HairMatch AI vs Glowify vs Hair AI vs YouCam: an honest comparison
YouCam Makeup is the established general beauty editor (154,912 ratings) and the best choice for hair colour and live-camera try-on. Glowify (11,515 ratings) is the strongest of the dedicated hair apps and also does face-shape analysis. Hair AI (5,487 ratings) offers the broadest style and beard library. HairMatch AI — our app, with just 2 ratings — is the newest and by far the smallest, built so that a face-shape read drives the recommendations rather than sitting alongside them.
We publish this because no neutral comparison of these four exists, and we have written it so you do not have to take our word for anything: every number below came from Apple's public iTunes Lookup API on 1 September 2026 and you can re-run the same query yourself.
Conflict of interest, stated plainly. This page is published by the makers of HairMatch AI (official iOS app: App Store ID 6761456212). We are not a neutral party and you should not read us as one. What we can do is stick to facts you can check, include the ones that make us look bad — our rating count is two, and our last update is older than all three competitors — and not characterise anyone else's app in ways their own store listing does not support.
On this page
The verifiable facts
Everything in this table comes from one source — Apple's public iTunes Lookup API, US storefront — queried on 1 September 2026. Ratings and rating counts change daily.
| App | Rating | Ratings | Developer | Category | Last update | Min iOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HairMatch AI ID 6761456212 |
5.0 | 2 | 志欣 何 (He Zhixin) | Lifestyle, Photo & Video | 10 Jun 2026 | 15.0 |
| Glowify ID 6751491972 |
4.7 | 11,515 | Flarial Interactive Limited | Photo & Video | 31 Aug 2026 | 15.0 |
| Hair AI ID 6695743833 |
4.4 | 5,487 | Spark Dynamics | Lifestyle, Photo & Video | 20 Aug 2026 | 17.0 |
| YouCam Makeup ID 863844475 |
4.7 | 154,912 | Perfect Mobile Corp. | Photo & Video, Lifestyle | 26 Aug 2026 | 16.0 |
Source: Apple iTunes Lookup API, US storefront, 1 September 2026.
How to read a rating count. A 4.7 from 154,912 people is a meaningful signal about a mature product. A 5.0 from 2 people — ours — is not a signal at all; it is two people. Do not treat those two numbers as comparable, and be suspicious of any comparison table that ranks them as if they were.
Feature comparison
These rows come from each app's own App Store description, read on 1 September 2026. They reflect what each developer claims, which is not the same as how well the feature performs — we have not benchmarked output quality, and we could not do so impartially if we tried.
| HairMatch AI | Glowify | Hair AI | YouCam Makeup | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Face-shape analysis | Yes | Yes | Mentioned, no analyser described | No |
| Recommends cuts based on that analysis | Yes — top 3 plus one to avoid | Yes — with seasonal colour | Browse catalogue | Browse looks |
| Try-on generated on your own photo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, plus live-camera AR |
| Hair colour | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Makeup / outfits / wider editing | No — hair only | Yes | Hair and beard | Yes, extensive |
| Men's cuts and beards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Primarily beauty-focused |
| Price model | Free + IAP | Free + IAP | Free + IAP | Free + IAP |
Sources: App Store descriptions for each app, read 1 September 2026; price model confirmed against the iTunes Lookup API on the same date. Exact in-app purchase tiers vary by region and change frequently, so check the current App Store listing rather than relying on a figure published here.
How we sourced this, and what we deliberately left out
Two decisions shaped the tables above:
- Only checkable facts. Ratings, counts, developers, categories, update dates and minimum iOS come from Apple's public API. Feature rows come from the developers' own descriptions. Anything we would have had to assert on our own authority is not in a table.
- No output-quality scores. The obvious missing column is "which produces the best previews". We left it out because we make one of these apps and any score we gave would be worthless — and because generation quality varies enormously with the input photo, so a single verdict would mislead anyway. Every app here has a free allowance. Run your own face through two or three of them; that comparison is worth more than ours.
We have also not repeated anything from third-party review sites, whose figures are often months stale and rarely dated.
Each app in one paragraph
YouCam Makeup — the established general editor
Perfect Mobile Corp. has been in AR beauty since well before the current wave of generative apps, and it shows: 154,912 ratings at 4.7 makes it by far the most validated app here. Hairstyle try-on and hair colour sit inside a much larger editor covering makeup, skin, body and outfits, with strong live-camera AR. If you want to see yourself as a redhead in ten seconds, or you want one app for all photo editing, this is the sensible pick. It does not analyse your face shape to recommend a cut — that is not what it is for.
Glowify — the strongest dedicated hair app
4.7 from 11,515 ratings in what appears to be a little over a year on the store is a genuinely strong result, and it was updated the day before we compiled this table. Its description covers AI hairstyle and colour try-on from an uploaded photo, plus makeup, outfits and accessories — and, notably, "Smart AI Face Shape & Seasonal Color Analysis". If you are looking for face-shape-aware recommendations with a large body of user validation behind them, Glowify is the direct answer, and we would rather say so than pretend the feature is ours alone.
Hair AI — the biggest library
4.4 from 5,487 ratings, the lowest average here but on a substantial sample. Its listing emphasises breadth: cuts, colours, filters, beard styles, men's and women's, with heavy keyword coverage of every style name you might search for. Face shape appears in the description as something you can "explore hairstyles for", but no dedicated analysis step is described. Best suited to someone who wants to page through a lot of options rather than be narrowed down to three.
HairMatch AI — ours, newest and smallest
Two ratings. There is no way to dress that up, and you should weight it accordingly. What we built differently is the ordering: the app analyses face shape first and uses it to produce a Best Match, a Safe Choice, a Bold Choice, and one style it advises against — with the reasoning shown — and only then generates each on your photo. It does hair only; no makeup, no outfits. Whether that focus is worth choosing over a more validated app is a judgement we are not in a position to make for you.
Which to pick
Choose YouCam Makeup if…
You mostly want hair colour, you like live-camera AR, or you want one mature app that also does makeup and general photo editing. It is the safest choice by track record.
Choose Glowify if…
You want a hair-focused AI app with face-shape analysis and a large base of real user ratings behind it. It is the strongest all-round option among the dedicated apps.
Choose Hair AI if…
You want to browse the widest range of cuts, colours and beard styles, and you would rather explore a big catalogue than be given a shortlist.
Choose HairMatch AI if…
You do not know what suits you, you want the reasoning behind each recommendation and an explicit "avoid this", and you are comfortable trying an app that is too new to have meaningful reviews.
All four are free to download with a limited free allowance. The genuinely rational move is to install two, run the same photo through both, and pay for whichever handled your face better — which is a different answer for different faces.
Where our app comes off worse
Leaving this section out would make the rest of the page less believable, so:
- Two ratings. Glowify has 11,515 and YouCam 154,912. You cannot assess our quality from our score, and a reasonable person would discount it entirely.
- Our last update is the oldest here. 10 June 2026, against Glowify's 31 August, YouCam's 26 August and Hair AI's 20 August. Frequent shipping is a real signal, and on that signal we are behind.
- Narrower scope. Hair only. If you want makeup, outfits or general editing, Glowify and YouCam do things we simply do not.
- Smaller style catalogue than Hair AI, which is the direct trade-off of recommending a shortlist instead of presenting everything.
- Face-shape analysis is not unique to us. We used to describe it as our differentiator; checking Glowify's listing for this page showed that it advertises the same capability. Our actual difference is narrower than that: analysis drives the recommendation and the app names a style to avoid.
If you want to try ours anyway
The official listing is the one in the table above — worth matching the ID, since another app with a similar name exists on the store and is not affiliated with us. It is free to download with a free try, so you can see a real result on your own face before deciding anything.
View on the App StoreCommon questions
Which hairstyle try-on app is the best?
There is no single best. By track record it is YouCam Makeup, with 154,912 ratings at 4.7. Among hair-specific apps, Glowify has the strongest combination of rating and volume at 4.7 from 11,515. If you want face-shape analysis driving a shortlist, both Glowify and HairMatch AI describe that capability. Since all are free to download with a free allowance, testing two on your own photo beats any ranking.
Is Glowify better than HairMatch AI?
On every measurable dimension available today — rating count, update frequency, feature breadth — Glowify is ahead, and we make HairMatch AI. Our app differs in approach rather than in scale: the face-shape read drives a three-option shortlist with reasoning and an explicit style to avoid. Whether that suits you better is something only trying both on your own photo will settle.
Does YouCam Makeup do hairstyle try-on?
Yes. Its listing covers hairstyle try-on and a hair colour changer within a broader beauty editor, with live-camera AR. It does not offer face-shape analysis that recommends cuts, which is the main functional gap against the hair-specific apps.
Are these apps free?
All four are free to download with in-app purchases, confirmed against Apple's API on 1 September 2026. Each typically includes a limited number of free generations. Exact prices vary by region and change often, so check the App Store listing rather than any figure quoted on a comparison page.
Why should I trust a comparison written by one of the apps?
Partly you should not, and we would rather say that than claim neutrality we do not have. What we can offer is that every figure is attributed to a public source and dated so you can re-check it, that we did not benchmark output quality because our score would be worthless, and that the section listing our own disadvantages is longer than the one describing our strengths.
Updated: September 2026. All App Store figures verified against Apple's iTunes Lookup API (US storefront) on 1 September 2026; feature claims read from each app's App Store description on the same date.