Deutsche Telekom’s Message+ app

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, currently present in more than 50 countries. They are also the first German provider to offer Snapchat-like AR effects in live video calls. Their Telekom Message+ app, built for both Android and iOS devices, offered a new and improved video calling service.

Our team of experienced R&D engineers helped integrate FaceTrack and FaceAnalysis into the Telekom Message+ application. Our technology was used to enable the app to automatically recognize users’ emotions and let them explore various face masks and interactive animations. For example, you could make a cat smile by smiling yourself, dive into the see to meet a friendly crab, and much more.

Our team also developed precise background segmentation technology for this use case. A smart neural network was used to classify the image into the foreground (representing a person) and the background (representing everything else) in real time. This feature enabled the users to replace their current background with an experience of their choice. For example, they could transport themselves to a sunny beach full of dolphins or a lively football stadium.

The Message+ app provided the standard full-mobile functionality, but also included video calls with emotion recognition and augmented-reality effects. Its IP-based mobile-phone interface was seamlessly integrated with the user’s phone and its messaging capabilities. As a result, the app successfully complemented classic SMS and MMS with group chats, photos and videos exchanges, and engaging video calls.

The Telekom Message+ app used the latest technologies to make the well-known and familiar services new and exciting again, and we are proud to be a part of its story. If you’d like to improve your own business using the latest face tracking technology, get in touch and find out more.