Xiaomi's phones have a special feature to make your selfies more beautiful

The world’s third-biggest smartphone maker has given its fans a compelling reason to take more selfies.

That’s because Xiaomi’s operating system, MIUI, has a built-in “face-beautification feature” that will improve the quality of your selfies based on your age and gender, according to Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra, speaking at a company event in San Francisco last week.

Barra said he gave a Xiaomi phone to his sister over Christmas, and the face-beautification feature was a big hit.

The selfie feature reflects Xiaomi’s younger, price-sensitive audience.

Xiaomi updates its operating system once a week with new features, though the OS is based on Android. Lots of features on Xiaomi’s phones are submitted through its Chinese Mi Forum.

One fan submitted a Mi Forum post about how he frequently has trouble getting into his apartment at night when it’s dark and he’d had too much to drink. In response, Xiaomi is rolling out a flashlight button on the lock screen for MIUI phones. MIUI isn’t just for smartphones, either.

Xiaomi says a total of 347 phones and devices use its operating system.