Meitu

Is Meitu safe?

Meitu is safe from the risks parents usually worry about: it is mainly a photo and video editor, not a social network, so strangers rarely reach you through it, and we found no breach or fine. The concern is where your photos go and what Meitu may do with them. Its privacy policy lets data be stored in mainland China, its terms take a perpetual licence to your uploads that covers improving the app and its AI, and its US section lets it keep face data for up to three years. India also blocked the app in 2020 over data concerns. We score it 50/100, below Picsart (55) and ByteDance's CapCut (53).

Where your data goes

Meitu is run by Xiamen Meitu Technology and its affiliates. The privacy policy, last modified on 16 April 2026, says information "may be transferred, processed, and stored anywhere in the world", and names mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the US and the EU. Its section for South Korean users is more direct: the destination for transfers is the People's Republic of China, and the service providers named include Alibaba (China). Users there can refuse the transfer, but the policy warns that the app may then not work.

This is not a new worry. In January 2017, when Meitu's anime-style filters went viral in the US, security researchers found that the Android app collected phones' IMEI numbers and sent device data to servers in China, and that the iPhone version checked whether the phone was jailbroken. Meitu said it collected the data to improve the app and did not sell user data. One researcher who decompiled the iPhone app concluded it was mainly ad tracking rather than anything more sinister.

Face data and AI

Face detection drives almost every Meitu tool, from skin smoothing to AI portraits. The main policy says facial mapping information is used only for the feature you are using, is not shared, and is discarded when the app closes. The section for US users says something different: you agree that Meitu "may use facial recognition technology to collect biometric information" from your photos to provide and improve the service and "for our internal research purposes", and Illinois users' biometric data is deleted within three years of their last use. We read the broader text as the one that counts.

The terms, last modified on 11 December 2025, give Meitu a "non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, worldwide, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense" to your uploads, including to "optimize and improve" the app. A separate AI addendum covers photos, voice and text you give its AI tools, which Meitu stores to watch for abuse and may use to improve its AI features. There is no opt-out in the terms.

Apple's privacy label shows none of this detail. It lists identifiers as used to track you, and contact info, financial info, photos and other content, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics as collected but not linked to you.

BeautyCam and Wink

Meitu sells two other popular apps that work the same way. BeautyCam is a selfie camera with live beauty filters. Its policy, from Meitu (China) Limited and last modified in March 2026, has the same US clause on collecting biometric information for research. Its App Store label is unusual in listing diagnostics, rather than identifiers, as data used to track you. Wink is a video enhancer and editor whose July 2026 policy names mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore among transfer destinations; its label lists identifiers as used to track you. Both rely on weekly, monthly and yearly VIP plans, with Wink's top tier at $99.99 a year in the US. We score Wink 52/100 and BeautyCam 51/100 on their own pages, both slightly above Meitu because India's block does not name them.

How to use Meitu more safely

1. Give the app access to selected photos only, not your full library.
2. Deny the tracking request on an iPhone, or reset the advertising ID on Android.
3. Avoid the AI tools for photos of children or anyone who has not agreed, since those uploads may be used to improve Meitu's AI.
4. Choose a monthly plan over a weekly one, and cancel through Apple or Google at least 24 hours before renewal.
5. Email Meitu to opt out of interest-based ads, as the policy offers no in-app switch for it.

How we scored it

Scams and harmful content (72) is Meitu's strongest factor, because strangers rarely reach you through it. Regulatory record (60) reflects India's 2020 block; we found no fine. Privacy (38) is the weakest, because of transfers to China, research use of face data in the US section and ad tracking. Transparency and control (45) suffers from a perpetual licence, AI reuse of uploads and a policy that contradicts itself. For a ByteDance alternative, see Hypic.