!, or Munch Munch — all free. Tap Play and enjoy.
After uploading your photo, tap "AI Personalize" to let our AI tune the game specifically to your face — sprite positions, game difficulty, and even a unique character name generated just for your photo. The personalized version is significantly more fun.
The better your photo, the more accurate the AI — and the more fun the game.
Face detection works best when your face is evenly lit — no harsh shadows across one side. Natural window light or a ring light works great.
The AI maps nose, mouth, and eye positions. A frontal angle (straight at the camera) gives the most accurate landmark detection and best gameplay.
A neutral or slightly open-mouthed expression gives the AI a better baseline. Very closed or very wide expressions can throw off the landmark mapping.
Remove sunglasses, masks, or anything covering your face. Heavy makeup is fine. Hair partially covering the face usually works but full coverage may affect detection.
A modern smartphone selfie is more than enough. Very low-res or heavily compressed images (small thumbnails) may reduce detection accuracy.
Long-press and drag on the nose hairs that sprout from your photo. The longer you hold before releasing, the more hair you pull in one go.
Each hair successfully yanked = +10 points. Perfect pulls (full extension) = +25 bonus.
Crabs spawn at the bottom of your photo and crawl upward. Swipe them sideways to knock them off the screen before they reach your eyes.
Each crab swiped = +15 points. Consecutive swipes without missing = combo multiplier up to ×3.
Food items fall from the top of the screen. Tap anywhere to open your mouth in the photo and catch them before they hit the ground.
Each food caught = +10 to +50 depending on item rarity. Missed items = 0. Trap items = -20.
A zipper appears across the mouth in your photo. Slide your finger along the zipper track to close it before the countdown expires.
Time remaining × 10 = score. Full track completion bonus: +100.
Your face becomes a genie in a lamp. Rub the lamp (circular motions on screen) to fill the magic meter before time runs out.
Meter fill speed determines base score. Bonus wish triggered = +200.
When you upload or take a photo, a WebAssembly model runs locally in your browser. It identifies 468 facial landmarks — every point on your nose, lips, eyes, jawline, and forehead.
Key points are extracted: nose tip, nostril edges, lip corners, chin, eyebrow peaks. These coordinates tell each minigame exactly where to place its animated sprites.
A lightweight AI model takes the landmark data and generates a game config — nose hair thickness, crab starting positions, mouth open range, zipper curve path — all tuned to your unique face.
The AI also reads subtle features (expression intensity, face proportions) to generate a unique character name and short backstory for your game session. Purely for fun — entirely local.
Face detection runs 100% on-device using WebAssembly and TensorFlow.js. Your photo pixels never leave your device during gameplay.
When you opt into AI personalization, a compressed (low-resolution) preview of your photo is sent to our AI service to generate the game config and character story. This preview is processed and immediately discarded — we do not store, sell, or use it for training.
No. The 468 facial landmarks computed by face detection are held in memory only for the duration of your game session and are cleared when you close or refresh the page.
Never. Your photos are not shared with advertisers, analytics platforms, or any third party. We have no financial interest in your photo data.
Yes. After your first visit, Pictonico.app caches all game assets via a Service Worker. You can play all free games with no internet connection. AI personalization requires a brief online call.
No. Pictonico.app is an independent web-based photo minigame platform. Nintendo Pictonico (officially "Pictonico!") is a separate Nintendo + Intelligent Systems app launching May 28, 2026 on iOS and Android. Both use the same concept — turning your photos into minigames — but are different products.
Yes. Pictonico.app works in Safari on iPhone (iOS 14+). Open the URL, take a selfie, and play — no App Store download required.
Yes! Pictonico.app detects any face in the photo. Group shots will default to the most prominent face. Using photos of friends or family (with their permission) makes for great party entertainment.
Three games are permanently free: Nose Hair Pull, Remove Them!, and Munch Munch. Zip It! and Rub The Lamp are in the Funny Face Pack ($2.99). The All Games Bundle ($7.99) unlocks everything including future additions.
Pictonico.app works in the Nintendo Switch browser (Settings > Internet > Connection Test, then launch browser). Camera access is limited on Switch so photo upload is recommended over live capture.
Put your new knowledge to use. Open Pictonico.app now and go for a high score.
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