How live age detection works
In Live mode the detector takes one frame from the camera, finds the faces in it, estimates an age and gender for each one and draws a labelled box, then moves on to the next frame. It works on one frame at a time, roughly every half second or faster depending on your device, so it never queues up work your device cannot keep up with.
Each live label comes from a single quick pass on that one frame. There is no stability check and no averaging across frames, which is why the number jumps as you move. That is the honest view of what the model does: small changes in light and angle really do change its answer. The Capture & analyse button exists for the moment you want a steadier reading.
Starting the camera
Browsers only offer the camera to pages served over HTTPS, and they ask your permission the first time. If you said no by accident, open the site settings from the padlock or tune icon in the address bar and allow the camera, then reopen it. On phones, the front camera is used first and the preview is mirrored so it behaves like a mirror; if your device has more than one camera, a button switches to the rear one. Only video is requested; the microphone is never used.
- Desktop: Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari all support the webcam on HTTPS pages.
- iPhone and iPad: use Safari or any browser; allow camera access when prompted.
- Android: Chrome and other modern browsers work; check the site's camera permission if the preview stays black.
Why the number moves, and how to steady it
Every frame is a slightly different photo. Your head moves, the camera's auto-exposure adjusts, and webcams add blur and noise in dim light. Each of those changes the pattern the age model reads, so live labels drift by a few years from frame to frame. That drift is information: if the number swings widely, the conditions are hard for the model.
To get a steadier reading, face the light, keep your head level and still, then capture. The captured frame goes through the same full analysis as an uploaded photo, including the stability check across a mirrored copy and two crops, so you see a range rather than one jumpy number.
Privacy: nothing is recorded
The video stream goes from your camera into the page and stays there. Frames are analysed in memory and discarded; nothing is saved as a video and nothing is sent to a server. A captured frame becomes a photo inside the page, exactly as if you had uploaded it, and it is gone when you clear it or leave the page. Closing the camera window stops the camera.
Please only point the camera at people who know and agree. The live labels are guesses about appearance, and a stranger has not asked to be guessed at.
Troubleshooting
- Black preview or an error: another app may be using the camera, or permission is blocked in the browser or operating system settings.
- No faces found: move closer, face the light and take off sunglasses or a cap.
- Labels lag behind: older devices take longer per frame; closing other tabs helps.
- Very slow first start: the face models download once on the first run and are cached after that.
- The number keeps jumping: that is expected in Live mode; capture a frame for the full check.