Futurefly’s EatMessage app turns your face into a game controller

Futurefly is launching an iMessage app called EatMessage, a selfie-based game where challenge friends to eat or dodge emojis. And in this game, your face is the controller.

Helsinki-based Futurefly is hoping to use a smartphone’s camera in innovative ways to disrupt the social messaging market dominated by the likes of Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram.

Available in the iMessage App Store menu, the free-to-play EatMessage lets you select a combination of food emojis (such as apples, doughnuts, and pizza) and inedible emojis (like spanners, light bulbs, and rainbows). You can throw these things at your friend via iMessage.

Your friend uses the front-facing camera to go into an augmented reality world. There, your friend uses his or her mouth to catch the food emojis and dodge the inedible ones. You have to think on your feet and use your head or, rather, your mouth.

After all of the items have been successfully (or unsuccessfully) caught or avoided, an animated picture of the player, as well as a selfie complete with an amusing filter and accompanying movie quote, are sent to the other friend.

Futurefly previously launched Rawr Messenger, which incorporates 3D avatars in a messaging app.

Futurefly founder Oskari “Ozz” Häkkinen, commented, “Never before has a messaging app allowed users to play with their face and mouth, making EatMessage a truly innovative game that is pushing the boundaries of iMessage apps and messaging trends in general.”

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.