Mirror a selfie

A front camera shows you a mirror while you frame the shot: raise your right hand and the hand on the right of the screen goes up, the way it does in a bathroom mirror. What it saves depends on the phone and a setting. Many phones save the photo un-mirrored — the way a person facing you, or the rear camera, would see you — so the picture in your gallery is the preview reversed. Nothing is wrong with either; they are the same picture read out in opposite directions.

On an iPhone with iOS 14 or later the switch is Settings → Camera → Mirror Front Camera. Turned on, saved selfies match the mirrored preview; turned off, the preview is mirrored but the saved photo is not (9to5Mac). On Samsung Galaxy phones the camera settings carry an option to save selfies as previewed, labelled differently across One UI versions (SamMobile). Other Android camera apps vary by maker; look for a mirror or flip option for the front camera. Those settings change future photos only — this page is for the ones you already have.

Writing is the quick test. A T-shirt slogan, a shop sign behind you or a book cover reads correctly in exactly one of the two versions, and that is the version everyone else saw. If the photo contains writing, the workspace says so under the picture before you save a mirrored copy.

1. 1Open the selfie. Drop it, pick it, or paste it. A HEIC from an iPhone opens too; the decoder for it is fetched from this site only when one is chosen. The photo stays in this tab.
2. 2Compare the two versions. The left pane is the file as your phone saved it; the right pane is the same photo mirrored, which is how the front camera previewed it. Drag the divider, or hold Space to see the saved version full width.
3. 3Pick one. Under the picture, choose As saved or As you saw it. If the saved version is the one you want, there is nothing to do — your original file is already that way round.
4. 4Save the mirrored copy. Download writes the chosen version. For a JPEG you can rewrite only its orientation tag, which keeps every byte of the photo, or re-encode it; for a PNG the file is exact.

A 3024 × 4032 front-camera JPEG of 2.1 MB opens with its orientation tag already resolved, so both panes stand upright. Choosing As you saw it and keeping the JPEG route on the tag rewrites one value in the file’s EXIF block and copies the rest — the saved file is 2.1 MB, the compressed picture is byte-identical to the original, and Check the saved file confirms every one of the 48,771,072 channel values matches the original mirrored. Choose Re-encode instead and the readout shows an estimated size before you save, and the check reports the measured difference afterwards rather than promising none.

• A flip does not change the lighting or the lens. If a selfie looks unflattering in both versions, the cause is usually a wide lens held close to the face, not the direction. Flipping cannot correct perspective.
• Writing in the photo reverses too. There is no way to mirror the face and keep the lettering forwards; the letters are pixels like everything else. The notice under the picture flags writing it can see.
• The tag route relies on the viewer. Rewriting the orientation tag keeps every byte, but an app that ignores EXIF orientation will show the photo unflipped. Re-encode if the picture is going somewhere that strips metadata.
• One photo at a time here. Open several selfies at once and the page switches to the folder surface, which flips each file by its own orientation and returns one ZIP.

Why does my selfie look different from the preview?

The front camera shows you a mirror, because that is what you are used to seeing and it makes moving into the frame easy. Many phones then save the photo un-mirrored — the way someone standing in front of you sees you. Same face, opposite way round, and because faces are not quite symmetrical the saved one can look slightly unfamiliar.

Which version is the real one?

Neither is more real. The saved version matches what other people and other cameras see; the mirrored version matches your bathroom mirror. Writing settles it: if there is text on your shirt or behind you, the saved version is the one where it reads correctly.

How do I stop my iPhone from flipping selfies?

On iOS 14 and later, go to Settings, Camera, and turn on Mirror Front Camera. With it on, the saved photo matches the mirrored preview; with it off, the preview is mirrored but the saved photo is not. It only affects new photos, so use this page for the ones you already took.

What about Samsung and other Android phones?

On Samsung Galaxy phones the camera settings have an option to save selfies as previewed; its label varies between One UI versions. Other Android cameras differ by maker — look in the camera app's settings for a mirror or flip option for the front camera.

Will flipping change how my face looks?

Only which way round it is. A flip moves every pixel to the opposite side and changes no value, so skin tone, sharpness and lighting stay exactly as they were. If a selfie still looks odd after flipping, it is the lens: a front camera held at arm's length is wide-angle and close, which enlarges whatever is nearest to it.

Is my selfie uploaded?

No. The photo is decoded by your browser, flipped on a canvas in this tab and handed back as a download. There is no server behind this page that could receive it.