SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Uber is utilizing selfie technology to make sure both its drivers and passengers wear face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The ride-sharing company has been requiring drivers and riders to wear masks since May, but only required drivers to use its technology to verify their face coverings.

“Before starting to drive passengers or deliver food, they are asked to take a selfie showing their mouth and nose are covered,” Uber wrote in a press release.

Now, the requirement is being expanded to passengers as well. If a driver reports that a rider isn’t wearing a mask, the rider will be required to take a selfie with their face covered before they’re able to take another trip with Uber.

“With the addition of this new feature, one driver’s feedback can help ensure the safety of Uber for the next driver,” said Uber.

The mask verification feature will roll out to the U.S. and Canada by the end of September, and across Latin America and other countries after that.

Uber assured that the mask verification tool detects the mask as an object in the photo and does not process biometric information.

“As always, riders and drivers are free to cancel a trip, without penalty, if the other person isn’t wearing a mask,” Uber wrote. “As more and more riders and drivers take their ‘second first trip,’ we hope this increased accountability provides more peace of mind.”

The additional safety measures are part of Uber's efforts to rebuild a service that has seen ridership plunge by 56% in the company's most recent quarter, The Associated Press reports.

If you’ve ever wondered why your face looks gorgeous in real life, and then not-so-great in the selfie you just took, you’re not alone. A few scientists apparently also got so fed up with their lack of decent-looking profile pics, they decided to invest time into figuring out exactly what causes some selfies to look like so bad.

According to a research letter published in the JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery journal in 2018, the reason your pic looks less than stellar is because of the position of your arm — namely, that your arm would need to be 5 feet long in order to take a selfie that doesn't distort your facial features.

The study found that selfies taken at just 12 inches away (the average distance between your extended arm and your face) forced a "funhouse mirror" perspective that makes your nose look up to 30% wider than it is in real life. Great!

“For years, I've heard patients and family members say, ‘Oh, look at my nose, it looks so big,’ when they show me a selfie," Dr. Boris Paskhover, study co-author and plastic surgeon, said in an interview with Live Science. “I was always telling my patients, 'That's not how you really look.' I knew that selfies distort how your nose looks. And I wanted to prove it."

Rather than just looking at a bunch of bad selfies and saying, “Yup, definitely looks weird,” Paskhover and his team of scientist buddies at Rutgers Medical School and Stanford University devised a mathematical model that compared the distortive effects different camera angles can have on male and female faces.

The results? A photo taken from 5 feet away, “a standard portrait distance,” resulted in no distortion, but a photo taken from 12 inches away resulted in a 30% nose increase in men and a 29% increase in women.

Luckily, you can combat the distortion by either giving up selfies altogether or, perhaps give the camera to a friend for that "perfect" shot.

For tips on how to get a better picture, watch the related video above.