How big should your face be in a profile picture?

The rule of thumb

Head and the top of your shoulders. Your face, from chin to hairline, takes roughly half to two thirds of the circle's height, with a little room above your hair. Less than that and you become a small figure in a landscape; more and the circle cuts into your forehead or chin.

Why the middle matters

Most apps take the middle square of your photo and show it in a circle. Whatever is in the corners disappears. A face near the edge of a wide photo can lose an ear, or half the face. Many apps let you move the circle when you upload; it is easier to give them a photo that is already square, with your face in the middle.

Enough pixels on your face

Shown small, a face needs few pixels. Opened full size, it needs many. Our check calls a face under 200 pixels wide small: there is little detail to show. A square crop of about 1,000 pixels a side with your face filling half of it is comfortable everywhere.

How the check helps

The check finds your face, measures it, and tells you whether it fits a round crop from the middle. It calls a face that fills less than 22% of the circle's width too small to recognise, and more than 80% too tight. Those numbers are our own rule of thumb, not a law. It shows the result at three sizes, and you can save a square crop around your face, made on your device.

Crop it yourself

1. Open the photo in your phone's own photo editor and choose Crop.
2. Pick the square shape.
3. Put your face a little above the middle, with room above your hair and the top of your shoulders in.
4. Save it as a copy, so the original stays.