How to blur faces and hide numbers in photos and screenshots safely
Hide faces, number plates and ID numbers before you share a picture. Blur, pixelate or black box, which one is safe, and how to check the result.
You want to post a photo of a street scene, a screenshot of a chat or a picture of a document, but it shows a stranger’s face, a number plate, an email address or an account number. Hiding the sensitive part before you share is the right thing to do. The way you hide it matters, though, because some methods look safe and are not.
Hide parts of a picture in four steps
- Open Blur & Redact and add your image. It can be a JPG, PNG, WebP, an iPhone HEIC photo and more.
- Choose how to hide: Pixelate, Blur, Black box or White box, and set the strength for the first two.
- Drag a box over each area to hide. You can add as many boxes as you need. Each one keeps the effect that was selected when you drew it, so you can use a black box on a number and a blur on a face in the same picture.
- Use “Undo last box” or the ✕ beside a box in the list to correct mistakes, then choose a format and download.
Which effect should you use?
| Effect | Looks like | Best for | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black box | A solid bar | Account, card, ID and phone numbers, passwords, addresses | The safest. Nothing of the original remains in that area. |
| White box | A blank patch | Documents with a white background, where black would look heavy | Equally safe, but obviously edited. |
| Pixelate | Big blocks | Faces and number plates | Safe at a strong setting. Light pixelation can be partly guessed. |
| Blur | Soft smudge | Faces and backgrounds where a natural look matters | Safe when strong. Weak blur on text can sometimes be reconstructed. |
For small text and numbers, use a solid box. A light blur or fine pixelation can still leave the shapes of digits readable, and software can sharpen or guess some of them. If something would cause harm in the wrong hands, such as a card or ID number, cover it completely.
After you save, zoom in and check
View the result at full size and look hard at each hidden area. If you can still make out a letter, a digit or a recognisable feature, add another box over it or raise the strength. Do this before you post, because once an image is online you cannot take it back.
Why the saved file is safe
The saved picture is created from the pixels after the effect has been applied, so the original detail in those areas is not hidden underneath. It is gone. This is different from drawing a coloured shape over a picture in a document, where the original is often still in the file below it. The saved copy also does not carry the camera and location information from the original photo.
Sharing ID documents safely
When you must send a copy of an identity document, share only what is needed:
- Hide numbers that the recipient does not need. Many services accept a masked copy showing only the last digits.
- Add a purpose line across the picture, such as “For bank KYC only, 5 Oct 2026”, with the watermark tool, repeated across the page in tiled mode. It discourages reuse.
- Send the front and back as one picture with Join Images if the form allows only one upload.
- Do not keep copies longer than necessary, and do not post them publicly.
Screenshots and PDFs
For screenshots of chats, bills or dashboards, cover names, phone numbers, email addresses and account details before you post. For a PDF that must be redacted, convert the pages to pictures first, hide the details here, and rebuild the PDF, as described in why cropping is not redaction. Everything happens on your device, so the sensitive picture you are cleaning is never uploaded. See how to check that.