Most face-blurring websites work by asking you to upload the photo. That is a strange bargain: to protect someone's privacy, you first hand the unedited photo to a server you know nothing about. A browser-based tool avoids the problem, because the image never leaves your device. Here is how to blur faces that way, and how to make sure the result actually protects people.
How to do it
- Open the face blur tool and drop in your photos. JPEG, PNG and WebP are supported, and you can add several at once.
- Leave auto-detect on. The first time, your browser downloads the face-detection model, so you need an internet connection for that moment. Your photos are not part of that download.
- Choose an effect and an intensity, then compare the editable view with the result preview.
- Fix anything the detector missed by drawing a box or a freehand shape over it.
- Download the ZIP. Results are saved as JPEG files with "blur-" added to the start of each name.
Pick the right effect
The tool has four: blur, pixelate, bar and mask. Blur and pixelate are adjustable and look natural, but a light blur can sometimes be partly reversed or guessed at, so raise the intensity for anyone who must not be recognised. The bar effect draws a black strip across the eyes only, so the rest of the face stays visible. If you need someone to be unidentifiable, use the mask, which fills the whole face area with a solid colour.
Check what the detector missed
Automatic detection is a shortcut, not a guarantee. It works best on clear, front-facing faces in good light. It can miss faces that are small, in profile, turned away, very dark or partly covered, so always look at the preview. Scan the background, too: people in the distance are easy to overlook.
Faces are not the only giveaway
- Other details. Name badges, number plates, screens and documents can identify someone. Use manual selection to cover anything that is not a face.
- Metadata. Phone photos often carry GPS coordinates and a timestamp, so hiding a face does not hide where the photo was taken. Run the photo through the EXIF remover as well.
Limits
The tool works on still images only, not video, and your device does the processing, so very large batches depend on your computer's memory. It is free, needs no account and adds no watermark.