Google Arts & Culture's Selfie Match Feature Goes Viral: Here's How to Use it Outside US

Google recently added a new feature to its Arts & Culture app on Android and iOS. Users can now match their selfies to famous portraits from international museums and galleries. Though the feature is officially restricted to US only for now, that hasn't stopped people from other countries for accessing the Google Arts & Culture app's latest feature and posting their own "selfie doppelganger". If you are wondering how those users got access to that feature, we are here to help.

Though anyone can download and use the Google Arts & Culture app, the new feature is currently region locked to US and not available in India and other countries. However, using a VPN service can allow you to access to the selfie matching feature in India. Here is a simple guide on how to do that.

Step 1: Start by downloading the Google Arts & Culture from Google Play Store or App Store. Do not open the app before the next step.

Step 2: Now, download a VPN - we recommend the Opera VPN app, available from the Play Store or App Store due to its reliability and ease to use. Once installed, open the Opera VPN app. Click on 'Switch location' under the Device Location tab, and select United States from the list.

Step 3: Once the location is changed, open the Google Arts & Culture app. Scroll down till a card appears titled "Is your portrait in a museum?" Click on Get Started and then select I Accept.

Step 4: The app will then ask for permission to access your front camera. Align your face in the provided frame, which will prompt the app to click a photo. The database and pattern recognition software now come into play, with the app scanning for similar portraits. Once done, it will display the four best matched options to choose from.

The app also displays the percentage of match for each image. Additionally, the Google Arts & Culture app will reveal the name of the selected portraits along with the museum it belongs to.

According to Google, the Google Arts & Culture app makes use of pattern recognition to recognise face patterns and understand characteristics of different faces. It looks for properties such as beards, glasses etc to select relevant portraits from its database.

Who do you look like the most? Let us know via the comments.