Taking 0.5 TikTok Selfies: How To Do It

Just about everyone knows how to take a selfie and upload it as a TikTok post.

In 2022, though, people started shooting and posting wide-angle selfies (known as 0.5 selfies and pronounced “point-5 selfies”) on TikTok — and it quickly became a trend.

What’s the appeal of 0.5 selfies? It’s not that they show your face, features, or body to best advantage; they don’t. TikTok users love these distorted photos simply because they’re silly. Arms and legs look incredibly long compared to bodies, facial features become huge, and eyes often bug out.

0.5 selfies aren’t taken to show your serious side; you wouldn’t use them as a LinkedIn profile photo or as a headshot. They’re generally taken on the spur of the moment when you’re feeling goofy or want to join in on the trend.

Not everyone can take one of these pictures, though.

What Do You Need to Take a 0.5 Selfie?

While you could take a wide-angle selfie with a digital camera and the proper lens, that’s not how most TikTokers do it. 0.5 selfies can be taken right on your phone, as long as you have a device capable of wide-angle shooting.

Many modern smartphones are suitable for these selfies. They’re taken with the phone’s back camera, which provides better quality than the front one and is often outfitted with an ultrawide lens. You can use an iPhone 12 or a later version (which most people have by now), or Androids starting with the Samsung Galaxy S23, Pixel 7, LG V10, and OnePlus 11 versions.

How to Take a 0.5 Selfie

The controls you use on different phones may not be quite the same, but the process of taking these photos is virtually the same. We’ll use iPhones as an example.

You should also be aware that not all TikTok apps provide the 0.5 option. If yours doesn’t, you can shoot in your camera’s photo app, save the selfie to your camera reel, and then upload it as a TikTok post. Let’s detail both methods.

Getting 0.5 on TikTok

1. Open the TikTok “Record” screen by tapping the “+” icon on your home screen.
2. Choose “Photo” in the scrolling menu above the Record button, and then tap the two circular arrows at the top of the right-hand menu to activate the phone’s back camera.
3. Click “0.5” on the menu that appears. (“1x” will take a normal picture.) IMPORTANT: If you don’t see the 0.5 and 1x options, you’ll have to use the second method we’ll describe.
4. Hold your phone with the screen pointed away from you, extending your arm out as far as possible. The more you tilt the phone up or down, the more distorted your photo will be.
5. Take the picture. If you like it, post it just as you’d upload any other photo. If you think you can do better, try again!

Getting 0.5 on Your Phone

This method is almost identical.

1. Open your phone’s camera app.
2. Make sure you’re in “Photo” mode, and tap the “0.5” setting above that.
3. Turn the phone around and shoot your 0.5 selfie just as described above.
4. Open TikTok, upload the photo from your camera reel, and create your post.

We wouldn’t suggest posting a 0.5 selfie as your profile picture on Tinder (or Grindr, for that matter) — unless you’re looking for someone who has the same odd sense of humor that you do. It can be fun to share these photos on TikTok, though; lots of other people are doing it!