Blur faces automatically
- Open Blur Faces in Photos and drop in the photo. Faces are found and covered straight away.
- Drag over anything else you want hidden: a face that was missed, a license plate, a house number or a name tag.
- Choose Blur, Pixelate or Black box, and download the result.
The photo is processed in your browser and is never uploaded.
Blur, pixelate or a black box?
A light blur or a coarse mosaic can sometimes be partly reversed, or a face recognized from its outline. For children, witnesses, documents and anything sensitive, use a strong setting or a solid black box, which removes the information completely.
On a phone
- iPhone: Photos has no blur tool; use Markup to draw over the area with a thick, fully opaque pen, or use the tool above in Safari.
- Android: some gallery apps include a blur or mosaic tool in their editor. Otherwise use the tool above in your browser.
Remove the hidden details too
A photo can still give away where it was taken through its GPS data. Before posting, remove the location and other metadata.
Faces that are easy to miss
Face detection finds faces looking roughly toward the camera. Check the whole photo yourself for:
- faces in profile, turned away, very small in a crowd, or partly hidden by a hat, mask or hand
- reflections in mirrors, windows and sunglasses
- photos and screens in the background that show someone's face
Other things that identify people
A blurred face can still be recognized by a name badge, a school or company logo, a distinctive tattoo, a house number, a car's license plate or a street sign. Blur License Plates and Text in Photos hides plates and signs; for the rest, drag a box over them before downloading.