ShottieTo blur part of an image, open it above and drag over the area you want hidden; it blurs in place. For anything that must stay secret, like a password, an API key or a card number, use Cover instead, because a solid box leaves nothing to recover.
How to blur part of an image
- Open, drop or paste your image. It stays in your browser.
- With Blur selected, drag a box over each thing to hide. Each box blurs on its own.
- Switch to Cover for secrets and Pixelate for faces if you prefer that look.
- Download the PNG. The blur is baked into the pixels, so there's no layer to remove.
Blur, pixelate or cover: which actually hides it?
All three look hidden, but they don't hide equally. Blur and pixelation average nearby pixels, and averaging isn't erasing: when the hidden thing is text in a known font, it can sometimes be matched back. Researchers have shown this publicly. Depix recovers passwords from pixelated screenshots, and Bishop Fox's Unredacter did the same for pixelated text. A solid box has nothing left to average.
| Method | Good for | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Cover | Passwords, API keys, tokens, card and account numbers | None; the pixels are replaced |
| Blur | Emails, names, message previews, backgrounds | Short, predictable text can sometimes be guessed |
| Pixelate | Faces, avatars, photos, licence plates | Same as blur for text; small blocks leak more |
What to hide before you share a screenshot
- Email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses, including in sidebars and autofill dropdowns.
- Tokens and IDs in URLs, like the address bar in a browser screenshot.
- Order, invoice, ticket and account numbers.
- Other people: names in chats, faces in video calls, notification previews.
- Bookmarks, open tabs and file names you didn't mean to show.
If you're hiding a face or a photo, pixelate it, which reads as deliberate. If you're also pointing something out, the annotation tool does blur, arrows and text in one pass.
Your image stays on your device
The blur happens in this browser tab using the canvas API. The image is never uploaded, which is the point when the thing you're hiding is private.
How strong should the blur be?
Strong enough that you can't guess the shape of the words. This tool blurs by shrinking the area to about one fourteenth of its size and enlarging it again smoothly, which turns normal-sized interface text into soft colour. Very large text, like a headline or a big number, can survive that as recognisable blobs, so check your result at full size before you share it. If you can still guess it, use Cover.
Draw the box slightly larger than the text itself. The edges of a blur are where letter shapes leak through, and a few extra pixels of margin take care of it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I blur part of a picture online for free?
Open the picture on this page, drag over the area with the Blur tool, and click Download PNG. It's free, has no watermark, and the image never leaves your browser.
Can blurred text be unblurred?
Sometimes. Blur and pixelation average pixels rather than delete them, and tools like Depix have recovered short text from pixelated screenshots. For passwords, keys and numbers, use Cover, which replaces the pixels entirely.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything runs locally in your browser; there's no server receiving your image.
Can I blur several areas?
Yes. Drag a new box for each area. ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z) removes the last one.
How do I blur a face in a photo?
Drag a blur box over the face, or use Pixelate, which reads as clearly intentional.