How to Blur or Hide Sensitive Info in a Photo (Free)
Before you post a screenshot or a photo, it is worth hiding the parts that give too much away — a face, a home address, an account number, a name on a document. Doing it properly matters: many "redactions" can be quietly undone, and the original file often carries hidden location data too. Here is how to blur, pixelate, or black out those areas permanently, in your browser, so the hidden parts can never be recovered.
The tool
Image Redactor
Step by step
- Open the redactorGo to the Image Redactor — it runs entirely in your browser, and your image is never uploaded.
- Upload your imageDrop in a photo or screenshot (JPG, PNG, WebP, or HEIC). It loads onto a canvas you draw on directly.
- Cover what to hideChoose blur, pixelate, or a solid black box and a strength, then click and drag a box over each sensitive area. Add as many boxes as you need — you can delete any of them from the list.
- Export the resultDownload the flattened image as PNG or JPG. The hidden areas are baked into the pixels and the metadata is stripped, so nothing sensitive travels with the file.
Why a black rectangle is often not enough
In many editors, drawing a black box just adds a shape on a layer above the picture — the pixels underneath are still there. Anyone who opens the file can move or delete that layer and read what you hid, and this has leaked real secrets in court filings and published PDFs. The same trap catches "blur" filters that are stored as a reversible effect. Genuine redaction has to destroy the underlying pixels, not cover them.
How this tool makes it permanent
When you export, the image is drawn to a fresh canvas with your redactions already applied to the actual pixels — there are no layers and no effects left to peel back. The covered content is gone from the file you download, so there is nothing underneath to recover. What you see on screen is exactly what anyone who receives the image can see.
Blur vs pixelate vs solid box
A solid black box hides the most and makes it obvious something was removed — the safest choice for anything truly secret like numbers, IDs, or names. Pixelation replaces an area with a coarse mosaic: it hides the detail while keeping the general shape, which reads well for faces. Blur softens an area and looks the most natural. One caution: on small, predictable content — a few digits or short text — a light blur or coarse pixelation can sometimes be partially reconstructed, so turn the strength up, or use a solid box, when the content is high-value.
It also strips hidden metadata
Photos carry EXIF metadata that can include the exact GPS coordinates where they were taken, the device, and timestamps — data you rarely mean to publish. Because the redacted image is exported from a clean canvas, none of that original metadata carries over. So redacting a photo here also quietly removes the "where and when" that would otherwise ride along with it.
Everything stays on your device
The images people redact are sensitive by definition — screenshots of chats, documents with personal details, photos of children or homes. Every part of this runs in your browser: the image is never uploaded, the redaction is applied locally, and the download is generated on your machine. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Can the redaction be reversed?
No. The hidden areas are flattened into the exported image’s pixels, so the original content is destroyed rather than covered — there is nothing underneath to recover.
Is my image uploaded?
No. Loading, redacting, and exporting all happen in your browser; the file is never sent to a server.
Is the hidden metadata removed too?
Yes — the export is drawn to a fresh canvas, so the original EXIF and GPS data does not carry over to the file you download.
Which style is safest for account numbers or IDs?
A solid black box, or heavy pixelation at high strength. Light blur on short, predictable text can occasionally be partly reversed, so use the strongest option for high-value details.
What image types can I redact?
JPG, PNG, WebP, and HEIC (iPhone) photos. You can export the result as PNG or JPG.