TikTok age progression: How to get the viral ‘time travel’ filter that Gen Z is obsessed with

Back when I was in the age range that Gen Z is now, it seemed impossible to imagine that I, too, would one day be old. I couldn’t even visualize what an old me would look like. Jump forward to 2023, and those who are young now don’t even need to try to visualize what they will look like in the years ahead thanks to a new viral TikTok filter.

In recent days, Gen Z has become obsessed with what is colloquially known as the “aged” filter on TikTok. The official name of the filter is “Time Travel” and it applies generative AI to a person’s face to show what they will look like each year ahead as they progress through time, with the future year displayed above them. As of Friday morning, the filter had been used in more than 371,000 videos.

If you want to get a peek at a possible future you, here’s how to get the TikTok aged time travel filter:

Open the TikTok app.
Tap the search field.
Type “time travel filter” into the search field.
Tap the “Time Travel” filter with the icon that shows one-half of a woman’s face aged.
On the filter’s screen, tap “Use this effect.”
You can tap various years to simply see what you will look like in any of the next decades, but to get the changing years to show above your head, tap the “Auto mode” option. 
Tap the red record button to capture a video you can post to TikTok.