More than 34 million images are generated every day using artificial intelligence, according to a 2023 report on AI-generated imagery. With enough patience and a detailed prompt, almost anyone can now create images that would ordinarily require a photographer, hours of shooting and editing, and a fairly decent budget. The barrier to creating “good enough” visuals has never been lower.
But not everyone is great at prompting, and StySwap isn’t particularly interested in helping them improve either.
For the last seven years, Onyinye Enyioha, its founder, has run TotalView Media, a technology company that helps businesses convert their physical spaces into virtual ones through immersive virtual tours.
Like many professionals who regularly need high-quality visuals, booking a studio session frequently felt like an inconvenience. It meant coordinating schedules, sourcing locations, hiring photographers, and waiting through long post-production cycles, often just to produce a handful of usable images.
StySwap was built as a response to that friction. Instead of requiring users to master prompt engineering, the platform removes prompting from the equation entirely. Users simply upload a reference image alongside a photo of themselves or their product, and StySwap generates polished, studio-quality images in seconds.
How StySwap works
StySwap is built around the idea that creating professional-looking images shouldn’t require technical skill, long explanations, or a studio booking. Instead of requiring users to describe what they want in text prompts, the platform relies on visual references and predefined styles to do most of the work.
To get started, users need a clear photo of the product or individual, along with a reference image for style inspiration. The product or individual’s photo must be clear enough for the model to properly read facial features or product details. This step matters because it affects the output. According to Enyioha, cases where the generated image doesn’t closely match the subject are almost always due to the image not being clear enough.
Once this is done, users select a style from StySwap’s library that currently includes signature portraits, lifestyle shoots, corporate photos, birthday themes, and maternity shoot sessions. Inspiration can also come from outside StySwap, including previous photoshoots or images found on the Internet.
Once a photo and style are selected, the image is generated in seconds. The output doesn’t replicate the reference image outright; instead, it interprets it, producing a new image that fits the chosen style while keeping the subject recognisable. For users who want more control, StySwap also lets you make light edits using prompts.
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One thing StySwap is strict about is data retention. Images aren’t saved on the platform, and refreshing the page can erase generated results. It’s a design choice that prioritises privacy, but it also means users need to download images immediately or lose them.
Beyond personal portraits, StySwap can also be used for product photoshoots, especially by small businesses looking for quick, affordable visuals. During the Christmas holidays, its themed photoshoot feature saw heavy use, as users generated festive images without having to head into a studio. For users without a reference image, there’s a “surprise me” feature that fills in the gaps, allowing them to modify the final outcome.
Monetising early while testing demand
StySwap moved to monetisation early, largely to offset the costs of building and running the product.
Rather than wait to scale before charging users, the team opted for a credit-based model that allows people to pay only when they need images. New users can test the platform with a free trial that generates one image using the code WELCOME. After that, any additional image generation requires credits.
Each image costs one credit, priced at ₦750. For users who need more volume, StySwap offers bundles, with the highest package providing 15 images for ₦10,000. The structure is intentionally designed this way, avoiding subscriptions in favour of pay-as-you-go access. According to the team, this makes more sense for users who may only need images occasionally, whether for personal use or short-term professional projects.
Since launching in November 2025, StySwap has recorded over 14,000 user sign-ups and generated more than 15,000 images. Enyioha notes that a large portion of users stop after creating a single image through the free trial, but a growing number return to purchase credits for additional image generation. These repeat users are typically creating images for business profiles, product listings, or recurring personal use.
User growth has been driven mostly by word of mouth and influencer marketing, with the majority of users currently based in Nigeria and Canada. Despite international interest, the platform is still limited to Nigeria due to its payment infrastructure. The team says it is actively working to add more payment options as demand grows outside the country. Since launch, StySwap has generated roughly ₦2 million in revenue, providing early validation for its pricing and usage model.
Choosing privacy
One of the strongest selling points of modern AI systems is their ability to learn from user input and improve over time. The more data they ingest, the argument goes, the better their outputs become. While this approach has raised concerns around privacy and consent, it has also become widely accepted as the trade-off users make when interacting with AI-powered tools.
Against that backdrop, StySwap’s decision not to retain user images or use them to train its models stands out and could, on the surface, appear limiting. Images generated on the platform are not stored, and user-uploaded photos are not fed back into the system.
For a product built on image generation, that choice could be seen as sacrificing long-term model improvement for privacy. Enyioha, however, is unfazed by the trade-off.
“The rationale really is giving people trust,” he says. “Many people believe that every digital platform is using their data on the backend, and we don’t want to do that.”
Without user data to refine its outputs, the company is leaning on direct feedback. After generating an image, users are prompted to rate the result and share what worked or didn’t. According to Enyioha, this qualitative feedback has been sufficient to identify gaps and improve the product for now. It’s a slower loop than automated data training, but one that the team believes better aligns with its values and users’ expectations.
Copyright remains a sensitive issue for AI-generated imagery, and StySwap has taken steps to reduce its exposure on that front.
The platform actively educates users on the kinds of images that are appropriate to upload, with clearer guidance surfaced through prompts after sign-up and more prominent terms and conditions. Rather than reproducing or closely mimicking reference images, StySwap uses them strictly as inspiration, generating outputs that are visually distinct from the originals.
While this approach reduces the risk of copyright infringement and shifts some responsibility to users, it does not completely absolve the business of copyright infringement charges, especially given that copyright liability remains a grey area.
Looking ahead, StySwap is positioning itself as a default tool for everyday content creation, particularly for portrait and product photography. The broader ambition is to move beyond one-off image generation and become a core layer of creative infrastructure for visual styling, something creators and businesses rely on consistently rather than occasionally.
To support that vision, the team is working on features that make the platform more scalable for professional use. One of those is batch image processing, which would allow users to generate multiple images at once, a feature aimed at businesses and creators who need volume without sacrificing speed.
StySwap is currently run by a three-person team, with Enyioha doubling as CEO and technical lead. As usage grows and new features roll out, the company plans to expand its team to support product development and operations.
Ultimately, the goal is for StySwap to be woven into how people think about visual content creation. As Enyioha puts it, “StySwap wants to be the tool that people always go to when they’re thinking of content creation.”
