Are Your Depressed? Your Selfie Camera Can Now Detect Your Metal Health, Here’s How

French app Emobot uses real-time facial recognition and AI to monitor emotional health and aid depression treatment, raising both hope and privacy concerns

June 18, 2025 | Imagine your phone not just unlocking with your face—but reading your emotions and flagging signs of depression. That’s now a reality with Emobot, a new AI-powered app that transforms your selfie camera into a mental health tool.

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Already classified as a medical device in France, Emobot is being prescribed by psychiatrists to track mood patterns and detect early signs of relapse in patients undergoing treatment for depression. The technology was showcased at VivaTech 2025, where the intersection of AI and mental health stole the spotlight.

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How Emobot Works

The app uses your phone’s front-facing camera to continuously monitor facial expressions in the background. It then analyses the data locally—no images are transmitted or stored, co-founder Samuel Lerman confirmed. The app outputs emotion-based reports, similar to heart rate or step tracking charts, offering doctors a detailed picture of how a patient is responding to treatment.

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“The camera is open in the background all the time,” Lerman said. “We were initially concerned about user perception, but feedback was surprisingly positive.”

Future versions of Emobot may also analyze voice tone using your phone’s microphone, offering even deeper insights into emotional well-being.

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Tech Meets Therapy

The AI engine behind Emobot is similar to systems being developed in office environments to detect fatigue, attention span, or presence at desks. At VivaTech, a live demo of Emobot’s emotion-mapping software showed a reporter simultaneously classified as both “pleased” and “bored,” hinting at the nuanced emotional mapping the app offers.

According to Lerman, one of the app’s most crucial benefits is the ability to detect “sudden deterioration of mood” or increased risk of depressive relapse—allowing for proactive medical intervention.

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Mental Health Takes Center Stage at VivaTech 2025

At the Paris-based tech summit, more than 14,000 startups from over 50 countries gathered, with many innovations highlighting AI’s growing role in healthcare—particularly mental health. Emobot stood out as a practical example of how technology is being reframed not just as a tool of efficiency, but of empathy.

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The Road Ahead

While concerns about privacy and surveillance linger, Emobot’s developers are betting on transparency, local data processing, and medical collaboration to build trust. If successful, Emobot could redefine how depression is monitored—right from your pocket.

Tags: Emobot, AI in healthcare, facial recognition, mental health tech, depression monitoring, VivaTech 2025, mood tracking, digital health, emotion recognition

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