The world of online gambling has been constantly expanding and evolving, with mobile casinos coming out on top in terms of recent innovations. According to projections, 2026 could be the year when a record number of people will be playing online casino games using their mobile devices. In fact, the level of convenience and accessibility that mobile casino gaming offers is such that you could find yourself playing during your commute, while relaxing at home, or even during your travels on mostbet online.
Besides the games themselves, one of the greatest charms of mobile casinos is the wealth of bonuses that players can receive. Whether it is a welcome offer, free spins, or loyalty rewards, such incentives can dramatically increase your gaming time and chances of winning. Of course, not all bonuses are created equal and if you want to get the most of your gaming session, you need to know how and when to use them.
This article will be your guide to mobile casino bonuses in 2026 and offer tips on how to get the most out of them.
Why Mobile Casino Bonuses Are More Popular Than Ever
Mobile casinos have been competing intensely for new customers and this has resulted in bigger and better bonus offers that are also more innovative. Since the majority of people who gamble nowadays prefer playing on their phone rather than using a computer, gambling operators come up with newer and better offers almost monthly that are targeted only at mobile users.
The major reasons why mobile casino bonuses are considered great are that you can:
Get quick access to promotions right through the application
Receive free spins for selected slot games
Enjoy cashback deals that compensate you for losses
Get loyalty points which can be redeemed for rewards
Have exclusive access to mobile-only bonuses
Being aware of these perks and knowing how to make the right choice and use bonuses will turn them into your secret weapon.
Welcome Bonuses: The First Step to Bigger Gameplay
A casino welcome package is typically the largest bonus the platform throws in with a new user’s first deposit. Its main aim is to lure new users to the site and is commonly a combination of a deposit match bonus and some free spins, especially when playing on Mostbet Casino.
In fact, a mobile casino can come up with the following offer:
100% deposit bonus up to $500
50 100 free spins on chosen slots
More loyalty points for mobile gaming
On the other hand, don’t forget to check the bonus conditions. Wagering requirements, game limitations, as well as time restrictions may make it hard for you to cash out your winnings.
The Rise of No Deposit Bonuses
A no deposit casino bonus is undoubtedly one of the most attractive promotions in the whole world of online gambling. Simply by the name, you can get a small bonus from the casino, usually free spins or a few dollars in credit, without even making a deposit.
These types of promotions are, in fact, very frequent in 2026 and mostly on mobile platforms since casinos are eager for people to install their apps and try the new games.
The advantages of no deposit bonuses are:
Exploring games without any risk
Testing mobile capabilities
Winning real money without any investment
Yes, these bonuses have more strict wagering requirements than usual but nevertheless, they are a wonderful way for newbies to get familiar with online casino playing before investing their own money.
Free Spins and Slot Bonuses
Almost all the games in mobile casinos is slot games, that is why free spins are the most popular promotional offers. So if you are a person who likes spin the reels, first you have to know how to win casino slots because that is where the bonuses give you more pluses.
Free spins give players a possibility to have a go at the games without spending their own money. Usually any winnings that come from these spins can be turned into real cash by meeting the wagering requirements.
Can You Really Start Your Own Online Casino?
Online gambling is growing so quickly that many entrepreneurs have started thinking about how to start a casino. Using modern white-label solutions and gaming software providers, launching a digital casino is something you can do now.
Nevertheless, it still involves:
Getting proper licences and following regulations
Having safe payment methods
Making deals with game developers
Creating powerful marketing campaigns
Despite the complexity, the booming mobile gaming industry keeps drawing the attention of those who want to invest in the next big casino brand.
Final Thoughts
In 2026, mobile gambling will be faster, smarter, and more rewarding than ever before. As the smartphone is becoming the main device via which people get their entertainment, mobile casinos are always coming up with new promotions to not only attract players but also keep them engaged.
Bonuses like welcome packages, no deposit casino offers, and free spins are among the best methods players have at their disposal for trying out different games and making their winnings grow, potentially. Knowing the rules, selecting the right promotions, and even mastering the winning ways of a casino slot can all contribute to turning a mobile casino bonus into an essential part of your gaming strategy.
If you play with a responsible attitude and take full benefit of the best offers, mobile casino bonuses can actually turn an ordinary gaming session into a very thrilling and even rewarding one.
A Friend, a Murderer isn’t your average crime docuseries. Rather than focusing on the victims or killer, the Danish production shines the spotlight on the killer’s close friends. This approach ups the unsettling factor.
It also makes the series incredibly watchable. With 3.5 million views last week, A Friend, a Murderer is currently the fourth most-watched non-English show on Netflix in its second week navigating the charts. Should viewers expect more episodes?
A Friend, a Murderer Season 2 Release Date
At the time of writing, there’s no official news about any potential A Friend, a Murderer season 2. Given that this is a docuseries, a follow-up is unlikely unless new information comes to light.
Even then, the production focuses on the perspective of the perpetrator’s entourage. There’s a good chance they’ve shared everything they felt comfortable to, so the three episodes available might be all there is.
A Friend, a Murderer Cast
The docuseries offers interviews with three of the killer’s former friends. It also features contributions from a journalist, a local priest, and other figures relevant to the case.
What Is A Friend, a Murderer About?
A Friend, a Murderer is a three-part true crime series that explores how a quiet Danish community was shattered by a string of violent crimes. Not only that, but it delves into another shocking revelation.
The docuseries is told through the perspective of three friends who look back on their past with someone they trusted. As the investigation unfolds, they are forced to confront an unbearable truth. Turns out, the person responsible for inflicting terror was someone who had been part of their everyday lives.
Blending interviews and reconstructed memories, the series focuses less on the killer himself and more on how he managed to hide in plain sight. That way, it removes the usual distance we place between ourselves and true crime. There’s no obvious villain archetype here, like a loner or outsider. Just a man living a horrifying double life. It makes you ask yourself how well you truly know the people around you.
The killer is now behind bars, and the friends have told their story. While A Friend, a Murderer season 2 is unlikely, the three episodes streaming are unnerving, to say the least.
Augusta Koch came to Jeff Rosenstock asking for advice. The ex-Cayetana songwriter, who now plays in the bands Gladie and Universal Girlfriend, had been touring with the punk rock lifer on and off for over a year when she sent him demos of Gladie’s galvanizing new record, No Need to Be Lonely, the follow-up to 2022’s Don’t Know What You’re In Until You’re Out. By that point, more than just demo friends, they were friends friends, putting Rosenstock in the general category of people that many songs on the album feed off of and serve to uplift. “I brace myself to embrace you,” roars the chorus of one early single; “Know that I look to you, just to keep myself moving,” goes another. Rosenstock decided to produce the record, and they tracked it live to tape with Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden in Oakland. It’s no surprise the most dynamic songs on No Need to Be Lonely end up sounding eruptive, but the collaborative spirit enriches and sweetens the quieter songs, too, from the devastating catharsis of ‘Fix Her’ to the raw confessions of ‘Blurry’. It’s the rare gut-punch of a record that makes you feel lighter each time you play it.
For the first installment of our In Conversation series, Jeff Rosenstock and Gladie’s Augusta Koch hopped on Zoom to talk about their friendship origin story, sobriety, making No Need to Be Lonely, and more.
Augusta Koch: This is gonna be hard, because we really hate each other.
Jeff Rosenstock: [laughs] I think it’s gonna be hard because the opposite, which is the truth, Gus, which is that we really like each other, so I prepared nothing. I’m like, “It’ll be fine,” but now I’m like, “What do I have?”
AK: Yeah.
JR: What color’s your hair? Why do you play all six strings of the guitar? What’s your favorite kind of instrument cable?
AK: I actually got really cool new ones, Jeff.
JR: Yeah? Do you have coilies?
AK: No, they’re all neon.
JR: Nice, I love that. Do you all have neons, or is it just you?
AK: Just me.
JR: Lead singership.
AK: I know, I’m a brat. That was good.
JR: I started using white cables, and I found that I don’t trip over them as much on stage anymore.
AK: Because you see them. That’s valuable.
JR: They’re very valuable cables. You know what’s fucking bullshit? [laughs] This is maybe for no one, but remember how Monster guitar cables were more expensive, but then it was you could go to Guitar Center, and they’ll just give you another one anytime they break?
AK: I know that.
JR: Well, they don’t do it anymore. Now they’re like, “We have to mail them away,” which is useless on tour. But the cheap ones, they do that with. Anyway.
AK: Weird. Do you buy cheap ones now?
JR: Yes.
AK: Cool. I’ve never broken a guitar cable.
JR: What? I think I break them all the time. It’s the easiest thing to break.
AK: I don’t break guitar strings either, though.
JR: You don’t change your guitar strings, right?
AK: Here’s a good way to start the interview. How long ago do you think I changed my guitar strings?
JR: I don’t think you’ve changed them since we made the record.
AK: Absolutely.
JR: Is it the guitar you brought on our tour?
AK: Yes.
JR: I don’t think you’ve changed him since that tour?
AK: I did change them before we recorded.
JR: Oh, okay. So a year. The guitar of mine that you used, I haven’t changed the strings on since the recording. But I haven’t toured with it. You know who doesn’t like to change strings? A little old man named Neil Young.
AK: I’m just like Neil. [laughs]
JR: You’re just like Neil.
AK: I’ve been saying this.
JR: Alright, that’s all my questions.
AK: Yeah, that’s all I got.
JR: We started at a book club. I feel like this could delve really quickly into, like, what’s all the private stuff that we get into on our own time that is both not interesting and also…
AK: Really depressing.
JR: Yeah?
AK: We talk about depressing stuff.
JR: But talking about depressing stuff isn’t depressing, talking about depressing stuff is good.
Are the books you’re reading depressing?
JR: It isn’t an uplifting book so far.
AK: The book club is called Bookworms.
JR: We have a Discord with a few friends. We’re currently reading The Great Believers. Some of us are… It seems like we’re all reading.
AK: Allegra [Anka] is reading it.
JR: Goo got it. Matt [Schimelfenig] got it. Ginger [Alford] couldn’t find it and got a different book.
AK: That’s not how a book club works, but okay.
JR: [laughs] But maybe it’s how our book club works.
AK: I like it, freestyle book club. But it’s a good book. I was reading it this morning.
JR: How do you feel about the middle of books?
AK: I’m locked in. I’m gonna be in the van for 36 hours, I’m gonna finish that book.
JR: I know, and I’m playing that game, Silksong, that Mike [Huguenor] and John [DeDomenici] were screaming at in the back of the van on our whole last tour.
AK: Yeah, that was annoying.
JR: It’s a hard game, and I’m probably not that deep into it, but I feel like that was slightly overreacting.
AK: Yeah, when I went on tour with Jeff last year, there were people screaming about a video game.
JR: But I was screaming, too. I was screaming aboutjumpy game. So, half of us were playing Silksong, and then me and Rick and sometimes Gus were playing this game called Velgris, which is part of this other game called UFO 50, where you just have to keep jumping. It was a very complicated game, and then a very simple game. And all of it made us scream. Kevin [Higuchi]’s watching YouTube. Christine [Mackie]’s scrolling. Dan P’s up there, ribbing Rick Johnson. What’s your van vibe like? I know that you and Matt split the drives, but what’s everybody else up to?
AK: Well, everybody drives now. We listen to music.
JR: I know, Miles [Ziskind], death metal guy, we talk about death metal a lot. But what’s everybody listening to?
AK: If you’re the driver, you pick the music. Classic rule. But Miles listens to a lot of jazz.
JR: Freaky jazz or chill jazz?
AK: Both. And a lot of hip-hop. Evan [Demianczyk] likes 90s’ emo shit. I listen to, you know, the same old stuff.
JR: What’s the same old stuff? What gets your gears turning when the wheels are turning?
AK: I like to listen to new music on tour. I make some playlists. I’m excited, because Aldous Harding’s record is coming out while we’re on tour. I also like to listen to podcasts. I think we’re gonna try and do a book on tape for this drive.
JR: Do you know what yet?
AK: No, we’re doing some research. You have any good recommendations?
JR: It depends on how willing you are to commit to this, but Scar Tissue, which is Anthony Kiedis’ biography.
AK: Oh, I’ve heard that is really good, actually.
JR: Ryder Strong, who played Sean Hunter on Boy Meets World, is excellent.
AK: Funny you bring that up, he was my first crush.
JR: Oh my god, this is a hard recommendation. You will not be disappointed.
AK: I do love music books, and I heard it’s really messed up.
JR: It’s really messed up. He does voices for the characters, which is also kind of funny.
AK: That’s a great idea. There’s a Bruce Springsteen biography, which is fun. He reads it himself, and he says “fake problems” at some point, which is just fun to hear him say.
AK: I’ve read that book. I want to read the Replacements book. Danielle said it’s really good.
JR: I read Trouble Boys, but there’s another one, right? Did you read Trouble Boys?
AK: No.
JR: Trouble Boys was good. Man, that’s a sadass story.
AK: They were pretty crazy, huh?
JR: There’s the famous, Bob having quit drinking, and then Paul Westerberg saying, “Drink a beer, get the fuck off my stage,” and then he died of alcoholism after that.
AK: That is sad. Shouldn’t be mean to your sober friends, ever.
JR: Yeah, you shouldn’t be mean to your sober friends ever. Can we talk about that? Are you…
AK: Sure.
JR: How long have you been so–
AK: Well, remember when we were on tour, and I thought I had been sober for 4 years, but then I realized it was 5?
JR: Yeah. [laughs] One, five years to me feels like a major milestone, and I love that you just didn’t realize that you did it. And also, congratulations.
AK: Oh, thank you.
JR: Does it feel regular at this point?
AK: It definitely feels regular, I don’t really think about it at all, unless… Well, when my dog died, I wanted to drink. I think I texted you being like, “I want a drink.”
JR: Yeah, that makes sense. RIP Benny. Sweet dog.
AK: Yeah, the coolest dog. But yeah, it feels regular, I feel good. It’s nice to have something that you’re proud of.
JR: Sure.
AK: And… I don’t wake up feeling like shit.
JR: No?
AK: I mean, for other reasons.
JR: Come on, I’m not believing that!
AK: I don’t wake up, like, covered in shame.
JR: That’s true. Well…
AK: Just regular self-hate.
JR: [laughs] Regular shame, not drunk shame.
AK: Yeah, I can’t even imagine it.
JR: I’m noticing that younger folks drink less. Younger folks don’t drink at all. They don’t give a shit.
AK: They don’t. They’re over it.
JR: You’re on the next wave already. You’re basically Gen Alpha.
AK: I know. I’m getting younger.
JR: What’s beyond that? Gen Beta? Which brings us to cuck chairs, which you love, so that makes sense. And we could quickly explain cuck chairs, how do you feel about that?
AK: You can explain it, Jeff.
JR: I mean, is your press cycle all cuck chairs because of… [laughs]
AK: Yeah, I think so.
JR: So, cucking is essentially, you sit and you watch your partner fuck somebody else, and you do whatever you do while that’s happening. A cuck chair – which, once you see it, you can’t unsee it – it’s in pretty much every hotel room. There is an inexplicable armchair that’s just angled towards the bed. I kind of always thought it was for, like, if you want to sit and read a book or something.
AK: I think it is a reading chair.
JR: It could be both. So, what are you looking for in a cuck chair?
AK: Just something funny. Like a ‘70s vibe. Do you ever see those egg chairs?
JR: Yeah. Like a hangy egg chair?
AK: Yeah. Or a hammock.
JR: Cuck hammock.
AK: That’s gotta be… Someone’s doing that. We gotta move on from this. Why don’t we talk about our friendship origin story?
JR: I was trying to think about this. It seems like we were friends, and then we were immediately, like, very good friends. And I don’t know when that switch flipped. I know the bond got strengthened when we did that tour with [Sydney] Gish that we had to end. But I feel like it was already pretty strong there, and I’m not sure exactly where that came from.
AK: You know where it came from? ‘Cause I was thinking about this today. When we hung out at Steve’s house from PUP, when it was Cayetana’s last show in Canada. That was the first time we really talked. Like, we had been friends, but we never talked.
JR: At that point, you had done the compilation, right?
AK: Oh, Don’t Stop Now? Yeah, I had done a few of those. And you always said yes, which was nice.
JR: Yeah, I loved it, and I loved Cayetana, I loved Gladie.
AK: And then we played the Sheena, Anika, and Augusta shows.
JR: Yeah, and that was fun. What a great record.
AK: And then we became better friends. Yeah, I was listening to it the other day.
JR: For anybody reading this, the Sheena, Anika, and Augusta 7”, Simple Pleasures, with artwork by the wonderful Danielle DuBois.
AK: But then we played that show, and I think that was also the beginning.
JR: Yeah, it was like building blocks. I think we have a lot of same-brain stuff – aside from our mental health issues, we like a lot of the same music, books, and things like that. I guess once we were on that tour, it was just like, “Let’s go.” And I think we were all just blown away by Sydney Gish every night.
AK: Yeah, that was a really fun tour. That was the first tour in a long time where I was like, “This is so fun.”
The first time you really talked, do you remember what that conversation was about? Music, books, mental health?
AK: You know what I think we were talking about?
JR: What?
AK: Politics.
JR: Okay. Was that when you found out my politics were good? [laughs]
AK: I always assume that they’re terrible.
JR: Same with you, and I was like, “Wow! She doesn’t like Trump. Okay, I’m in.”
AK: I think that’s what it was, because I do remember tangentially talking about Bernie Sanders, but not really…
JR: I bet that was around the time that we would be talking about the conflict that exists within Bernie Sanders having a lot of really good policies that I agree with, but how nice it would be to not vote for a fucking old white guy?
AK: Yeah, because that was 2019, so it would have been right before good old Sleepy Joe.
JR: Good ol’ Sleepy Joe. Our finest president.
AK: Is he dead? I think he’s dead.
JR: Which one’s gonna die first? Oh my god, do you know about this fucker, I forget his name, who’s like 59 years old – he looks like he’s 30 years old, and he’s like, “My goal is to never die. And if I ever am close to dying, I’m gonna be uploaded to the singularity, so people could learn from me.” It’s like, “Learn what? You’re a fucking idiot, and you don’t respect how fucking life has worked for millennia, you dumb shit?”
AK: Is he the guy who has the documentary about himself?
JR: Maybe. I just read an article on him. He sounds like a guy that would.
AK: Would you want to be uploaded to a cloud?
JR: No. I am uploaded to a cloud. Music. I already did it, you know, and so did you. But I think it’s gross. I think it’s really arrogant to be like, “I want to be in the cloud so people can experience me for all times.” But at the same time, I think it’s beautiful that when you make music, in a way, even if in a small way, it lives on, if not forever, for a really long time. It could get passed down from generation to generation to generation, even if just one tape survives 20 years from now. And even beyond music, just your memories of somebody keeps them alive, and retelling their story keeps them alive. So, I’m into that shit, and then I’m like, “Well, is that really any different than this fucking ding-dong?”
AK: I think it is. Because it’s music, and it’s beautiful.
JR: Would you want to upload yourself to the cloud?
AK: Absolutely not. Would you ever want to be frozen? Like, so you could get brought back to life?
JR: Oh! Yeah. I’ve never thought about it, but sure. You wouldn’t want to?
AK: I wouldn’t. I don’t want to wake up in, like, 50 years and be…
JR: Oh, wait, I’m gonna be brought back to, like, 50 years from now? [laughs] That’s not exciting.
AK: Yeah, wouldn’t it be weird?
JR: Yeah, but I don’t know, it’s weird now.
AK: I mean, maybe it will be better.
JR: I don’t think I would benefit from it mentally or emotionally or anything, but I think it would be funny, and I love a good bit.
AK: It would be scary. Everyone you know would be dead.
JR: Yeah, but… That’s true. That’d be fucked up.
AK: Did you ever read that book when you were a kid, Tuck Everlasting?
JR: No.
AK: Where they drink this water, and it makes them live forever, and it’s really sad.
JR: Okay, living forever… hard pass. Hard pass onliving forever. Let’s say it’s a fine point to be frozen when, like, I’m about to die, but also my body still works, and something’s miraculous about it. And then I get to live out my final year in, like, a crazy future. Why not?
AK: Yeah, that’s kinda nice, actually. How about this, Jeff, we can talk about how we came to make the record together.
JR: You sent me demos, right?
AK: We send each other demos, which is a really cute thing. I think that’s one of my favorite parts of playing music, is friends sending each other demos.
JR: I send demos to you and, like, Chris Farren, and that’s pretty much it.
AK: It’s nice, though. It’s nice to have demo friends. I sent you mine, because I was asking for advice. And you called me, because I remember sitting outside, and Matt was there too, and you were like, “Let’s do this!”
JR: I remember being in the van, asking everybody. I was like, “I think I wanna produce this Gladie record.” Because I hadn’t really produced a record since before the pandemic. I recorded this record by this band, Fuss, on my 8-track, but that wasn’t really the same thing as this. I was scared to do it, but you were like, “Do you have any advice on this stuff?” And I remember feeling like I do have advice, but I feel like more than advice, just being there and being able to try and encourage everybody into believing that it’s good, and feeling all the shit in there, and getting Jack involved to record it super clear and super well. I really liked the demos, and I really liked the songs. I think I said, “I feel like I could see some spots for, a little bit of extra dynamic,” and you were like, “Yeah, I feel like maybe it feels a little flat.” And I was like, “Okay, we should just do this.” Because that’s easier than texting. I don’t even know what I would text. I really like your records, they’re really lush and cool, and when I heard these songs after touring with you for so long, I was like, “I feel like Gladie’s ready to rip.” I just wanted to be the little friend in the ear being like, “Hey, make this one rip!”
AK: Yeah. I would say one of your greatest qualities as a person is that you’re very encouraging.
JR: Thanks. I’m glad you feel that way. Sometimes I feel like Tina Fey in Mean Girls. I’m a pusher. I’m a mean old pusher.
AK: No, it’s a good thing. I was thinking about what to write for the record tomorrow [release day], because I haven’t done it yet. I’ve been doing an email blast.
JR: Love it. I like emails these days.
AK: Me too. I saw this fucking quote on Instagram yesterday, and I don’t repost quotes because I’m like, “That’s corny,” but in my heart, I love them. It was something like, “I always try and mention my friends’ names in any room that wants to hear them, because that’s what friends do.” And I always try to do that, but I also think you are a great example of that.
JR: I try to do that.
AK: But you do that for everybody, and as someone who is now – I know you’re not gonna like this, but your band is really big now, and you still do that. So many people that I came up playing music with got really famous, and I saw that they don’t really uplift people anymore. And I’m like, “Damn, that sucks.” It’s so important for me – that’s how music works, I think. You have to uplift smaller bands. I still listen to and try and know what’s going on in Philly with 20-year-old bands, kids that are young, because that’s what’s helped me. I’ve tried to do that for people, and I think you’re really good at doing that. Encouragement to me is a big part of the record. A lot of it is friends that encourage me, and me trying to be a good friend. And also trying to do that for myself even though I’m out of it.
JR: It’s hard, the second thing’s harder. I wonder if there’s some toxic part of it – of course I wonder if there’s a toxic part of this nice thing you just said to me [laughs] – where it’s easier to do that for others than it is to do for yourself, because there’s a really blurry line between when you give yourself a compliment versus when you are an arrogant fucking prick. Where you’re full of yourself and you got a big head and your ego’s crazy. That’s the kind of person I don’t like to be around, and that I don’t want to be, and it makes me feel gross. But we all see bands get more popular, and when they don’t bring everybody into the party – the bands I liked growing up did that. I would read the thank you notes on the liner notes of records and find out about bands that way, because I feel like these punk bands that got bigger would shout out their smaller punk band friends, and it worked like that. And then I feel like there was maybe a bit of an era where a band would get some indie fame, and it was like, where’s this scene behind you? You gotta do what you gotta do to keep it going, in a sense. But also, I don’t think it works, man. That isn’t gonna work out for you, because then when your moment is done, you’re just around, and you have no one, and where are your friends? You kind of said fuck you to all of them. Maybe I’m speaking too hypothetically now, because I don’t even know what I’m talking about.
AK: No, I think that’s true.
JR: I think AJJ’s really good at that.
AK: They’re great at that.
JR: I think it’s cool that as big as they have gotten, they’ve really always taken friends–
AK: They’ve taken me on tour twice. That kind of stuff is so helpful. I always think about how I want to be, and how I would like to be as opposite from all the bad things in the world.
JR: Very noble of you, Gus.
AK: No, but in the sense of, like, if I’m going to hate these elites, or these people destroying the world, I want to try and figure out how to do the opposite, which is not being bitter, not being individualistic, not being a hater all the time, even though I can hate a little bit. Really trying to remind myself of living by some good values. And it’s also nice to have role models. We have a lot of good friends that do that, I think.
JR: Leaning into that vibe, something that stood out to me when I heard the demos of this record were the lyrics. They’re very much like talking to a friend, but also, talking to a friend that’s often encouraging you, and encouragement is such a difficult thing to put into a song without it sounding saccharine or like self-help bullshit. But I think you really pull it off in an incredibly special way on this record, especially ‘I Want That for You’ and ‘Brace Yourself’. Do you feel like there was a shift on this record where you wanted to do that more? Does it feel like something you were always doing? Does it feel like a natural progression?
AK: I don’t know if it’s changed, I feel like it’s kind of the same. But your life changes, so it’s gonna change what you’re writing about a little bit. The last record was so much about being sober, and the weird thing that happens when you’re sober for a while is, I do think you kind of learn who you really are, for better or worse. I realized that I had some really bad codependency issues, and I think when people say codependency, it’s like you’re reliant on a partner. But when I actually started working on that, I realized it was being a people pleaser. Being a people pleaser, to me, now that I’ve tried to do some work on it, is not really knowing who you are; or knowing who you are, but being afraid to advocate for yourself or be strong. I notice it in little tiffs that come up where I’m alarmed, and I don’t know how to react because I don’t want the person to think badly of me. It’s not a good thing.
JR: I know, for sure.
AK: In a way, it’s incredibly disingenuous. It’s been something that I have had to work on a lot. But then it’s also revealing your true nature, which can be good and bad. Because it’s hard to stand up for yourself. I think a lot of the record is about standing up for yourself. Something I’ve noticed in this sobriety healing shit is that when you change and you were always a pushover, people don’t like it. And that’s really hard, and people talk about that, but seeing it in actuality – I’ve had relationships that have really changed that were really important to me because I stopped being a pushover. And that is super weird and really depressing, because then you realize: Did you ever really love me, or did you love that I just accommodated you all the time? So with the encouraging aspect, I try and be a friend that people can come to, and – here’s a compliment, I will say I’m a good friend.
JR: You’re a great friend.
AK: But I also realized that a lot of my relationships changed when I was like, “This isn’t a reciprocal friendship.” When I stopped being a pushover, I lost some people that I really cared about. And so, the encouraging of friends is also selfishly written for me.
JR: I’m not trying to just throw a warm blanket and a mug of tea at you right now, but also, that stuff that is for you, like psyching yourself up to face difficult moments through the course of this record, it’s just strength and resilience that you can feel and makes you feel like, “I could do this too.” There’s something really special about the lyrics on this record that resonate with the person inside, at least me, and I think will with others, that wants to get better at that, to be strong enough to advocate for themselves, and not conflate advocating for yourself with being unkind to others. I think that must be difficult for you as, honestly, one of the kindest people I’ve met in my entire life. Like, how do you advocate for yourself when people see you as this beam of kindness? And it’s like, well, no, sometimes I feel like shit, and sometimes I want things too.
AK: Yeah. And I do think the nice thing that I learned in this little chapter is I’m being more honest with myself, and I’m being more honest in my relationships. I’m not gonna have a bunch of relationships that aren’t real anymore. And I think the relationships I do have are much richer.
JR: Can I ask you some questions about the making of the record?
AK: Sure.
JR: Can you describe the smell of the house that we stayed in?
AK: It smelled like sewage.
JR: How did you feel about the sewage smell?
AK: It didn’t bother me that much.
JR: What was your favorite thing you watched while we were there?
AK: Mr. Beast videos.
JR: That was your favorite?!
AK: I think that’s all I remember. You showed me MrBeast!
JR: MrBeast is… Look, I’m not in or anything, but I feel like everybody’s gotta see one of those once, it’s crazy.
AK: I think it just came out that he’s alt-right.
JR: That he’s alright?
AK: No, that he’s alt-right. So the opposite.
JR: Who the fuck is shocked that MrBeast is alt-right?
AK: Not me.
JR: No one. I feel like he was doing these stunts where it’s like, “I bring a million gallons of water to this starving community somewhere,” and I feel like people were like, “Fuck you, man,” even though he was trying to do a good thing. So I could see how he would get, like, “Fuck you, guys, I’m just gonna be 100% bad. I’m not trying to be 2% good.” So, I can’t buy Feastables anymore at the store, because he’s alt-right, that’s good.
AK: I know, sorry, Jeff, it sucks.
JR: Cancel my subscription to his zine. [laughs] What about Jack? He’s a fun little sweet weirdo, and I love him.
AK: Well, I was scared of him at first.
JR: Yeah? Why?
AK: Because he’s a hardcore guy, and I was like, “What if he hates me?” Everything he records is, like, crazy. Besides your band, of course. But he records a lot of heavier stuff! And then, he was so sweet. He does intermittent fasting, which I think is really cute.
JR: What’s your favorite song on the record right?
AK: I think my favorite is ‘Talk Past Each Other’.
JR: Cool!
AK: I like a slowie, you know this.
JR: It’s a short, chill slowie, too. And you got no slow songs as a single, huh?
AK: Well, ‘Brace Yourself’ is kinda slow, right?
JR: I guess I’m equating slow with quiet, which is wrong.
AK: ‘Blurry’ was cool.
JR: One take?
AK: One take. And ‘Fix Her’, I think, is one of the ones I’m most proud of.
JR: You should be. That song is special.
AK: We’re playing it on this tour, which is fun.
JR: How are you doing the piano stuff?
AK: We’re not.
JR: Cool!
AK: It’s just guitar. But my favorites are always the songs that no one likes. How about you?
JR: ‘Fix Her’ is one of my favorites, too. If I had a voice in it, which I shouldn’t have, because that isn’t how it works, but if I was in this band and I got a vote on a single, I would have ‘Fix Her’. I like ‘I Want That For You’ a lot.
AK: That’s the most meaningful song, I think.
JR: Yeah, that’s a beautiful tune. ‘Car Alarm’ is a banger. Really like ‘Unfolding’. And low-key ‘Poison’. It’s such a good punk jam.
AK: That’s gonna be fun to play on tour. Wait, really important question, are you still blue?
JR: Kinda. [Takes off hat] I have a little, but it’s on its way out. I had a short little era here, and that was fun. What, you’re disappointed?
AK: A little bit.
JR: I don’t want to like the maintenance of it. It doesn’t seem like you have to do maintenance at all. Because I toured with you, and it was just good blue the whole time.
AK: I just throw it in my hair and then wash it out.
JR: How do you not get it all over your fucking head?
AK: I don’t have that problem.
JR: Yeah. You got more hair! When you got more hair, it’s easier. But I’m also low-key painting, like, the thin spots of my head with blue, which feels weird.
AK: I think it’s cool.
JR: It’s fine, it’s fun, but also, I’m not gonna do it for a little bit. Now I’m in Suicidal Tendencies hat era, which I feel like is gonna be a short era.
AK: Dude, I’m in hat era, too.
JR: Yeah, let me see some hats. What do you got?
AK: It’s not in this room. I have one hat. It’s blue, and it says Angel Du$t.
JR: Oh, wow. So they’re both hardcore hats.
AK: We’re tough.
JR: Yeah, we’re tough. What record are you looking forward to this year, aside from Aldous Harding? Talk about Aldous Harding a little bit.
AK: I always talk about her, man. I love her. But I’m also excited for Hurray for the Riff Raff’s live record that comes out tomorrow. I don’t normally like live albums that much, but I heard the first two songs from it, and it’s so good. I’m excited to be record birthday twins with that record.
JR: I’m really excited for your record to come out tomorrow. I think people are really really gonna love it.
AK: I’m excited, too, because if it fails miserably, I’m just gonna go to nursing school.
JR: So, either way… Either the record is good or you’ll be like, “Thank God I don’t have to keep trying to fuckin’ be a professional musician,” one of the dumbest things you could try to do.”
AK: But I’ve done it a lot longer than I thought I would.
JR: And the thing that I think rocks about you, and this is where, again, same brain: I think you’re gonna play music forever.
AK: For sure. I really look forward to being an old lady playing music in my garage with my friends.
JR: If we’re living in the same location, and we’re old, can we rock together? Or at least play shows together.
AK: I would love to rock together, our band would be so good.
JR: Right? What are we playing? I’m playing drums, what are you playing?
AK: I’m just singing.
JR: Wow, now we’re a mature indie band. Drums and vocalist.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Netflix has been killing it with dark thrillers recently, and That Night is no exception. The Spanish production, clocking in at six episodes, is the kind of show that slowly unravels its many layers, keeping viewers glued to the screen.
This approach works well. With 3.8 million views last week, it became the second most-watched non-English show on the platform, and the #1 title in four countries. Does that mean fans can gear up for a follow-up?
That Night Season 2 Release Date
At the time of writing, Netflix hasn’t announced plans for a potential That Night season 2. Additionally, the thriller is listed as a limited series, and the story wraps up neatly by the time the end credits roll.
All in all, it looks like season 1 is all we get. Still, you never know. If the series becomes a hit, a sequel is never out of the question.
That Night Cast
Paula Usero as Cris Arbizu
Claudia Salas as Paula Arbizu
Clara Galle as Elena Arbizu
Pedro Casablanc as Javier Arbizu
Nüll García as Luisa
Jan Luis Castellanos as Will
What Is That Night About?
Inspired by the novel by Gillian McAllister, That Night, originally titled Esa noche, is a psychological thriller about sisterhood, trauma, and consequences. The story follows three sisters whose bond is tested after a catastrophic decision.
During a vacation in the Dominican Republic, the youngest of the bunch, Elena, runs over a man with her car. Terrified and alone, she calls her sisters, Paula and Cris. What follows is a desperate attempt to cover up the incident. Their actions spiral into a lengthy chain of consequences.
Told through multiple perspectives and timelines, That Night explores family loyalty and guilt. Truth often becomes distorted when people protect the ones they love, but the past has a pesky penchant of never staying buried.
By the time the finale wraps up, we learn the sisters’ fate and get answers to pretty much all of our questions. This is the kind of show that provides food for thought, encouraging viewers to consider what they would have done in the characters’ shoes. That makes for engaging viewing.
While That Night season 2 is unlikely, the six episodes streaming tell a riveting story. Sometimes, less truly is more.
In the aftermath of the biggest book event of the year, UK is again paying some attention to the written word. The London Book Fair was a true summit of international heavyweights from all over the world, with US author Rob Porter being names the Narrator of the Fair and Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo winning the prestigious Author of the Day title. The presence of those foreign titans raises an interesting question: how easy is it for today’s writers to cross-borders and attend literary festivals and fairs.
The answer depends primarily on the passport they carry and the location you want to visit. For some it could be as easy as going on a picnic, but for others the paths may be far less open.
How Can UK Writers Travel Abroad to Promote Their Work
United Kingdom enjoys a fairly privileged status when global travel is concerned. British scribes can travel visa-free to the United States at will although lately the regulations have been tightened, especially for business-related trips. They can also cross into any EU country and stay up to 3 months without a need to ask for official permission. Even in cases where a visa might be required, it’s typically just a formality when you present valid documents that have been confirmed by official UK apostille services and pay the fees. The relative ease of crossing borders is definitely one of the overlooked factors that helps the UK maintain its status as a great country for successful authors to live and work in. Still, those who keep a busy international schedule would be well-advised to check the requirements before traveling to a country for the first time.
How Easy Is It For US and EU-based Writers to Travel
The situation is mostly favourable in the rest of Europe, where residents have the ability to travel across the continent without crossing any visible borders. Visitors from across the ocean are also welcome in the UK and EU, so moving within the Western cultural sphere is usually effortless. However, with a war on the Europe’s eastern border, an explosive situation in the Middle East, and a series of military coups in Africa, there are more and more no-go zones for Western writers. While in some cases it may be possible to legally enter the region, security may not be guaranteed and foreigners mat be targeted for robbery or even kidnapping. Unfortunately, the world of art has always been subject to political dictates and the increasing polarisation of global relations is not doing any favours to writers with an adventurous spirit.
What About the Voices from the Developing World?
Perhaps most alarmingly, it’s becoming more common for authors from nations in Asia or Africa to be denied travel permissions to visit book fairs and other events. The denials come both from their own nations which sometimes want to prevent local voices from being heard, and from host countries which may simply consider them a risk due to their passports. This effectively silences large parts of the world in the bigger narrative, and limits the perspectives of the remaining community of writers. With many countries moving to make migration laws more restrictive, there are fears that it could have a negative impact of freedom of movement for legitimate reasons. Fragmentation of the international family of writers and book lovers would be a disastrous outcome that could hamper collaboration for decades to come. This is why widely respected institutions such as the London Book Fair have an important role as ambassadors of global unity in their domain.
If you’re craving a legal drama with a twist, Phantom Lawyer might be just what the doctor ordered. The Korean series, available on Netflix, dabbles in the paranormal, which instantly elevates its case-of-week formula.
Viewers seem to agree. Despite only four episodes streaming so far, Phantom Lawyer is already one of the most-watched non-English shows on the platform. With 1.8 million views last week, it made the Top 10 in eight countries. Could that mean it will go on for years to come?
Phantom Lawyer Season 2 Release Date
At the time of writing, there’s no official information about a potential Phantom Lawyer season 2. While K-dramas are often one-and-done, the show’s premise could definitely stretch over multiple installments.
For now, all we can do is wait and see. The series just premiered, so there’s a good chance we’ll learn more closer to the season 1 finale.
Phantom Lawyer Cast
Yoo Yeon-seok as Shin I-rang
Esom as Han Na-Hyun
Kim Kyung-Nam as Yang Do-Gyeong
Yeon Ji-Hyung as Kim Hyun-woo
Kim Mi-Kyung as Park Gyeong Hwa
Jeon Suk-Ho as Yun Bong Su
What Is Phantom Lawyer About?
A legal fantasy K-drama, Phantom Lawyer follows a struggling attorney whose life takes a bizarre turn after he opens a law office in an unusual space.
Once there, he develops the ability to see ghosts, and even allow them to possess him. Instead of running away, he takes on unusual clients in the form of restless spirits with unfinished business. Alongside a sharp, ambitious fellow lawyer, he sets out to deliver justice for the dead.
Each episode introduces new cases. A victim of injustice wants their story told, or a wrongfully accused person seeks posthumous redemption. It’s up to the lawyer to get to the bottom of what really happened and provide families with closure.
A blend of courtroom drama and supernatural mystery, the series is a fun watch thanks to its comedic elements. While the topics explored are serious, seeing the main character interact with spirits will likely cause giggles. Additionally, the protagonist is easy to root for, so you’ll get invested in no time.
While it’s a bit too early to speculate about Phantom Lawyer season 2, the story so far is promising, and viewership numbers are strong. Until we hear some news either way, episodes drop weekly on Netflix.
Are There Other Shows Like Phantom Lawyer?
Fans of Phantom Lawyer should also check out Pro Bono and Beyond the Bar. If you’re into the concept, iZombie and Pushing Daisies might be up your alley as well.
The AI face-swap industry has developed rapidly over the last two years. While face-swap images were first seen in 2019, it began to be viewed as a legitimate tool in film production, advertising, content creation and digital media. Most AI face-swap tools can produce outputs which look very similar to those produced using professional compositing techniques. Furthermore, the majority of AI face-swap tools can be used by creators at any level of experience. The global market for AI generated image and video is expected to exceed billions in revenue by the end of the decade and the face-swap market is the largest sector within this.
However, while there are numerous AI face-swap tools available, not all tools will provide the same level of performance. The main differences between each platform include; output realism, processing time, how well each tool manages light and skin tone calibration, video stability through frame sequences, and whether the underlying architecture can manage edge cases such as profile angle, occlusion, and motion blur. A tool which produces a clear face swap result from a well-lit, frontal facing portrait may collapse under load when faced with side-profiles, fast head movements, and mixed lighting. Therefore, the best tools are those that can deal effectively with these difficult edge-case scenarios.
There have also been significant developments in the regulatory environment surrounding AI-based products. In the European Union, the EU AI Act is currently active, while similar legislation is being considered and advanced in other countries including the United States. Therefore, in addition to a tool’s ability to generate high-quality swaps, the tool’s handling of issues relating to user consent, data protection, and provenance (i.e., origin) of content is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, creators require tools which are capable of delivering both the highest levels of performance and responsibility.
Therefore, after conducting comprehensive testing and comparisons of the leading AI face-swap tools, I am presenting a ranked list of the top-performing AI face-swap tools available in 2026. Each of the entries in this list have been assessed based on their output quality, ease of use, speed, complexity of their AI pipeline, and their approach to ethically utilising the technology.
1. Simfa — Best Overall for Realism and Frame-Level Accuracy
The primary factor behind Simfa’s placement atop this list is its fundamentally different method for creating a face swap. Unlike virtually every other face swap application available today, Simfa employs an image calibration layer prior to generating a video. This new layer produces a vastly improved output quality compared to the typical image-to-video model found in most applications.
Here’s how this process works. As opposed to inserting a source image into a video generation model directly (which would allow the model to attempt to map a static image directly to the dynamic footage), Simfa creates a still image from the target video. Once the still image has been created, Simfa will perform the face swap by mapping the source image to the still image, while maintaining accuracy in terms of color temperature, lighting, skin tone, and geometric characteristics. After the still image has been successfully mapped (i.e., after the calibration image has been locked-in), Simfa will then expand the results across the remainder of the video frames.
What makes Simfa stand out is the fact that Simfa performs the initial face swap at the image to image level. In essence, Simfa solves the hardest part of the problem — matching the source image to the actual conditions present in the target video — before it ever begins to solve the second half of the problem (temporally processing) the video.
In doing so, Simfa eliminates many of the most common issues that arise from competing applications’ 2D source images being stretched across the 3D movement inherent in video. The result is that Simfa’s output maintains high definition and plays back smoothly at full resolution, without the hallmark artifacts of AI manipulation (e.g. flicker between frames, variable skin tones based upon changing lighting, etc.). Additionally, the output maintains the original texture of the subject’s skin rather than smoothing it into an “uncanny valley.” Shadows fall correctly. And the face remains convincing during head turns, blinks and speech.
As such, for creators who require realistic output (i.e., for commercial video, short films, etc.) and have a budget for high-end content creation, Simfa is the current standard against which all competing applications should be judged.
Additionally, Simfa provides a very intuitive user interface, allowing users to simply load their source image, target video and let Simfa handle the rest (including automatically extracting the calibration image). More advanced users can also choose the specific frame they want to use as the calibration image, allowing them greater creative control over the final result. Finally, Simfa’s processing time is competitive with other applications and, for those requiring a high degree of realism in their output, the end product typically requires little to no post-production work.
Ultimately, for anyone seeking a superior quality output in regards to faceswapping in 2026, Simfa offers a true advancement in the way the underlying technology functions.
Deepswap — Best for Large Volume Video Production
DeepSwap is an industry leader among cloud-based faceswapping platforms. It has performed well in all types of difficult environments such as when there are many moving objects, many faces and changing light. DeepSwap boasts of achieving 90%+ in similarity when swapping faces and in our tests, the results were outstanding — especially on better lit and front facing shots.
What really stands out about DeepSwap is how fast it processes large volumes of clips. DeepSwap was developed for producers that must process many files quickly. All file uploads happen quickly, DeepSwap’s servers handle all processing and batch workflows are available. DeepSwap is best suited for agencies, social media teams, and content creation studios that must swap faces and get content back quickly.
However, DeepSwap uses a traditional image-to-video pipeline. Therefore, DeepSwap doesn’t have the same level of frame-by-frame precision as something like Simfa. As a result, DeepSwap will sometimes display artifacts on complex footage where the light changes dramatically or the angle of the shot is unusual. However, for the vast majority of everyday applications, DeepSwap will provide excellent results with very little effort required.
3. Reface — Best for Social Media & Viral Clips
Reface is currently one of the most downloaded faceswap apps in the world. Reface has been installed more than 100 million times in 90 plus countries. One of Reface’s greatest strengths is speed. Reface is made for people looking to create fun face swapped GIFs and short videos quickly. It delivers on that goal exceptionally well.
Reface uses a GAN based engine. The GAN-based engine powering Reface creates fast and believable swaps for the short form videos and template options provided by Reface. Reface handles animated expressions well, and Reface also adds new trending template options to their content library often. This allows Reface to remain relevant on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Reface is not meant to be used for long-form video editing or high resolution productions. While Reface does deliver acceptable results for mobile first content, Reface does not offer the same quality of output as desktop focused tools. But in terms of producing viral, quick, social-focused content, Reface is the fastest option for ease of use.
4. FaceFusion — Best Free, Open Source Option
FaceFusion has become the gold standard for free, open source faceswapping software. FaceFusion is run completely on the end-user’s computer. There are no data uploads to third-party servers. This means that end-users have complete control over their own data and therefore total privacy. For developers and creators who prefer to keep their data private and do not want to upload data to cloud-based services, this makes FaceFusion the obvious option.
The license governing FaceFusion is called OpenRAIL (Responsible AI License). The OpenRAIL license establishes an ethical foundation for how the software should be utilized. In addition to offering high-quality output (particularly from still images), FaceFusion has greatly enhanced its video processing abilities through recent updates. Other notable advanced features offered by FaceFusion include multi-face detection, expression preservation and fine-tuned control over how the faces are blended.
The biggest hurdle to using FaceFusion is technical. To use FaceFusion, you will have to install it on your local computer. A compatible GPU will also be necessary. Additionally, end-users will likely require a certain amount of familiarity with command line tools. Therefore, FaceFusion is not a one-click solution. However, for those willing to invest the time to learn how to install and configure it, FaceFusion offers amazing results without charging anything.
5. DeepFaceLab — Best for High-End Deepfake Production
DeepFaceLab is the tool that is most commonly associated with high-end deep fake productions. DeepFaceLab has been utilized within film and television as well as in professional VFX pipelines and is capable of providing a level of control that no other tool on this list is able to provide. The user can create and train a model using a specific face and then fine tune all parameters of the swap, producing output that is at least as good as or better than the standards found in the broadcast industry.
The downside is that DeepFaceLab is extremely complex. As such, there will be a very steep learning curve, requiring a large amount of computer resources. Training a model could potentially take hours or days depending on the size of the dataset and the hardware that is being used. As such, this is not a tool that will be used casually; it is designed for professionals and serious hobbyists that are willing to put the time into mastering the workflow.
Those that are willing to go through the process will see the results. DeepFaceLab is still considered the gold standard for all other face swap tools that measure their output quality. Furthermore, DeepFaceLab continues to be actively developed and supported by a strong community.
6. Swapface — Best for Real Time Use During Live Streams
Swapface fills a unique space in the face swap marketplace: real time face swapping for live streaming and video calling. The application links directly to the user’s webcam and does the face swap in real time. There is also a relatively low latency, allowing for live content creation, live gaming streams, and video conferencing.
The AI models behind Swapface were optimized for speed while maintaining a reasonable visual quality. The results from Swapface are sufficient enough for live content where the viewer may not scrutinize each frame. All processing takes place on the local machine of the user (ensuring privacy) and the system requirements are reasonable — a mid-range GPU is enough to maintain smooth performance.
Swapface is available on both Windows and Mac (including Apple Silicon), making it one of the most accessible real time face swap tools available. For streamers and live content creators, it is the clear front runner in this category.
7. FaceSwap.dev — Best Middle Ground Between Power and Ease of Access
FaceSwap.dev is an open source face swap tool that attempts to bridge the gap between the raw power of DeepFaceLab and the ease of access that casual creators require. FaceSwap.dev uses TensorFlow and Keras and is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Additionally, FaceSwap.dev features a graphical user interface that allows for a more accessible experience when performing the face swap than purely command line interfaces.
The application contains a complete pipeline for extracting, training, and converting faces. Additionally, the community forums for FaceSwap.dev include extensive guides and tutorials for new users. Although FaceSwap.dev requires significantly more technical set-up than cloud based applications, it does allow for control over the final product without requiring the advanced knowledge required for DeepFaceLab.
FaceSwap.dev is free and open source and is supported by community donations. For creators looking to experiment with AI face swap models and gain a deeper understanding of the technology behind them, FaceSwap.dev is one of the best places to start.
8. Picsi.ai — Best for Privacy Focused Users
Picsi.ai has earned attention for creating high quality face swap results while establishing what is seen as one of the most transparent frameworks for privacy and consent in the industry. Given the increasing levels of regulatory scrutiny on AI generated content, especially under the EU AI Act and developing legislation in the US, Picsi.ai’s method of handling data creates a significant competitive advantage.
As for the tool itself, Picsi.ai produces clean and visually realistic face swaps on images and video. The application has a straightforward interface and is quick. The application consistently produces the same quality of output.
What sets Picsi.ai apart from many other applications is that users can be confident that their data is being managed properly. Picsi.ai maintains strict guidelines regarding the retention of data, the acquisition of consent, and the rights to use the data.
For companies and creators operating in markets with strict regulations, or utilizing the content of clients, Picsi.ai provides the assurance that many competing platforms cannot.
How to Find the Perfect AI Faceswap App
What you’re looking for with a tool determines what the perfect app for you is. Each type of tool serves different applications; and when you know how each one performs you’ll have an easier time finding the right tool to get your job done.
The top apps for achieving output realism (and having face swaps that look great even when viewed full screen), are the ones that use Simfa’s image calibration method. This image-to-image method allows Simfa to eliminate many of the artifacts created by standard methods, so it’s currently the best choice for anyone who uses faceswaps professionally or commercially. Simfa provides a consistent result from the very beginning of a video until the end because it uses a calibrated still frame to anchor each swap. A consistent result is necessary for anything longer than a short video.
Reface and Deepswap are good choices for creating large volumes of content for social media. Reface has the advantage in terms of speed and its ability to run well on mobile devices. Deepswap outshines Reface in terms of batch processing and more complex videos. For creating real-time swapping in live streams, there is only one other competitor to Swapface on the market today. And, for those willing to spend some time installing software locally, with complete control over their data, and no costs – FaceFusion and FaceSwap.dev offer fast, impressive results.
Price is another factor. While the three free tools listed here — FaceFusion, DeepFaceLab, and FaceSwap.dev – provide the benefit of being completely free, they do require a financial investment in hardware and time spent configuring that hardware. Deepswap and Reface, two cloud-based options, allow the user to easily access speed and convenience at a monthly price. Simfa is positioned as a professional-grade solution and while the price may seem expensive compared to some of the others, the quality of the final product is worth the expense and the savings in time during post-production.
Responsible Use: Ethics and Compliance
The potential of current-generation faceswap tools is matched by a corresponding amount of responsibility. Modern faceswap technology can create extremely realistic images. That realism can be used unethically. Using someone else’s likeness without their permission, creating false identities for criminal intent, and creating misleading content are not only unethical practices, but as laws begin to be passed, they are becoming illegal. Reports show that a major portion of the “deepfakes” that can be found online are still being used for malicious purposes. Therefore, it is imperative that creators and companies using these tools understand and adhere to the principles of responsible use.
Legislation is being introduced to establish clear guidelines for the acceptable use of AI generated face manipulation. The EU AI Act, the U.S. proposed NO FAKES Act, and similar legislation throughout the world will define the bounds of legal usage of AI generated face manipulation. Organizations like the C2PA are working to develop standards for content provenance, and require that any content that was created or modified using AI include metadata to identify the content as having been created or modified using AI. All creators and business owners who utilize these tools must ensure that all content is created with appropriate permissions, clearly identified where required, and never used to mislead, harass, or otherwise represent something falsely.
Many of the top tools on this list — Simfa, Picsi.ai, and FaceFusion, among others — were developed with the expectation of responsible use. However, the ultimate responsibility falls with the creator.
Final Verdict
Yes, the AI faceswap space in 2026 is more competitive, more capable, and more regulated than ever before. The tools available today can produce results that were unthinkable just a few years ago, and they are accessible to a wider range of creators than at any point in the technology’s history.
At the top of the pack, Simfa’s image calibration pipeline represents a genuine architectural innovation. By rethinking the fundamental order of operations — performing the swap at the image level before propagating to video — it achieves a level of consistency and realism that sets a new standard for the category. The image-to-image calibration step is not just a technical detail; it is the reason Simfa’s output looks qualitatively different from tools that skip straight to video processing. Whether you are a filmmaker, a content creator, or a marketer, Simfa is the tool that will make your audience forget they are watching a face swap at all.
Each tool on this list has earned its place. DeepSwap delivers volume and reliability. Reface owns the social content space. FaceFusion proves that powerful AI does not require a subscription. DeepFaceLab remains the gold standard for professional-grade control. Swapface has carved out the real-time niche. FaceSwap.dev makes open-source approachable. And Picsi.ai leads on privacy and ethical transparency.
The right choice depends on your workflow, your budget, and your specific creative needs. But if you are looking for the single best-performing faceswap software available today — the one that produces the most realistic, most consistent, most production-ready output, Simfa is where you should start.
SZA has offered her take on Goo Goo Dolls’ resurgent hit ‘Iris’. Sharing the cover on Instagram, she accompanied it with a “deep fried” edit based on a TikTok trend where users post throwback photos from the 1990s. “Trend had me so cooked I couldn’t stop singing it so I made my own deep fried goo goo doll tease,” she wrote. Check it out below.
Earlier this year, SZA won the Grammy for Record of the Year for her Kendrick Lamar collab ‘Luther’. Last month, she shared the original song ‘Save the Day’ to the soundtrack for Pixar’s Hoppers.
Ah, the good old Oscars red carpet, where the talent, their assistants, and a terrifying number of stilettos collide. Where dreams meet designers, and occasionally, designers meet disaster. The Internet’s never-ending fuel. And while everyone seems deeply committed to spotting the latter, we’ll focus on the former.
The red carpet this year looked like a battlefield for birds. Feathers were front and center, on the stage too. Presenting apparently earns you a slice of Gucci, and Moore had earned hers, starring in Demna’s short film Tiger and gracing Milan’s front row. In LA, however, she arrived like a siren, wearing a black-and-green gown, completed by iridescent feathers and what almost looked like fish scales. Power of the Dolby theatre.
The perfect Hollywood night for a stylist with an archive that only opens for very specific functions. Enter Roach, deciding it was high time to dust off that Alexander McQueen AW 1997 jacket, DIY golden patterns shimmering just enough to justify a Chanel clutch that could double as a half-read book. Those hands won’t even rest once they’re off Zendaya.
Self-styling for a red carpet sounds like a risk most wouldn’t take, but then again, most people aren’t A’zion. The Oscars got to see that confidence up close. She chose a black, embellished Valentino dress from Alessandro Michele’s Spring 2026 Couture, which, it turns out, looks even better with roomy pants underneath and necklaces stacked.
To no one’s surprise, Wintour makes our list. The black-and-white Dior ensemble was, predictably, flawless, but that wasn’t enough for our eyes. Lucky for us, she made a cameo on stage presenting the award for Best Costume Design, complete with a cheeky The Devil Wears Prada nod. Almost forgot Hathaway’s first name isn’t Emily. Fun fact, the real Emily was watching live.
That night alone makes styling a nightmare. How do you dress not just for the Oscars, but for your award-show debut as a couple with Leonardo DiCaprio? Ceretti does it in custom Alaïa by Pieter Mulier, inspired by Spring 2026. Long, fitted, red, and maybe even bulletproof in some places.
Rome matters to Valentino in more ways than postcards and pasta. Valentino Garavani planted roots here back in 1960 with his first boutique, while Alessandro Michele never really left, born and bred, he’s basically Roman DNA. The city, with all its baroque excess and built-in gravitas, does half the work for you anyway. You don’t pick a place like this, unless you want the clothes to argue a bit with it.
“Palazzo Barberini is not an architecture at peace… The building resists any synthesis between order and movement: it lays bare their forced coexistence, their permanent friction, the interferences produced as they overlap,” the press release read, and you could almost hear the architects, Maderno, Bernini, and Borromini exchanging smirks across centuries. In other words, the palace is the inspiration for the clothes, neatly summed up by its name, Interferenze, whether seen or felt. Beauty and power here don’t come from perfect harmony, they come from the forced collision, the friction, and the constant argument between opposites.
The result is a collection that doesn’t melt inside the palace, it feeds from its tension. Structured tailoring bumps into draping, textures push against curves, and every look seems aware of the building’s own contradictions. The show opened with cinched waists, right from the first look, a fur coat, a piece of fabric hugged the waist and tied into a bow, already playing with shape and control. Patterns, embroidery, lace, assymmetry, leather manipulation, in-your-face jewelery, and clashing colors were all part of what Valentino looks like outside of Paris. “I let the color go, because it has a presence. Red is very difficult to handle…. Here it is a sign that gives you chills when you see it,” Michele told Vogue after a relaxed, bold-shouldered red gown closed the runway. Step outside if you must, but the clothes stick with you longer than the carved ceilings.
