What to blur before you post a photo or screenshot
Screenshots and behind-the-scenes photos often show more than the person posting them notices. A delivery label, a reflection in a window or a QR code on a boarding pass can give strangers your address, phone number or account. This checklist covers what to look for every time, and how to hide it properly, because some ways of hiding information are easy to undo.
People who did not agree to be in it
- Children, especially other people's children, and especially with school uniforms or locations visible.
- Strangers in the background of public videos, when the video is about something else.
- People in private places such as hospitals, homes, workplaces and places of worship.
Rules about filming people differ between countries and platforms, but a simple standard works everywhere: if someone did not choose to be in your post and is clearly recognisable, blur their face.
Contact details
- Phone numbers in WhatsApp chats, call logs, shop boards and delivery slips.
- Email addresses in screenshots of inboxes, forms and receipts.
- Home and office addresses on parcels, bills and maps.
- Usernames of people in group chats you screenshot.
Documents and ID numbers
Never post an identity card, passport, driving licence or bank card, even partly covered. If you must show one (for example in a tutorial), blur the number, photo, date of birth, signature and any barcode. This includes CNIC numbers in Pakistan, Aadhaar and PAN numbers in India, Emirates ID, and similar numbers anywhere. Also check certificates, mark sheets, prescriptions and pay slips.
Blur faces and numbers in a photo for free
QR codes and barcodes
Boarding passes, event tickets, payment QR codes and parcel labels carry readable data even when they look like random patterns. A boarding pass barcode can contain your full name and booking reference, which is sometimes enough to change or cancel a booking. Blur or cover every code you did not intend to share.
Screens and reflections
- Laptop and phone screens in the background, with open chats, emails or bank pages.
- Reflections in windows, mirrors, sunglasses and shiny surfaces that show another room or your screen.
- Browser tabs and notifications at the top of a screenshot.
Location clues
House numbers, street signs, the view from your window, car number plates and a school name together can reveal where you live. One clue is usually harmless; several together are not. Before posting from home, check what is visible through windows and doors.
Hidden data inside the photo
Photos taken on phones can contain hidden information (EXIF data), including the exact GPS location where the photo was taken and the phone model. Most big social apps remove it when you upload, but files sent as documents, emailed, or uploaded to some websites keep it. Editing and re-saving a photo through a tool that creates a new image removes this data.
How to hide information properly
- Use a strong blur, pixelation or a solid box. A light blur on large text can sometimes be read, and some old methods of pixelating text can be reversed. For numbers and text, a solid box is the safest choice.
- Do not use a highlighter or semi-transparent pen. Text under it can often be recovered by changing the brightness.
- Do not just crop in the app's preview. Some apps keep the original image and only hide the cropped part. Export a new image.
- Blur every frame in a video. In video, one unblurred frame is enough for someone to pause and read.
Doing it without uploading your photo
Ironically, many free online blur tools ask you to upload the photo to their server, which is exactly what you were trying to avoid. The BolCaps Privacy Blur tool runs in your browser: it finds faces, phone numbers, emails, ID numbers and QR codes on your own device, lets you choose blur, pixelate or a solid box, and creates a new image without the hidden photo data.
Blur faces and numbers in a photo for free
Free tools for this
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