The Scoop: Banuba is shaking up the mobile space by offering augmented reality (AR) video tools that give users more interactive and personal ways to express themselves. The tech startup has developed unique camera filters, backgrounds, animations, and beautification features for users to play around with. Forward-thinking dating apps can partner with Banuba and use its high-tech software to increase online engagement and give singles a fun and flirtatious way to video chat.
As a millennial, I grew up exploring unknown sites and learning how to communicate in a brave new digital world. The internet shaped my social life and gave me a forum where I could express myself.
In fact, the first time I flirted with a boy was on AIM. I told my middle-school crush I thought he was “kewl,” and then I typed a kissy face. My fingers hovered over the enter key for a long time, but I decided to just go for it. Fortunately, he immediately sent an ear-to-ear grin and returned my kissy-face feelings.
Today, dating sites and apps give singles even more ways to reach out and put their hearts on the line, and face-augmenting reality is rapidly upping the quality of communication available.

The online world empowered me to speak my mind, and I discovered my confidence one flirtatious emoticon at a time.
Since 2016, a startup called Banuba has stayed at the forefront of digital communication by developing AR technology and real-time video filters that help people personalize their chats and create unique stories. This company unites brands, developers, and consumers under the banner of creative expression.
Banuba’s filters and animation can transform how a person looks in video chats. It can beautify their features if they want to attract attention, or it can give them a fun avatar if they want a little anonymity. Banuba offers these AR solutions to businesses with young online audiences.
In the long run, the Banuba team hopes its camera-focused software will pave the way for more AR-focused devices, which they believe are the next generation of smart technology. They’re investing in the idea that augmented reality will one day define the way we see the world.
Online and mobile dating companies can share in this vision for the future and benefit from paradigm-shifting technology by partnering with the Banuba team. Its tools can give singles a virtual makeover, making them feel more confident in their attractiveness.
“Beautification is a way for users to look their best,” explained Dmitry Ogievich, CEO of Banuba. “When the user feels confident about how they look, they are more likely to speak confidently. This not only makes the conversation better, but it can remove a lot of stress for people with low self-esteem.”
Building Trust & Increasing Engagement in Mobile Spaces
and software development kits (SDKs) appeal to social brands and app developers seeking to create an immersive, visual, and futuristic mobile experience. Dating apps can use this technology to make their chat features stand out and entice singles to get to know each other in a discreet and fun way.
Augmented reality features can act as a natural icebreaker on a dating app. It gives people something unique to laugh about and share with one another. What’s more, the video element can build trust among users, reassuring them that they’re talking to a real person with a good sense of humor.
Millennials and Generation Z have already embraced AR technology, but it can also appeal to mature, tech-savvy individuals who want to keep their online dating personas separate from their professional lives. By transforming into an avatar, such privacy-conscious singles can engage in conversations without revealing their faces.

Banuba’s augmented reality tools can enhance the user experience on an app.
“The growing rate of mobile competency means AR features are attractive to a wide range of ages,” said Vadim Nekhai, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Banuba. “The desire to improve safety and create a less stressful video chat is universal, so this will also appeal to a wide range of people.”
Banuba’s FaceAR platform can change the way online daters communicate via dating apps. People can create their own AR face filters, real-life animations, beauty effects, and backgrounds, thus expressing their personalities in a visually appealing way. These tools can increase user engagement on dating apps.
As users play around with the features, the app can use analytics to gain a better understanding of what resonates with users and how people are using the AR technology to entertain themselves.
Users feel empowered to control their identities through face filters, beauty effects, and backgrounds, and these fun options can facilitate and bolster video chats with an online crush. Some of the live animation is even interactive, so users can play games while chatting.
“Dating apps are in a prime position to take advantage of these features,” Vadim said. “Live avatars enable users to video-chat without having to reveal their identities until they are comfortable to do so. This has all the advantages of regular video-chat, whilst taking away a lot of the associated stress.”
The Team Partners With Up-and-Coming Tech Companies
Banuba traces its roots to an artificial intelligence laboratory where creative individuals hoped to bridge the gap between the physical world and the virtual world. Banuba Co-Founders Dmitry Ogievich, Vadim Nekhai, and Yury Hushchyn decided to use camera-powered applications to capture people’s imaginations. Today, the company has over 100 employees who work in Minsk, Belarus.
“Our sophisticated face-tracking algorithm was developed in-house by our talented and passionate AI engineers, who specialize in computer vision,” Dmitry said. “It is their invaluable knowledge and experience that has made Banuba’s technology possible.”

The Banuba team includes many tech wizards, innovators, and trailblazers.
As a startup, Banuba is committed to growth, innovation, and fun. This team works hard to unlock the full potential of cameras in smart devices, pioneering new technologies that can transform healthcare, advertising, ecommerce, and the dating industry.
Banuba is currently working alongside the Hater dating app, which matches people based on their dislikes. Online chat drives much of the app’s traffic, and Banuba’s AR tools represent an opportunity to boost engagement and give users more ways to interact.
Banuba technology can stimulate conversation in the mobile scene and lead to tremendous growth for social apps. “Banuba continuously strives to improve the quality, performance, and accuracy of its technology,” Dmitry said. “We are dedicated to ensuring it is accessible to all, regardless of their device specification.”
Highly Personalized Face Filters & Avatars
Banuba allows big and small tech brands to connect with users through ultra-immersive augmented reality apps. This gives developers access to innovative content creation tools and helps them integrate AR experiences, including face filters, avatars, and facial analytics, into their mobile and web products.
Banuba technology covers 98% of the smartphone market, ensuring high-quality performance on even low-end devices. It works in low lighting and at extreme angles, which gives users the flexibility to create a unique video. The AR technology can recognize up to three faces at a time, and the videos are easily shared on social media platforms.
“The content is highly personalized depending on user behavior,” Dmitry said. “The superb quality of face filters and effects enable end users to really unleash their imagination and creativity.”
According to the Banuba team, 2019 is going to be a landmark year for AR technology. The tech startup has successfully landed a number of high-profile partnerships that it will announce later this year.
“We’re excited to show the world what our technology can achieve,” Dmitry told us. “Banuba’s vision is also to become one of the largest AR advertising networks, giving mobile developers a way to monetize camera-centric applications and empowering brands to reach younger audiences.”
Banuba Offers Daters a Fun Way to Express Themselves
Going through puberty during the rise of the internet came with its fair share of complications, but the benefits far outweighed the costs for me. Without the help of a kissy-face emoticon, I may never have worked up the nerve to tell my first boyfriend how I felt, and I would’ve missed out on many rofl-worthy convos.
Instant messaging changed my dating experience, and now AR technology is changing the way the next generation communicates, socializes, and romances.
Banuba is pushing the envelope in mobile spaces and developing AR technology to unleash the creativity of users in video chats. The Banuba team takes pride in facilitating quality conversations online and giving people a chance to let go of their insecurities and have fun.
“AR is more than just a fun interactive animation. It can help people relieve stress and ensure a more natural conversation and connection,” Dmitry said. “Banuba’s platform enables users to experiment with their own visual storytelling and communication techniques, exploring the potential of the smartphone camera as a way to help people express themselves.”