Mask faces, plates, and private details before sharing a photo
When you post to social media, share a purchase, or upload a receipt, the frame often holds a small piece you would rather not show: a face, a plate, a phone number, an address, an order ID. This covers how to mask it effectively, and two things beyond masking that are easy to overlook.
Mask it thoroughly enough
A mosaic divides the selected area into small squares, each filled with an average colour that erases the detail inside. Larger blocks hide more. When masking key information, do not just blur it — set the block size large enough that a single block covers a key stroke or digit, or it may still be legible when enlarged.
In the tool, drag directly on the preview to select the area to hide, then adjust the block size and export once the preview looks right.
Mosaic erases, it does not cover
This tool's mosaic actually replaces the original pixels in that region, so the exported image no longer contains the hidden content and it cannot be recovered from that file. That is safer than laying an opaque block on top — some screenshot tools' blocks can be undone or separated into layers, while a re-encoded mosaic cannot.
The trade-off is that the operation is irreversible. Always keep a backup of the original, so you can start over if you mask the wrong area.
Do not forget photo metadata
Even with the visible information hidden, the file itself may still carry information. A photo's EXIF metadata can include capture time, device model, and sometimes GPS location. This tool re-encodes on export and generally does not preserve the original EXIF, but if your privacy needs are high, check once more before sharing. Everything runs locally and nothing is uploaded, so the un-masked original never passes through anyone else's server.
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