Former TikTok Execs Launch AI-Powered Posing Coach App for Better Selfies

Two former TikTok product leaders have released Superpose, an iOS camera app that harnesses AI to generate pose suggestions and help users capture better photographs. The tool sits amid a growing wave of AI-assisted photography features, including Google's Camera Coach and Adobe's AI critique tool, all designed to level up users' photo-taking abilities.

How It Works#

Superpose functions as a smart camera application. After snapping a selfie or portrait, the app generates four alternative poses using generative AI. Users can then save poses they like or activate a "match pose" feature to physically mirror the suggested positions in real-time. The app offers five free generations daily, with paid tiers available at $2.99 for five additional poses or $9.99 for 20 poses.

Personal Origins#

Co-founder Melody Chu, who previously held product roles at Meta, Nextdoor, Roblox, TikTok, and Slack, conceived the app out of personal frustration. "My husband just takes awful photos of me. It was a true pain point in our marriage where I don't understand how he gets me to look just so terrible all the time," she explained to TechCrunch. Her co-founder Jing Liu, a former founding engineer at a 3D face-scanning startup, later worked on image and video models while at TikTok—expertise that proved foundational for the project.

Early Traction and Vision#

Superpose launched in July and has already accumulated over 22,000 downloads, with users generating more than 190,000 poses. Despite acknowledging that some AI-generated suggestions occasionally feel uncanny, Chu emphasized the startup's focus on authentic memory capture rather than fantastical scenarios. "We want to lean into the core of memory capture versus, say, putting you in a fantastical place that you've never been," she said. The company is actively refining generation quality, personalization, and real-time guidance features.

Backing#

The startup secured $2.2 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, Chinese smartphone and selfie app maker Meitu, and OVTR Ventures.

Learn more at Superpose Labs